Cherry Darling
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Stunning, thank you jexxica
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Live Streaming... The F/W 2025.26 Fashion Shows
Angelina Jolie rocks a form-fitting dress while attending a photo call for her latest movie Unbroken held at Sydney Opera House on Tuesday (November 18) in Sydney, Australia.
‘Unbroken’: Angelina Jolie on the Decades-Long Journey to Bring the Story to Screen
Angelina Jolie’s penetrating eyes are filling with tears. “I don’t want to cry, and I’m not going to cry in front of you,” she vows, quickly regaining her composure.
The actress-filmmaker is choked up over the recent death of Louis Zamperini — a man who meant a great deal to her, and is the subject of her most significant directorial effort yet, “Unbroken.”
Zamperini, a former Olympic runner, was on a World War II search-and-rescue mission when his plane went down in the Pacific. He was lost at sea for 47 days before being sent to a Japanese prison camp. Over his two years there, he was starved, beaten and faced an adversary known as the Bird — a Japanese officer named *Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who singled him out for torture. Zamperini returned home a haunted man, but overcame alcoholism to become an inspirational speaker. His life was chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 best-seller “Unbroken,” which Jolie adapted to the bigscreen for a Christmas Day debut.
On this August afternoon, it has been only five weeks since Zamperini died at the age of 97 due to complications from pneumonia. Jolie is seated in a room at a Beverly Hills hotel, flanked by two of the stars of her film, Jack O’Connell and singer-songwriter Miyavi, who play Zamperini and Watanabe, respectively. Along with the pressure of being involved in one of the most anticipated films of the year, everyone clearly feels a huge responsibility to Zamperini’s legacy.
“They say you should never meet your heroes, because they often disappoint you,” Jolie notes. “But Louis really was one of the greatest people ever.”
As compelling as Zamperini’s story *is, it was not an easy sell. Possibly the long*est gestating project in Hollywood history, it took 57 years to turn his tale into a cinematic reality. Actors from Tony Curtis to Nicolas Cage at one time or another were attached to the role, and many directors came and went. In the end, it was an Oscar-winning actress with only one little-seen feature film to her directing resume who shepherded the $65 million film to the silver screen. It is by far Jolie’s most ambitious and riskiest directorial outing — her first big studio movie. And she did it without any marquee names in her cast; in fact, one of the most pivotal roles was filled by a Japanese rock star who had never acted before.
[...]
Her passion was apparent in her first narrative feature, the 2011 drama “The Land of Blood and Honey,” about the conflict in Sarajevo. Though it earned less than $2 million at the box office, among its fans was Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley. “I’ve seen almost every film about that conflict, and I thought her film was the most impactful and clearest about what people were living through during that time,” Langley says. “The movie follows the story of a woman caught in difficult circumstances, who has to persevere; that’s very synonymous with Louis Zamperini’s story.”
But Langley didn’t just hand Jolie the job. “She had to work for it,” Langley notes. “I put her through her paces.” Baer says Jolie brought in boards using photographs that were representative of her vision for scenes and characters, and discussed what she wanted to do with the draft. “It was clear, well thought out, and filled with energy and passion,” he recalls.” Concurs Langley, “After a few conversations, it became very clear that she was ready to step up to the task.”
Once hired, Jolie met Zamperini, and a deep friendship ensued. As it turned out, the two were practically neighbors — Zamperini could see Jolie’s house from his office, and as Jolie was developing the film, she would climb on her roof and wave to him. Baer says it was a strong connection born of having many things in common. “They were both people who overcame obstacles as children. Both are highly physical. And both dealt with a lot of acclaim at a young age,” Baer notes. “Equally, they both ended up using their popularity to try to help others.”
Zamperini’s two children, Luke Zamperini and Cynthia Garris, say their father was smitten by Jolie.
“It was a very close and very affectionate relationship built on so much admiration and respect,” Luke says. He adds that Jolie’s husband, Brad Pitt, was also a fan. “When Brad was shooting ‘Fury,’ he was so excited to tell Louis he could drive a tank,” Luke laughs.
Adds Garris, “The night our father passed away, she and Brad came to our home and took such beautiful care of us. They cried with us, they held us, they made a soft place for us to fall. At one point I told her, ‘My father was really in love with you.’ And she said, ‘I was in love with him!’ ”
For as long as they could remember, Luke and Cynthia had watched their father try to get his story onscreen; it wasn’t until Jolie was onboard that they truly believed it would happen. “With her star power and her unbelievable focus, she got this film on the fast track,” Luke says. Adds Cynthia, “She really swooped in like an angel.”
Jolie enlisted a number of top talents who were big fans of the book, including Joel and Ethan Coen, who were tapped to write a draft of the script. “I couldn’t believe my good fortune,” Jolie says. “And being writers and directors, they write very visually, so I learned a lot from them.” The Coens’ frequent cinematographer, Roger Deakins, also signed on, as did composer Alexandre Desplat. “You can’t meet Angie and not say, ‘I want to work with her,’ ” Baer says.