Angelina Jolie Interview by Ann Curry
Angelina Jolie sits down with NBC News’ Ann Curry to talk about A Mighty Heart, her extensive humanitarian work, Brad Pitt and their four children, and the recent death of her mother, Marcheline Bertrand.
The interview will air on The Today Show @ 7AM ET/PT and Dateline NBC @ 10PM ET/PT Wednesday, May 23.
So if I asked you, for example, right now — what’s something that’s untrue that you would like to say right now is not true… you wouldn’t know what was untrue that was written about you? No.
Nothing? No. I mean, I can assume. I know there’s a cycle of certain things that they keep rewriting or whatever, but I can assume things are made up. But no, I haven’t a clue. (laughter) And why would I, you know? There’s nothing I have to hide or defend. You know, I’m gonna live my life. And there are gonna be times when people wanna try to attack me and I don’t know why, but they will. And that’s okay.
It’s okay? Well, there are other things I’m more concerned about. My kids are healthy. I have a lot I want to do in this world. Before I do, I wanna do a lot of things as a woman, as a mom, and that’s my focus. At the end of the day, I’m gonna be dead… and what people say about me is gonna be what I accomplished and what I did in my life and how my children are.
Is there anything you’d like to say to people listening now because you now have an unedited audience here — an unedited opportunity — to give people to unvarnished truth about who you are and what you stand for. Is there anything that you want to say about yourself? No. I mean… I have always been honest about who I am, and I’ve always been very outspoken to press. I think people have heard a lot from me (laughter) over the years. And - and you do hear more, you know?… People wanna believe negative things, they will. And I can’t help that.
Bigger picture and more interview excerpts inside…
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Jolie on her role as Mariane Pearl
It’s interesting. I was reading that you were actually six months pregnant when you first talked to Mariane. I was six months pregnant and –
But that helped you empathize? But it [did]. It was also a very interesting thing because for as much as I was kind of waddling around and feeling the heat, I couldn’t help but look over at this woman and think, “God, she is where I’m at now and I’m having — and not just the physical thing of being pregnant and, oh, that’s difficult. And I have this man with me who’s helping me through this and loves me.”
And it’s a joyous moment. And we’re about to now also have a baby, and we’re gonna look at this baby together across the room at each other. And it’s all those things that make that so much more. And to not just physically be thinking, “God, how is this woman physically dealing with trying to maintain her strength and take care of this baby that’s inside of her, working so hard and having so much emotional stress?”
But on top of it, what that took away from her. What that took away from this time in their life, this is the happiest time in their life. And what that must be. I just can’t imagine. I thought about that when I was breastfeeding. I thought about that all through kind of the birth of, you know, that haunted me and when I was sitting here quiet, I would think, “God, just a few months after, what is that like? What is that like?”
To play her was not easy. To play her at this time of her life was not easy. I’ve played real people before, but I never knew them. And, you’d think that would be easier. (laughs) I did. But the day before we started shooting, I had hardly slept and I was in a panic. I had gotten to know her and I’d gotten to know their son. And the thought that he would see this one day… It was my responsibility to not just show the world but also show him how much his mother loved his father and how much they loved each other and how they handled this time.
It was something that haunted me through the whole thing and haunted, I think, everybody involved. Nobody ever really voiced that and nobody really talked about it, but I’m sure it was something that she did become a friend.
So how do you play [that role?]- I’m sure if somebody said to you, “Your great girlfriend has gone through the most horrible thing in her life. Why don’t you stand up and show us what she went through and how it felt?”
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In a separate interview, Brad Pitt talks to Curry about his behind-the-scenes role as a producer on “A Mighty Heart,” which is produced by his Plan B shingle in conjunction with Revolution films. Dede Gardner and Andrew Eaton, two producers of the movie, also join Pitt in the interview. Pitt also discusses his global charity work with Jolie.
Brad Pitt, on his humanitarian work with Jolie and what people can do to help:The thing is just generating the will to understand. And that means focusing on certain events. Because it’s not all coming across our airwaves… and really investigating if something doesn’t feel right.
Generally, I would say it’s just not enough anymore to say that “it’s entertainment and enjoyment.” For me personally I’m saying, in my life, if you can move the ball forward a little bit… that’s what this is about. Where is it going to go? The interesting thing is how it evolves for me individually for myself, and watching the same with Angie. But where’s it gonna go? I’m not gonna stop.
