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Angelina Jolie to put acting on back burner for directing and UN work Angelina Jolie to put acting on back burner for directing and UN work
(35 minutes later)
Angelina Jolie has revealed that she plans to take a step back from acting to focus her energies on directing and humanitarian causes. Angelina Jolie has revealed that she plans to take a step back from acting to focus on directing and humanitarian causes.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday to promote her latest film Maleficent, the Oscar-winning actor said that being in front of the camera was "going to take more of a backseat". Speaking at a press conference on Friday to promote her latest film Maleficent, she said performing was "going to take more of a backseat".
"I've had a wonderful career and I'm happy to have had all those opportunities to tell stories and work for as long as I have," she said. "But I'm able to be selective and I would like to focus more on writing and directing; and above all I would like to focus more on my work with the UN and with PSVI [Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative]." "I've had a wonderful career and I'm happy to have had all those opportunities to tell stories and work for as long as I have," she said. "But I'm able to be selective and I would like to focus more on writing and directing; and above all I would like to focus more on my work with the UN and with PSVI [the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative]."
As well as having had a long and successful career as an actor, starring in Girl, Interrupted, Tomb Raider and Mr and Mrs Smith – where she met her husband Brad Pitt – Jolie, 38, is also a special envoy to the UN and has been a vocal campaigner against sexual violence. As well as having had a long and successful acting career – starring in Girl, Interrupted, which won her a best supporting actress Oscar, and Mr and Mrs Smith, where she met her husband Brad Pitt – Jolie, 38, is also a special envoy to the UN and has been a vocal campaigner against sexual violence.
In recent years she has also gone behind the camera, making her directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011 and more recently making Unbroken, a harrowing second world war epic penned by the Coen brothers that will be released at the end of the year.In recent years she has also gone behind the camera, making her directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011 and more recently making Unbroken, a harrowing second world war epic penned by the Coen brothers that will be released at the end of the year.
Maleficent, Disney's latest offering out on 28 May, offers the untold back story of the evil character from the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, with Jolie in the title role. Maleficent, Disney's latest film out on 28 May, offers the untold back story of the villain from the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, with Jolie in the title role.
As a mother of six – three biological and three adopted children with husband Brad Pitt – Jolie said it had been "so much fun to play such a wicked character" that she even came to admire her.As a mother of six – three biological and three adopted children with husband Brad Pitt – Jolie said it had been "so much fun to play such a wicked character" that she even came to admire her.
"It was like being a kid again when I got the script," she said. "Maleficent is actually someone who I did in the end like. I think for everybody, there's a side of us that would like to be completely free and use our voice to the fullest and have as a big a laugh as possible … There are very little opportunities in life where you do this, where you explore this side of yourself and you can test your power and your voice and strength, and she was that character for me. "It was like being a kid again when I got the script," she said. "Maleficent is actually someone who I did in the end like. I think for everybody, there's a side of us that would like to be completely free and use our voice to the fullest and have as a big a laugh as possible … and she was that character for me.
"I didn't know my voice could be that strong. I didn't know I could have that much fun – she has a freedom in daily life that I certainly don't have.""I didn't know my voice could be that strong. I didn't know I could have that much fun – she has a freedom in daily life that I certainly don't have."
Jolie said part of the appeal of the film was the updated morals of the fairytale, which did not categorise life into simply good and evil – a message she said she was keen to pass on to her own children.Jolie said part of the appeal of the film was the updated morals of the fairytale, which did not categorise life into simply good and evil – a message she said she was keen to pass on to her own children.
"We really wanted to make a film for modern audiences, where it goes deeper and there are more complex characters and their relationships are more complicated, to give it more resonance to today. "I usually make up stories for my kids. I like to tell them stories every night and make up any kind of crazy thing and involve them as characters. The side of the fairytale that I don't like is this idea that there are always these happy endings, that things are only good or evil.
She continued: "I usually make up stories for my kids. I like to tell them stories every night and make up any kind of crazy thing and involve them as characters. The side of the fairytale that I don't like is this idea that there are always these happy endings, that things are only good or evil. I think a good story for children is one where there's a good moral tale. That's what I try to teach my kids and what we tried to do with this film." "I think a good story for children is one where there's a good moral tale. That's what I try to teach my kids and what we tried to do with this film."
Jolie also said that she and Pitt were selective about which of their own films they let their brood watch. Jolie also said she and Pitt were selective about which of their own films they let their brood watch.
She said: "The older ones recently saw Mr and Mrs Smith and thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, because watching your parents fight as spies is some strange child fantasy. My littlest one Knox watches Tomb Raider and thinks mummy can do all of those things."She said: "The older ones recently saw Mr and Mrs Smith and thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, because watching your parents fight as spies is some strange child fantasy. My littlest one Knox watches Tomb Raider and thinks mummy can do all of those things."
Asked whether she minded that Maleficent was a character that would be embraced by drag queens worldwide, Jolie burst out laughing.Asked whether she minded that Maleficent was a character that would be embraced by drag queens worldwide, Jolie burst out laughing.
"I would be thrilled if it's embraced by the drag queens, we all share a love of this kind of costume – I'm with them," she said, adding. "I did bring some horns home with me." "I would be thrilled if it's embraced by the drag queens, we all share a love of this kind of costume – I'm with them," she said, adding: "I did bring some horns home with me."
Jolie stars in the film alongside Elle Fanning, who plays the young princess Aurora. Her own daughter Vivienne also makes a fleeting debut, which Jolie said was "genuinely only out of necessity" because other young children were too terrified of Maleficent's dramatic costume.Jolie stars in the film alongside Elle Fanning, who plays the young princess Aurora. Her own daughter Vivienne also makes a fleeting debut, which Jolie said was "genuinely only out of necessity" because other young children were too terrified of Maleficent's dramatic costume.
Jolie will also return to London next month for a four-day summit that will bring together governments from 141 countries to discuss how to improve and standardise the investigation of large scale sexual violence in wartime.Jolie will also return to London next month for a four-day summit that will bring together governments from 141 countries to discuss how to improve and standardise the investigation of large scale sexual violence in wartime.