Widow Angelina Jolie in “A Mighty Heart”

Friday, April 20, 2007

Thirty–one-year-old Angelina Jolie says “A Mighty Heart” is not designed to be a typical movie; polish and melodrama were avoided in making it.  It is based on a memoir by Mariane Pearl, who lost her husband in 2002 while he was in Pakistan researching Islamic militancy.  His videotaped brutal beheading sends his wife seeking and trying to save him for much of the movie.  Jolie plays the part of the widow; some are calling it her most difficult role yet, liking it to the ground breaking role she play in “Girl Interrupted”.

The director, Michael Winterbottom, shot the film in an unconventional way reminiscent of a reality show.  Hand held cameras were common, and actors were free to improvise within the story line.  Actors were followed wherever they went, which caused some tension as Winterbottom and Jolie debated legitimate places to follow.

“A Mighty Heart” is being produced by Plan B, a company owned by Jolie’s partner, Brad Pitt.  The twosome will be presenting the film in Cannes on May 16th, at the annual film festival held in the South of France.

After years of acting, Jolie’s used to paparazzi.  But sometimes they get out of hand, and she says the trouble in an Indian school last fall was one of those times.  Parents accused her bodyguards of physically preventing parents from getting their kids from the school, while the bodyguards insist they were attempting to block photographers.

Angelina Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, left a nice sum of money for each of the actress’s children in her last will and testament: $100,000.  The will originally only named Maddox as an heir, but the will was updated last May to include Zahara and Shiloh.  Bertrand lost her battle with ovarian cancer earlier this year.