We can have our things. And that is just getting your hands dirty, rolling up your sleeves a little bit and seeing where it takes you. And where it can, where you can best help. Where you’d be most effective. But there’s a lot of studying do.

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291 Comments
73
African Girl Says:
Lmoa…okay, I just cracked myself up trying to imagine JA and MP in a conversation about this….
MP – It was heart wrenching….I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced something that just rips your heart out…..such a horrific thing….
JA – Oh I like totally know what you like totally mean. Just the other day, I ordered a margarita, right…and everyone who knows me, knows I need a little zing to go with it but what did I get? A virgin margarita….As if! I tell ya, I was Hor.ri.fied!
MP – Err….yeah okay. Anyway, when I was on the plane to Pakistan, I was nervous…so scared….
JA – OH MY GOD!! Did they put you in coach? I hate when that happens.
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BRILLIANT, AFRICAN GIRL, SO BRILLIANT! You really crack me up, girl. I could totally imagine JA having this kind of conversation with Mariane Pearl while the poor woman (MP) would be rolling her eyes and thinking, “Is she for real?”
REMINDER: Dont forget to go over to hello Mag. and vote for Brad.
someone had to say it. 
mr and mrs smith says,thanks for that great review from fox,I WILL BE BACK LATER, IGNORE TROLLS AND LETS HAVE A GOOD TIME
83
Mr and Mrs Smith Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am - flag comment
74
ida Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:55 am - flag comment
FROM PEOPLE MAG , ANGIE WILL TAKE A YEAR OFF ACTING IN 2008, MAYBE THEY WANT SHILOH TO HAVE ANITHER BROTHER OR SISTER,LOVE IT
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She is sooooooooo gonna have another little Pitt.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I thought the Clint Eastwood movie started this fall? If she doesn’t do anything after “A mighty heart” she is going to be pregnant by the end of the year if not earlier.
14
African Girl Says: May 22nd, 2007 at 8:49 am - flag comment
Morning AG, I can’t keep up either lol, but I love that Jared is giving all this new threads. Jared rocks!.
I am getting in my few posts this morning, got to go to work today lol and I can’t access JJ from work, which sucks lol
wait a minute ….
2kids3 — hmmm, this sounds like anonie mouse! kidi, is that you?
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68
IV Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:47 am - flag comment
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20039712,00.html
Angelina Jolie Taking a Year Off Work
Angelina Jolie has decided to take a year off to spend time with her family, PEOPLE has learned.
“I’m working this summer. I’m in Prague for a few months, then I take two months off, then I work for two months,” Jolie said Tuesday while promoting A Mighty Heart at the Cannes Film Festival. “And then I take a year off.”
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She will pregnant this year
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Baby Jolie-Pitt #5 due in 2008!
Thanks Jared.
Can’t wait to see the interview!!!
Please don’t let the trolls hijack this thread!!!!
73
African Girl Says:May 22nd, 2007 at 9:55 am - flag comment
Peaches Says:
I thought the Clint Eastwood movie started this fall? If she doesn’t do anything after “A mighty heart” she is going to be pregnant by the end of the year if not earlier.
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In PEOPLE interview Angie said she is working this summer in Prague, will take a few months off, will take two more months of work, and then take a year off. So I think she will do Clint Eastwood movie, then quit for a year.
Have you guys watched the Inside Edition coverage of Brad and Angie at Cannes? I did not watch it yesterday but just saw it at Pittimpressions and they show Brad and Angie walking inside the theatre and there is a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the crowd inside the theatre.
Here is the link. It’s the first one on top.
http://pittimpressions.livejournal.com/
2kidz3 Says
I think Angie looks more like Mariene than chin chin. Also, Mariene approved jen playing her (according to you) but she wouldn’t have a close relationship with chin chin. Angie and Mariene have more in common then chin chin because of their children. And I am sure that Mariene prefer Angie over chin chin.
Pardon me all but I just had to bring my post from the other thread because I think I’ve found a kindred spirit.
69
African Girl Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 am - flag comment
66
to 2kidz3 Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am - flag comment
2kidz3 or 4kidz6 what is your problem. ” kinni wahala re, se iwo ni oko tabi ale jennifer aniston” in short o ni alot of problem enough
******
ROTFLMAO….I got that! It’s not Hausa but i got it and I’ll add “Mi o mo fun..ooh” Okay, it might not be exactly right but I’m sure you get the gist. Ha ha ha, this is sooo cool.
