Angelina Jolie and her partner. AP FILE PHOTO
(First of two parts)
LOS ANGELES—“It’s not an action movie,” Angelina Jolie said in a recent interview about “By the Sea,” her first film with Brad Pitt since 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” The latter movie’s set was where they fell in love. “By the Sea” also marks the first time that she’s directing Brad. “It’s a small, intimate drama. I wrote it for us a few years ago.
“We have been shy of it for quite a few years because it’s very heavy, about a relationship, people going through and surviving a lot together,” the actress-director said. “It’s not easy. So, we were nervous about being able to handle the material as actors and to take it on together. But, we feel that we’re in a good place to do that now. We are excited about the challenge—and I am directing it, yeah.”
According to the filmmaker, her fiancé and lead actor in “By the Sea” is equally enthusiastic. “Obviously, Brad is willing to have me direct him in a film and work with me. He’s extremely supportive, which is wonderful, because we’re interested in different aspects of film.”
Experimental
The film will reportedly be shot for eight weeks on the island of Gozo in Malta toward the end of August. Angelina was also quoted as saying that it will be “a very experimental, independent type film.”
In the meantime, Angelina is finishing post-production work on “Unbroken,” her second directorial work. She shot the chronicle of Louis Zamperini, an American Olympic runner who was held captive by the Japanese forces during World War II, in Australia. Louis, considered a war hero, passed away last month, at 97 years old.
“This was the first time that Brad and I worked apart, because he wanted to do ‘Fury,’” Angelina shared. The couple usually alternate working so one parent is with their kids, while the other works. But, in this case, Angelina and Brad worked at the same time on films that, by coincidence, are both set in WWII.
“So, he was in London filming, and I was in Australia. He did come out for the last 10 days. He was able to make it, but he was always supportive from a distance.”
“In a way, it was quite romantic,” Angelina said of being apart from each other. “We decided that, instead of being at odds on the separation, we would use that time to write letters to each other. Like, he was in the European Theatre (known as the European war), and I was in the Pacific Theatre. We decided to be of that time and think of people who were separated for months, if not years, and tried to make it romantic, at least. We wrote handwritten letters.”
“It was a nice exercise to do at the end of the day,” the beautiful, multitalented star said. “It was very connecting for us.”
Angelina has shown “Unbroken,” based on Laura Hillenbrand’s book, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption,” to her two oldest kids, Maddox and Pax. “My boys saw the film when it was in a much rougher stage than it is now. It was my test to see if they would sit through it, if they wouldn’t wiggle around in their chairs, and what they would ask me in the end.”
“It was very telling to me—they really responded to it,” she said of her much-awaited film, which stars young, rising actors, Jai Courtney, Jack O’Connell (he plays Louis), Garrett Hedlund and Domhnall Gleeson. “They asked a lot of questions about athleticism, survival, God and Louis. They knew him and his story. I read his book to them. The Young Readers book is coming out in a few months, so all kids can read his story for themselves—which is very exciting.”
“I was very happy,” she added. “I’m sure in many ways, I did make this film with my boys in mind. It’s a heavy story, but we made sure there was humor. We wanted to make sure that any opportunity that we had to show something beautiful, we captured it.
“These are young, handsome men in horrible situations, but they were surrounded by stunning nature and epic life. We wanted to help people absorb this information. It’s heavy. Whenever we could, we got a laugh out. So, we have some fun in the movie. The kids really like that.”
(To be concluded on Sunday)
E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.