Angelina Jolie is an all star actress but lately she has been trying to make her way into the director's chair. Jolie's newest directed film is called Unbroken.
Unbroken is based on the novel Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand and tells the true story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini. After surviving a plane crash during World War II and drifting on a raft in the Pacific Ocean for months, Zamperini was captured and placed in Japanese internment camps for more than two years where he was starved and tortured.
Zamperini eventually was released and returned back to the United States where he became a motivational speaker after defeating a battle with alcoholism.
“They say you should never meet your heroes, because they often disappoint you,” Jolie said according to Variety/a>. “But Louis really was one of the greatest people ever.”
The film stars Jack O'Connell as the Olympic war hero and Jolie talked about why he was cast and why his audition in which the actors were confined in a cell stood out from the others.
"All of the actors were so brave and many of the auditions were emotional and heartbreaking, and then came Jack. He went in the cell. He sat in the dark. He didn’t force anything. He didn’t act. He was just present. He looked around the darkness, he felt the isolation, and he looked so young and vulnerable, and when he was hit, he took the beating, he ended up shaking from the feelings and he allowed his emotions to come forward," Jolie said according to ABC News. "The second time he begged the guard to stop with tears in his eyes. And the third time, something happened. His eyes changed and he went against the script. And when the guard came in, he fought back. He just couldn't stay down.”
Zamperini passed away back in July at the age of 97 but was able to put his stamp of approval on the casting of O'Connell before his death.
Check out one of Jolie's most ambitious directed films Unbroken in theatres December 25.
Image courtesy of INFphoto.com