You know the part at the press conference when Angelina said she could’nt imagine not being with the father of her child like Marrianne went through without Danny.POST CHRONICLE thinks she was talking of Jonh Voight,just shows how stupid they are.They need to listen properly.What a joke
Angelina Jolie, have a great life and have a great family with most loving father.
POKEMAN Says:
chin chin ahahahahahahhaha
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94
Peaches Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 am - flag comment
83
Mr and Mrs Smith Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am - flag comment
74
ida Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:55 am - flag comment
FROM PEOPLE MAG , ANGIE WILL TAKE A YEAR OFF ACTING IN 2008, MAYBE THEY WANT SHILOH TO HAVE ANITHER BROTHER OR SISTER,LOVE IT
______________________________________________________________
She is sooooooooo gonna have another little Pitt.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I thought the Clint Eastwood movie started this fall? If she doesn’t do anything after “A mighty heart” she is going to be pregnant by the end of the year if not earlier.
_________________________________________________________________________
It sounds like she’s talking about finishing Wanted and then taking two months off and then filming another movie (which is most likely Changeling) and then she’s done for a year.
2kidz3 ,You should give up#93 ida as usual is trying to tell others what to do instead of letting us lurkers and posters read all.And I read about the groups not including others, I say thats true, also even if you love Angie and Brad if you post something nice, the groups wont include new posters in talk or feedback,its a shame because all true AJ BP fans should be included.Im a lurker and I have been reading JJ for years so I know its true.BTW love the Jolie Pitts. So Im not a Hater.Thats why I read the threads and notice whats being written and how the groups work.Holla.
My new favorite lie of Angeline Jolie is how she met Marianne Pearl while Marianne was still pregnant with her son, Adam! BS!!!
Daniel Pearl was murdered in January 2002. His wife, Marianne, gave birth to their son, Adam, later that year. (Angelina Jolie was still with Billy Bob Thornton at that time.) Jolie then met Pitt (who, because of his wife, Jennifer Aniston, owned the rights to film Marianne’s story) in 2004, they began their affair, and in 2005, Jolie took the part of Marianne in the film “A Mighty Heart” from Aniston. Marianne’s son Adam was 2-3 years old before Jolie ever had anything to do with Marianne Pearl!
Jolie simply cannot tell the truth, if she even knows what it is.
Oh!!!! And A Mighty Heart completely SUCKS!!!! Jolie cannot play a biracial woman. Previews and test audiences do NOT BUY it because Jolie not only sucks but audiences can’t see past Jolie’s manipulative lies and homewrecking. People do not enjoy watching this woman on screen and A Mighty Heart will completely bomb.
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104
stupid people Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am - flag comment
You know the part at the press conference when Angelina said she could’nt imagine not being with the father of her child like Marrianne went through without Danny.POST CHRONICLE thinks she was talking of Jonh Voight,just shows how stupid they are.They need to listen properly.What a joke
_______________________________________________________________________________
WHAT? Geez, they just can’t let it go.
twokids 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and until wht numbers u’ll go with ur lunatic rant, plZ..just Disappear already! ur boring, no life, ur pleading here? this a blog site? don’t fool us ur pity party kiddies! go call brad! or angie! . my lunatic friends, jennifer ddn’t even know u at All! i think u ALL kittens need to go see a producer And bEggggg to give jennifer a Movie! so lunatics like u, won’t come here with ur psychotic delusional thinking! i wish a producer, then i can give her a movie like in the animal planet maybe saving the orangutans as they becoming an endangered Species!
stupid people Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am - flag comment
You know the part at the press conference when Angelina said she could’nt imagine not being with the father of her child like Marrianne went through without Danny.POST CHRONICLE thinks she was talking of Jonh Voight,just shows how stupid they are.They need to listen properly.What a joke
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OMG, really?
English is a second language to me but I perfectly understood that she meant Brad. I think they understood it but tried to twist story.
When I listen to Angie saying this, I wondered what Brad was feeling.
I think Brad/Angie went through similar experience while preparing and making this films - what would happen if your significant other is dead. I think this is why Brad had the line of tattoo on his arm- quote form MP’ book. I believe meaning of the tattoo is that even if you do not have physical existence, your spirit is living with your love.
109
Jolie is a FRAUD Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:23 am - flag comment
My new favorite lie of Angeline Jolie is how she met Marianne Pearl while Marianne was still pregnant with her son, Adam! BS!!!
