Angelina Jolie will ‘possibly’ direct own starrer, with Brad
IN THIS interview, Angelina Jolie says she never believed in true love until she had children. ruben nepales
LOS ANGELES—Angelina Jolie will “possibly” direct the film that she and Brad Pitt will costar in, their first since 2005’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” The actress-director, beautiful in a black Valentino dress in our recent interview at Four Seasons Hotel in LA, confirmed the buzz about the project. “Yeah, there is something. I wrote something…about four years ago.”
“We have been thinking about doing it for a while now,” added Angelina, who clasped her hands most of the time during our chat. She was candid as usual—one of her endearing traits. “Now we are edging closer to thinking we should jump in. It’s kind of an independent film, much more experimental in style, very personal. It’s different, difficult for us in a good way; very challenging for us as actors.”
In Disney’s “Maleficent,” she plays the title role, the studio’s most popular villain since she appeared to put a spell on “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959 (fittingly, it’s the character’s 55th anniversary). Asked if she feels evil, Angelina replied, “Of course. I spend most of my time, especially with the United Nations, on borders where people have crossed with their children. Their homes have been burned. They have been gas-attacked; their nails pulled out; children wounded.
“So I feel that there certainly is evil in the world. Evil took those girls from their school [in Nigeria]. We need to understand its root causes [and] see if there’s a way to really fight evil. Justice is one; education is another; strength of will to unite among good people with good energy.”
Cameos for kids
One of Angelina’s daughters with Brad, Vivienne, appears as the young Princess Aurora in “Maleficent.” Pax and Zahara, whom Angelina calls Z, have cameos. We asked the proud mom if her kids are truly interested in acting and how different they are.
“They are all very different personalities,” said Angelina, her face lighting up. “I don’t think they have an interest in acting. If they [did] I would encourage them to do that and something else. It’s not good for acting to be the center of one’s life. Our idea is not to keep them from it; but we also hope that we show them enough of other things.
ANGELINA acted with daugther Vivienne in this scene from the film, which her kids find “cool.”
“Maddox seems very interested in music and literature. I could go on and on. But I have six kids so you would have to wait. Some are funnier than others; some are more serious than others. They are all very different personalities. That’s part of how we want to raise them—to be proud of who they were when they were born. We make sure we don’t get in the way of that. We guide them, but we also let them be who they are.”
The stunning mom said she was delighted to be in a Disney movie because of the studio’s rich tradition in storytelling. “I tell my kids stories every night before bed. I am always doing different voices and things so I love that as an entertainer. Nothing gives me more pleasure than entertaining children. The way children respond to film is magical. And to make them laugh…I haven’t done many films like that.
“I don’t know if I would be very good at it. I never thought of myself as being Disney or funny. But I always wanted to do this kind of films. I was excited to get this opportunity.”
Robert Stromberg, Oscar-winning production designer, makes his feature directorial debut here, with a cast that includes Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley and Imelda Staunton.
“I love the film’s message,” Angelina said. “When I first read the script, I pulled the kids aside and I said, ‘I have a secret to tell you. You know Maleficent? Well, there’s something you don’t know.’ I told them the story and they were really engaged.
Maleficent’s voice
“When I decided to do the movie, I had to come up with her voice. I was giving [my kids] a bath and I kept trying voices (to use as Maleficent). Some they didn’t like; some they did. When I did a voice that made them laugh, that was the voice I used for the movie. So in the christening scene, when Pax and Zahara were there, I was more playful. I thought about them. I wanted to make them happy and laugh. It was really nice to make a movie where it was just about entertaining and being generous as an artist and not being so self-conscious—just giving.”
And how did the kids like the movie? “They love it,” she enthused. “They think it’s cool and really fun. Knox wants to be Diaval.”
She added, “It was interesting. They were asking me questions about fairies, and good and bad. Knox thinks I can turn birds into people. He sees birds outside and he goes, ‘Mommy, there’s a bird—go get the bird.’ It meant something to them. They connected to me in an emotional way. It’s different for my children, of course, because I am their mother. They see me get hurt and it bothers them differently than it does other children.
“But the story made them feel good. Hopefully, it taught them that everything is not so black-and-white, and people can go to this dark place. But what is beautiful is that if you can grow beyond it, you can find love, openness and happiness.”
