With Two Successful Movies Out, Angelina Jolie Can Afford To Do Pet Projects Like "By The Sea"

Recently, Angelina Jolie has made no bones about moving on from acting onto something longer lasting and probably more substantial. I’m hinting at a directorial career, if you haven’t guessed. But Jolie is doing far more than hinting. While doing press for her second effort behind the camera, the critically acclaimed Louis Zamperini biopic, Jolie managed to slip in a little reference to that other project she’s working on.

Jolie is in the process of editing By the Sea, the romantic drama she directed and starred in with Brad Pitt this year. Although she didn’t enjoy directing herself, the newly minted filmmaker said it was a much needed experience for both her and her new husband.

"We just wanted to play again," she said for HitFix. "We've been doing big films and been apart and we just wanted to play. So I wrote something that was actually about a bad marriage so we decided to shoot that on our honeymoon." [Laughs.] It turned out to be a good idea, thank God."

But the big thing at the moment has got to be Unbroken. Speaking to interviewers at the film’s premiere over the weekend, Jolie described the directing experience.

Watch the Unbroken trailer below.

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"I do love working with actors," Jolie said of directing. "I think it's something I realized I love so much more. I love putting the spotlight on somebody else and seeing what they do. And I love that I know a little bit about what that feels like, so I can give them the protections that I believe they need. I don't know. I'm still so new to this. I come at it with, 'I love this story. I want to tell this story. I care about this man. I want an audience to receive this story. I don't want to make it too much for them, too long for them, too violent for them, too anything.' I just want to be able to communicate, and you try your best."

More: Angelina Jolie's Unbroken Will Finally Bring Louis Zamperini To The Big Screen

Unbroken, starring Jack O’Connell, will be out in the US and UK on Christmas and Boxing Day respectively.