Publications
Angelina Jolie claims she has plenty in common with the lonely firefighter she plays in the new Netflix film Those Who Wish Me Dead.
She “relates” to her troubled character, Hannah Faber, due to the sense of loss she’s experienced in her own life.
Angie (45) told Entertainment Tonight that she's felt "broken" at times, just like Hannah, a veteran smokejumper (a firefighter who parachutes into the midst of wildfires) who finds herself caught up in a deadly situation when she helps a young murder witness.
"We all have times in our lives where we feel broken, and I was in a period like that," Angelina says.
"I've had my share of things that made me feel . . . you know, hard to speak too much about it, but just overwhelming or broken.
“I felt like I wasn’t holding myself together and I felt a little broken and the idea of just getting through the fire – just getting through the damn fire.”
The Oscar winner recalled the pain she felt when her mother, French actress Marcheline Bertrand, died in 2007 after a nearly eight-year battle with breast and ovarian cancer.
"I've had this many times in my life. When my mom passed away – it's a part of something when you feel you just want to kind of hide under the covers or you're not sure what you got left in you.”
Angie adds that challenging herself with new opportunities has helped her to heal, and she encouraged others grappling with grief to embrace new challenges too.
"Go somewhere, see what you got in you. Put yourself against the elements or try something you've never tried and kind of try to rediscover that strength within," she says.
But Angelina couldn’t relate to every aspect of her character.
The mother-of-six says she struggled to downplay her maternal instincts while filming scenes with 14-year-old Finn Little, who plays a traumatised boy named Connor Casserly in the film.
"It wasn't just that [my character] doesn't have kids, she doesn't really know or I'm not even sure if she likes kids," she says.
"That was the biggest note I got from the director – ‘You're being too nice to him, you're being too empathetic, you're being too right’."
As Mother’s Day approaches, Angie also opened up to Extra on the subject of her kids – Maddox (19), Pax (17), Zahara (16), Shiloh (14) and twins Knox and Vivienne (12) – celebrating the holiday with her.
“It does mean a lot to moms, so try not to forget it,” she said, warning any kids who were thinking about giving it a miss this year.
“My kids have always been amazing at Mother’s Day. The fun for me is that I don’t plan anything, I don’t do anything, and they all tend to work together to surprise me with something.
“It is just the knowing that they are doing something together, and thinking of something together, and that they want to, and that they think it is important, always makes me cry.
“They always joke about how quickly it makes me cry. They will laugh at how many times I cry in the day or how quickly I cry. ‘Oh, there she goes . . .’.”
Given the contentious custody battle the family are currently embroiled in, Mother’s Day at the Jolie-Pitt residence is sure to be a bittersweet one this year.
Angelina and her ex, Brad Pitt, have been engaged in a lengthy custody battle since 2016. They have been at war over their kids for five years, with Brad striving for 50/50 custody with Angelina wanting full physical custody.
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, ETONLINE.COM, EXTRATV.COM, TODAY.COM