On her travels as a UN ambassador and if she brings the kids, Angelina answered, “I usually try to bring them with me. I have brought Pax to Jordan. I hope to bring them even more into the world. But when I can’t bring them—to Afghanistan, for example, and many other UN trips, they always look up the places with their teachers, [discuss] where mommy is, what is happening in the world, why mommy is helping people.
“They often give me things to bring to other children. They give me their tooth fairy money. I try to make them aware of the difficult parts of the world where people are challenged but where they are also the great survivors, and also parts of the world that are just wonderful adventures and about the beautiful histories of many countries.”
Does she plan to have more kids? “I don’t at the moment,” she replied. “I love children and I always want more but you want to make sure that the ones you have are getting enough of your attention. I come home from work and spend the entire evening doing the rounds, sitting with each one of them and asking how their day was, what they are thinking or feeling, playing a game with them—that can take the bulk of the evening, and it’s important.
“Because we home-school, we can schedule. School is at 8:30. We get up at 7:30 and make breakfast. Then we walk them over to school. Then I go to work. Then we meet back at home. Dinner is at 6:30.
“No matter what, we always try to get back home. Some of the kids do work in my office. Now, Maddox is volunteering to do work in my office. So he comes over. They all find reasons to go where mommy works. Sometimes they all show up and I don’t quite understand what’s happening. It’s fun and there’s a great chaos. The nice thing is, because they are six, they kind of pair off most of the time. And they switch pairs. Pax and Shi are really into skateboarding. And Z and Vivi will play babies. Everybody has their teammate, so in many ways they are raising each other.
On whether she and Brad are planning to wed, based on her comment in a magazine interview that, if the kids had their way with their parents’ wedding, it would be Disney- or paintball-themed, Angelina remarked, “We cannot confirm. We really have no plans.”
Angelina’s answer to the question of when she experienced true love was quite moving: “I have never been quite romantic about it. I never believed in it until I had children. The moment I looked into Maddox’s eyes in the orphanage, my entire world changed. That was the first time I experienced it.
“It’s that moment when you are not the center of your world anymore. You give of yourself to that other person—for his happiness and safety. You are actually happier focusing on their lives and you just love them so much. You live for them. Almost every parent feels that way.”
Son’s girlfriend
Of Maddox becoming a teenager, Angelina was only too aware. “Yes, we will start to hit those,” she said. “Absolutely. He’s got a girlfriend.”
As far as her health is concerned, Angelina, who opted for a double mastectomy because she was in a high-risk category (her mother died of breast cancer), said, “I am doing great. I am very happy I made the decisions I made. I was very happy that I had ‘Unbroken’ to work on because he (Louis Zamperini) is so inspiring to me. He actually helped me through that time. I was able to just go to work and feel useful and functioning, which is what I think most people need to feel healthy and happy.
“The decision I made to go public was one that I felt was a duty to other women. I had learned some things about my health. I felt I had to express what I had learned and the choices that I had made.
“I wish that my mother had made the [same] choice when she was younger. She might have stayed alive; she might still be with me today. So it was a very direct choice of me speaking about health to other women, and with fathers and husbands—it was also very nice to connect with people on such a different level. We connect with art and issues and that’s wonderful. But to connect on these things that we are all dealing with—we have close friends who have lost family to cancer—it meant a lot to me to connect in that way. I feel very grateful for all the support that I had.”
On how the kids bond and how their presence deepens her relationship with Brad, Angelina, explained, “The boys do have a strong bond. And mommy and sons have a strong bond. We joke about the girls and daddy. It’s like the daughters can do no wrong. Z can ask Brad for anything and he will just crumble. He loves her so much. But the boys have their boy thing. They have their boy time—their learning-to-be-men time.
“One of the things that we think is most important is the way we treat each other in front of our children—that teaches them so much. The way Brad treats me, the way he takes care of me, and makes something special on Mother’s Day with all the kids and gets them all up to do something—he is teaching them to respect women and respect their mother and the girls.”
She continued, “The girls are showing an example of how they expect to be treated. I hope to do the same for the boys, in how I treat their father in front of them. We, of course, have grown. It’s been many years now. We have six children and, every day, our life is centered around our family. We have history now. It’s one thing when you first come together and it’s exciting. But after years, you have history and that really changes—it’s a different kind of love. It’s more a family love. It’s not just being lovers, partners and friends; it’s being family.”
(E-mail the columnist at [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/
nepalesruben.)