_________________________________________________________________
Okay, I make it a point to avoid answering people like you, but WHAT? Geez, if you want to hate, try hating with facts and not fiction. There is NOWHERE in this interview or others that Angie says she met Marianne Pearl while Marianne was still pregnant. She’s talking about meeting with Marianne Pearl about the making of the movie while SHE (ANGELINA JOLIE) was pregnant. They infact met earlier than that and MARIANNE PEARL is the one who initiated the friendship. Suck on that truth.
109
Jolie is a FRAUD Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:23 am - flag comment
Chin Chin, wipe the spittle from your pointy chin, put on your helmut and step away from the computer.
yes , i know people are shouting loud because Angelina played Mariane , a mixed race woman;
They want people stand up for human rights and black rights;
But they are not shouting when they find racist comments against little Zahara, Pax, Maddox……..
I guess it is double standard , white ass ,professionnal pity me can play MP, but Angelina is not brown enough!
Me think trolls are payed to make troubles and divise people for nothing
Variety Review:
The sad saga of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl has made it to the bigscreen with facts, figures and beating heart intact in “A Mighty Heart.” In his first studio venture, Michael Winterbottom coaxes forth a staggering wealth of detail from this terse, methodical account of Pearl’s kidnapping and murder in Pakistan, seen through the eyes of those who sought his return. Given audiences’ resistance to films dealing with 9/11 and its aftermath, soberly restrained pic reps a mighty tough sell, though Angelina Jolie’s performance as Pearl’s widow should broaden prospects for the June 22 Stateside release.
Adapting Mariane Pearl’s harrowing memoir, director Winterbottom, who previously ventured into Mideast politics with “In This World” and “The Road to Guantanamo,” proves to be just the man for the task. Though the prolific British chameleon isn’t one to make the same film twice, his gifts for docudrama storytelling — an ability to shepherd complicated narratives, avoiding every opportunity for sensationalism in favor of a low-key mounting dread — couldn’t be better suited to the material.
Having covered the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pearls were working as journalists in Karachi, Pakistan, on Jan. 23, 2002 — the day Danny (”Capote” scribe Dan Futterman), chasing a story about foiled shoe bomber Richard Reid, got into a cab and never returned. Sticking close to the very pregnant Mariane (Jolie), pic recounts the restless five-week search for the man’s whereabouts and his kidnappers’ identities, all accompanied by a hailstorm of media attention.
Screenplay crisply diagrams the labyrinth of false leads and fruitless interrogations with various middlemen Danny may have had contact with on the night of his disappearance. Suspicion ultimately comes to rest on the elusive Omar Saeed Sheikh (Alyy Khan), a known Islamic militant with a history of kidnapping foreigners.
Like his fellow suspects, Sheikh is seen only briefly, and in the most objective possible light. Working in the brisk, discursive style of a police procedural, Winterbottom scrupulously follows the rescue effort, step by agonizing step — ensuring that the audience is never given additional information despite its foreknowledge of the tragic outcome. Even larger political questions — the implications, say, of a scene in which a Pakistani suspect is strung up and interrogated, or the grim irony of a journalist couple facing intense media scrutiny — are subjugated to the flow of the storytelling.
Along the way, pic also manages to sketch vivid portraits of Mariane’s key supporters and allies. These include Danny’s tough-minded colleague, Asra Nomani (Archie Panjabi); a local cop (Irffhan Khan), known simply as Captain, determined not to let the case soil Pakistan’s reputation; American diplomatic security agent Randall Bennett (Will Patton), who tends to see the silver lining in all bad news; and Wall Street Journal higher-up John Bussey (Denis O’Hare), who arrives in Pakistan after news of the ordeal, a comforting but resilient figure.
But this is ultimately — and very intimately — Mariane Pearl’s story, and much of it rests on Jolie, who fits comfortably into the naturalistic mold that shapes the entire ensemble. Though Jolie sports a big belly, a high-coiffed hairstyle and a very challenging accent (raised in France, Mariane is of Afro-Cuban and Dutch descent), this isn’t the sort of commanding star turn in which the performer vanishes behind a well-known celebrity mask, but rather a subdued, carefully considered portrait of a woman caught between premature grief and persistent hope.
Jolie plays Mariane as sharp and prickly, but also highly principled and completely devoted to her husband. Wisely, Winterbottom opts to shoot her more high-pitched outbursts from a distance or in near-darkness, as if refusing to milk more histrionics than necessary.
