With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey

With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey By Melinda Loewenstein December 27, 2011 Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images With numerous blockbusters ("Lara Croft Tomb Raider," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Kung Fu Panda") and an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" to her name, Angelina Jolie has stepped to the other side of the camera. Her celebrity status is international, and her humanitarian work with the U.N. and marriage to Brad Pitt have only added to her high profile. With her directorial debut, Jolie is looking to divert the spotlight from herself and raise global awareness. With "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie takes on the controversial topic of the Bosnian war by setting a love story in the middle of the conflict.Falling Into the Film Jolie didn't set out to make a movie about the war. Rather, she wanted to study what happens to human beings during war to better understand post-conflict situations and find a way to help. Film was a natural choice, since that's what Jolie has spent her life doing. When she finished writing the script, she showed it to Pitt. "I just showed it to him as this private little experiment that was on my desk," says Jolie. After reading it, he encouraged her to make the movie. She was aware of the sensitive nature of the topic, so before moving forward, she sent the script to Bosnian Serbs, Muslim Serbs, and Croatians for feedback. Later, Jolie also sought feedback from the actors, who had all been affected by the war. Rade Serbedzija, who plays Nebojsa, credits her with being open to changes in the script so it would be more authentic. At his suggestion, Jolie changed some of the dialogue in the scene where Zana Marjanovic's character, Ajla, paints a portrait of Serbedzija's character. Jolie says her acting background made it easier to write the various roles: "I was able to flip characters in my head as if I was playing the different roles in order to write the different people, because you have to be one person and inhabit him and write from his voice, and then be her and write from her voice."Role Reversal Being an actor, Jolie was careful to make the audition process as painless as possible. Laughing, she says, "I kind of wanted to hire everybody or try to find something for everybody." She credits casting director Gail Stevens for making sure that actors got strong feedback even if they didn't get the part. "It was hard. I didn't want to put the actors through much." She had them do scenes as well as an interview on camera. She explains, "I pretty much cast them from that, and the people that I thought were going to be the ones, and I would say to Gail, 'What were they like when they came in? Were they nice to everybody? Were they humble? Were they gracious?' Because this was very important to me." Jolie then had the script sent without her name on it to the actors they wanted. "We kept our fingers crossed because we knew how sensitive it was."On Authenticity "When she called me and she said, 'I'm going to shoot it in both languages,' I was like, 'Well, wait a minute; you're a first-timer; we don't know the actors,' " producer Graham King recalls. But Jolie was passionate about it and sold him on the idea. Jolie didn't consider language while writing, but when it came time to adjust it to the authentic language, she made sure it was translated more than once: "A translator couldn't be just Bosnian Muslim or just Bosnian Serb or just Croatian, because even the translation would go slightly slanted to one side or the other." Generally they would do the first take in English, which helped the crew with the second take in the authentic language. "We understood exactly what was happening in the scene, and then when it changed languages, somehow in our minds we still understood what was happening completely. For example, the cameraman knew instinctually where to move in on that line because he somehow could feel that was that line," Jolie notes. After shooting in their native language the actors would often want to reshoot the English because their personalities and body language were different in their native language. While shooting she relied on the actors to help her check on performances: "So if Danijel had a big scene, I would pull Zana aside and say, 'It feels right for me emotionally, but textwise was there anything that I need to know?' " Acting Influences Directing Despite Jolie's first-time-director status, King notes that she had command of the set. Marjanovic says working with Jolie was great. "She's an actress, and it didn't feel like it was her first time directing at all. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she would just find an approach that was appropriate for the scene." Serbedzija compares Jolie's directing style to that of Clint Eastwood, and Goran Kostic, who plays Danijel, agrees. "Obviously they've been in front of the camera for such a long time, Clint and Angelina Jolie. And they understand the importance, and she allows time and space for us to bridge these troubles," he explains.The sensitive nature of the film made it especially important for Jolie to create a safe acting environment. One of the hardest days was when Jolie had to ask the old women to strip. "I hated it. I only shot it once." Because the women were Hungarian, she was speaking with them through a translator. "I think I must have gone up to them five times just to say 'Do they completely understand that the people inside have been directed; they've been told, and it's their job to laugh at them. They aren't laughing at them because they are getting naked; it's, they've been directed to do that, so please do not take it personally' and 'I'm so sorry that I need to ask them to do this, but for them to please know how much this is going to mean for people." She ended up having to shoot a lot of the reactions as cutaways, because the actors couldn't laugh at the women: "They kind of had a human reaction, and so then we had to do a cutaway when the women were gone." Jolie also feels that her acting background influenced her directing style: "I hoped that I was able to help the actors by giving them the space and the respect that they needed. I gave them what I always felt I needed when I was working, and I would protect Zana when there were scenes that she was very vulnerable or had to deal with sensuality or nudity, to be very considerate and only put in the film what is necessary for the storytelling. With the big emotional scenes I would kind of try to protect them from the crew, from the noise, from the, you know, so you just try to make these safe spaces and try to help them, because instinctually you know what you would need." Vanesa Glodjo (who plays Lejla) sums up Jolie's style by saying, "I think she fulfilled all her wishes as an actress first by writing the script and then by the way she directed us. I think she said, 'Okay, what I would adore; how would I love to be directed?' So that's how she did it."OUTTAKES "In the Land of Blood and Honey" was nominated for a 2012 Golden Globe for best foreign language film. Jolie says it will take a special project to get her back in the director's seat. Jolie wants to give her children a global experience, and the family has a home