She looked fresh even with barely any makeup on. Glowing in her taupe Luisa Beccaria long-sleeved dress, Angelina Jolie – filmmaker, actress, humanitarian – is taking this time to talk about “By The Sea,” a romantic drama she produced, wrote and directed.
“By The Sea,” where the 40-year-old star directed her own husband Brad Pitt, is about a couple who is having marital issues and has taken a vacation in an attempt to save their marriage. Written several years ago, this is the first time she and Brad have collaborated since “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
“It was an interesting role,” she said of Roland, the writer portrayed by Brad, husband to her character Vanessa. “It was a very unusual thing to direct him and we had to find a new language. Our first few days were quite tricky and he would say that because he knows me so well. If I said, ‘No that was good,’ he would think, ‘Oh, because she knows every little gesture when I get impatient or when I am not really happy.’ I was nervous to not to be able to have the right direction for him, to see him stuck and not be able to push him.”
“So it was challenging but we made this private pact that we were going to try to be as open, honest, and emotive as possible, and give to each other as much as we could. Succeed or fail, we would just lay it bare. So I tried to give him a safe space and tell him to trust me that I would do my best to protect him in the editing room and if he would be as open and give me as much of himself, his emotions and his honesty. He did. He worked very hard.”
Vanessa suffers from insecurity and jealousy, so we asked Angelina what it’s like in her moments of jealousy.
“Well I don’t think Vanessa actually has jealousy,” she pointed out. “I think you think that she does, but the truth is like he says in the end, Vanessa is sad because the other woman makes her sad because she can’t have babies. So it’s a pain. It’s more that she looks at somebody and this person reminds her of her pain. If somebody says to me, ‘Oh I just got off the phone with my mom,’ I might have a tinge of jealousy because I can’t do that. It’s those kinds of things, and I think it’s important and I hope that when women see the film, they see through those layers and exactly know what it means.”
Janet Nepales with Angelina Jolie. Photo by Ruben Nepales.
But does she ever get jealous, we asked anyway. She is married to Brad Pitt after all.
“You know, it’s a funny thing,” she disclosed. “I love him so much and he’s the father of my children and he is one of my great friends in life so when somebody says he is attractive, I am happy for him. I think that’s great. And I look at him now and it’s funny, when you have children with somebody… I look at him and I see my husband but I also see my children. I see a mix. So, I have a trust – and not that I am the only woman that he would ever look at – but I have a trust that he understands the value of family.”
One scene in the movie where Angelina felt truly vulnerable was the shower scene, when Roland came in and looked at Vanessa.
“I think there is a beauty to being vulnerable and being human and having scars and so I don’t want to deal with it or hide it. I just wear it and write films like this and embrace other people’s vulnerability.”
She added, “It’s a weakness when people try to pretend that they are not vulnerable, because they all are. We are all going to get sick and we are all going to die, and we all have things that upset us and embarrass us and scare us. So I think that is it, just embracing it.”
As for being a mother to her six children, Angelina confessed, “I am most like every parent. I am completely who I am and the best of myself with my children. As much as I am playful, I am also very honest with them about life because I don’t want them to be disillusioned and unaware of what is to come.
“I think it’s important to speak to them with honesty. And to do films that question and speak about the harder issues in life because we are here to help each other get through. The lighter side of life – we are all grateful when we get there. But usually, it’s through quite a lot of hardship that we get there and appreciate it.”
Credit: Manila Bulletin, Janet Nepales