Occasional subdued flashbacks to happier days from Mariane and Danny’s marriage, including a very brief love scene, add emotional texture even as they take something away from the film’s otherwise unsentimental approach.
Pic negotiates its way around another potential landmine — to show or not to show the widely circulated video of Pearl’s murder — re-creating a very brief, non-graphic snippet of the contentious footage and getting the facts across with the utmost restraint.
Shot on location in Pakistan, India and France, the film gains considerable authenticity and momentum from its handheld DV lensing by Winterbottom’s regular d.p., Marcel Zyskind, and Peter Christelis’ rapid editing, rarely allowing a shot to last more than a few seconds.
Jolie is a FRAUD Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:23 am - flag comment
My new favorite lie of Angeline Jolie is how she met Marianne Pearl while Marianne was still pregnant with her son, Adam! BS!!!
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I am sorry but Angie never said she met MP when MP was preg with Adam. Please read/listen to the interview carefully. Angie said MP was with Angie when Angie was 5-6 months preg.
Premiere review.
“A Mighty Heart”
Given her tabloid noteriety, is it possible for Angelina Jolie to even register a performance anymore? That is, when on screen, can she make you believe that you are not looking at Angelina Jolie? That’s just one of the questions going through my mind before seeing A Mighty Heart, the much-bruited film adaptation of Mariane Pearl’s memoir starring Jolie as Pearl, co-produced by Jolie’s companion Brad Pitt, and directed by Michael Winterbottom. (Pearl was the wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in early 2002. Mariane, also a journalist, was five months pregnant with their son at the time.)
The answer to the question is “kind of.” Which is not to say that Jolie does not perform to the fullest of her capabilities, or that she is ineffective. But what makes her convincing here has as much to do with how she is shot as what she does.
The ever astute Winterbottom has cast the film as a procedural and an ensemble piece. Contrary to what many might have inferred from the production stills, official-and-non, that emerged during the making of the film, this is not a picture wherein a lone Mariane Pearl wanders wide-eyed through the streets of Karachi in a heroic search for her missing spouse. Mariane spends most of the time in the rented house of a friend and colleague (Archie Panjabi), surrounded by a partially ad hoc team—a Pakistani police captain, an American diplomat, a couple of Wall Street Journal staffers, etc.—trying to piece together the hows and whys of Pearl’s abduction. (Pearl himself is played very well by Dan Futterman in his likable straight-shooter mode.)
Winterbottom appears to understand that no matter how much she is made up (here she is given a darker complexion and ringletted hair to better resemble the Afro-Cuban/Dutch Pearl; she looks pretty much just like herself regardless), there is no way an audience is going to look at her onscreen and NOT see Angelina Jolie. He employs a couple of strategies to tackle this. In the initial sequences of the film, he rarely puts her in the frame all by herself; she’s always in part of some bustle, even if she’s in the foreground. He also cuts very quickly; he doesn’t give her any “moments.” Thus, he makes her just a part of what he’s weaving, much of which involves getting the viewer as deep as film possibly can get one into the feel of Karachi. Winterbottom’s particularly good with environments, and he’s also a deft, quick storyteller, and he juggles chronology in a way that gives us a quick, empathy-generating read of Daniel and Mariane’s passionate involvement while moving the kidnap tale at almost full throttle.
Later, at moments when Mariane is most emotionally fraught, Winterbottom makes us not see Jolie by sort of not showing her to the viewer; he will shoot her from behind, or in silhouette. We don’t get a full-on, well lit face-forward shot of Mariane screaming until she’s giving birth to her and Daniel’s son Adam. And by this point of the film, it works.
As does, I should say, the rest of the picture, which is involving and moving in the mode of another war-zone Winterbottom picture, Welcome to Sarajevo. Jolie and Pitt were very smart to get a director who doesn’t do star turns to do Jolie’s star turn. I dare say she’s got at least an Oscar nomination locked.
Jolie never said she met marianne when she was pregnant jolie said marianne asked her to take the role when jolie herself was 6 months pregnant and said how she could relate. get your facts straight.
2kidz3 please you need to understand that i admire Angelina not Jennifer Anistons and no one picked on her YOU are the one that brought up the discussion. Really kini o fe ki a se am tied of busy body.
Well 2Kidzs jo wo lo wa oko fun Aniston or je ki oko re ko fe.
Ni temi I love the Jolie-Pitt family mo feran Brad, Angie, Mad, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh and am proud to be their fan.
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