Hollywood A-lister Angelina Jolie says she plans to give up acting after a “few more” films and switch her focus to directing.
She walked the red carpet in Sydney with husband Brad Pitt this week at the premiere of her new movie, World War II epic “Unbroken”, which was filmed in Australia. It was her second foray behind the camera after the critically acclaimed 2011 “In the Land of Blood and Honey” and she said directing was where she saw her future.
Movie star Angelina Jolie left, director of “Unbroken”, poses for photos with Mayavi, second left, Melody Ishihara, center, and Brad Pitt, right, at the World Premiere of the film in Sydney, Australia Monday Nov. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Glenn Nicholls)
The 39-year-old Hollywood still-a-siren told Sydney Morning Herald of acting:
I’ll do a few more, but I’ll be happy to let that all go at some point. I love directing, I’m much happier directing. I like following a project all the way through. I like spending two years on something and learning about it… I like being pushed mentally to have to learn so much and be a part of every single aspect of a production.
The “Malificent” star’s new movie is based on the true story of a US Olympic athlete-turned-Japanese prisoner of war, Louis Zamperini, who competed in the 5,000m at the 1936 Games in Berlin before becoming a bombardier in World War II.
When his plane crashed over the South Pacific, he spent 47 days adrift on a raft with a crew mate before being captured by Japanese soldiers in the Marshall Islands. He was held in a prisoner of war camp for more than two years, enduring beatings and torture, before his return home.
Watch the “Unbroken” trailer here:
Angelina Jolie, who has been acting since she was 7, said her preference for being behind the camera did not mean she thought any less of acting or actors. “I love actors, I love watching actors work, and I like to shine a light on them. I actually prefer it when it’s not me,” she told the newspaper.
When asked if she had to play tyrant at any point in time, she replied, “Oh sure. That’s what you want from a director. My job is to make the film great, not to make friends with everybody.”
Since wrapping up “Unbroken”, she has directed both herself and Brad Pitt in the yet-to-be-released “By the Sea”.
“To direct myself was hard, to direct him (Pitt) was a challenge and to be in the scenes with him doing very heavy, heavy drama was difficult,” she told The Australian newspaper.