in Cambodia. With Directorial Debut, Angelina Jolie Takes Audiences on Emotional Journey By Melinda Loewenstein December 27, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT Jason Merritt/Getty Images With numerous blockbusters ("Lara Croft Tomb Raider," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Kung Fu Panda") and an Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" to her name, Angelina Jolie has stepped to the other side of the camera. Her celebrity status is international, and her humanitarian work with the U.N. and marriage to Brad Pitt have only added to her high profile. With her directorial debut, Jolie is looking to divert the spotlight from herself and raise global awareness. With "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie takes on the controversial topic of the Bosnian war by setting a love story in the middle of the conflict.Falling Into the Film Jolie didn't set out to make a movie about the war. Rather, she wanted to study what happens to human beings during war to better understand post-conflict situations and find a way to help. Film was a natural choice, since that's what Jolie has spent her life doing. When she finished writing the script, she showed it to Pitt. "I just showed it to him as this private little experiment that was on my desk," says Jolie. After reading it, he encouraged her to make the movie. She was aware of the sensitive nature of the topic, so before moving forward, she sent the script to Bosnian Serbs, Muslim Serbs, and Croatians for feedback. Later, Jolie also sought feedback from the actors, who had all been affected by the war. Rade Serbedzija, who plays Nebojsa, credits her with being open to changes in the script so it would be more authentic. At his suggestion, Jolie changed some of the dialogue in the scene where Zana Marjanovic's character, Ajla, paints a portrait of Serbedzija's character. Jolie says her acting background made it easier to write the various roles: "I was able to flip characters in my head as if I was playing the different roles in order to write the different people, because you have to be one person and inhabit him and write from his voice, and then be her and write from her voice."Role Reversal Being an actor, Jolie was careful to make the audition process as painless as possible. Laughing, she says, "I kind of wanted to hire everybody or try to find something for everybody." She credits casting director Gail Stevens for making sure that actors got strong feedback even if they didn't get the part. "It was hard. I didn't want to put the actors through much." She had them do scenes as well as an interview on camera. She explains, "I pretty much cast them from that, and the people that I thought were going to be the ones, and I would say to Gail, 'What were they like when they came in? Were they nice to everybody? Were they humble? Were they gracious?' Because this was very important to me." Jolie then had the script sent without her name on it to the actors they wanted. "We kept our fingers crossed because we knew how sensitive it was."On Authenticity "When she called me and she said, 'I'm going to shoot it in both languages,' I was like, 'Well, wait a minute; you're a first-timer; we don't know the actors,' " producer Graham King recalls. But Jolie was passionate about it and sold him on the idea. Jolie didn't consider language while writing, but when it came time to adjust it to the authentic language, she made sure it was translated more than once: "A translator couldn't be just Bosnian Muslim or just Bosnian Serb or just Croatian, because even the translation would go slightly slanted to one side or the other." Generally they would do the first take in English, which helped the crew with the second take in the authentic language. "We understood exactly what was happening in the scene, and then when it changed languages, somehow in our minds we still understood what was happening completely. For example, the cameraman knew instinctually where to move in on that line because he somehow could feel that was that line," Jolie notes. After shooting in their native language the actors would often want to reshoot the English because their personalities and body language were different in their native language. While shooting she relied on the actors to help her check on performances: "So if Danijel had a big scene, I would pull Zana aside and say, 'It feels right for me emotionally, but textwise was there anything that I need to know?' " Acting Influences Directing Despite Jolie's first-time-director status, King notes that she had command of the set. Marjanovic says working with Jolie was great. "She's an actress, and it didn't feel like it was her first time directing at all. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she would just find an approach that was appropriate for the scene." Serbedzija compares Jolie's directing style to that of Clint Eastwood, and Goran Kostic, who plays Danijel, agrees. "Obviously they've been in front of the camera for such a long time, Clint and Angelina Jolie. And they understand the importance, and she allows time and space for us to bridge these troubles," he explains.The sensitive nature of the film made it especially important for Jolie to create a safe acting environment. One of the hardest days was when Jolie had to ask the old women to strip. "I hated it. I only shot it once." Because the women were Hungarian, she was speaking with them through a translator. "I think I must have gone up to them five times just to say 'Do they completely understand that the people inside have been directed; they've been told, and it's their job to laugh at them. They aren't laughing at them because they are getting naked; it's, they've been directed to do that, so please do not take it personally' and 'I'm so sorry that I need to ask them to do this, but for them to please know how much this is going to mean for people." She ended up having to shoot a lot of the reactions as cutaways, because the actors couldn't laugh at the women: "They kind of had a human reaction, and so then we had to do a cutaway when the women were gone." Jolie also feels that her acting background influenced her directing style: "I hoped that I was able to help the actors by giving them the space and the respect that they needed. I gave them what I always felt I needed when I was working, and I would protect Zana when there were scenes that she was very vulnerable or had to deal with sensuality or nudity, to be very considerate and only put in the film what is necessary for the storytelling. With the big emotional scenes I would kind of try to protect them from the crew, from the noise, from the, you know, so you just try to make these safe spaces and try to help them, because instinctually you know what you would need." Vanesa Glodjo (who plays Lejla) sums up Jolie's style by saying, "I think she fulfilled all her wishes as an actress first by writing the script and then by the way she directed us. I think she said, 'Okay, what I would adore; how would I love to be directed?' So that's how she did it."OUTTAKES "In the Land of Blood and Honey" was nominated for a 2012 Golden Globe for best foreign language film. Jolie says it will take a special project to get her back in the director's seat. Jolie wants to give her children a global experience, and the family has a home in Cambodia.