Angelina Jolie is grateful to have had the opportunity to share a rough cut of her forthcoming movie Unbroken with the film's subject, Louis Zamperini, days before he died in early July (14).
The Olympic runner-turned-war hero passed away on 2 July (14) at the age of 97 after a battle with pneumonia.
Jolie, who had grown fond of Zamperini while making the biopic last year (13), paid an emotional tribute to her friend following the sad news, admitting the pain of his death "is a loss impossible to describe".
Now the actress/director has opened up about one of the last days she spent with Zamperini as she gave him a sneak peek of the film they had been working on so closely together.
She tells Australia's TV Week magazine, "I brought him the film on my laptop in the hospital, and it was amazing seeing someone at the end of their life watching their life unfold again, at the same time their body was shutting down."
And Jolie, who underwent a preventative double mastectomy in May, 2013, reveals Zamperini inspired her in other aspects of her life too: "He wanted me to make the movie to show something hopeful about the strength of the human spirit that can pull us through. He reminded me to have my surgery in the year that I did, and he reminded me to appreciate every day of my life."
British newcomer Jack O'Connell will portray Zamperini in the film, while Domhnall Gleeson has been cast as war hero Russel Allen Phillips.
Zamperini, who competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Germany, became a prisoner of war in 1943 when his U.S. Air Force plane crashed down in the Pacific and he was captured by Japanese soldiers behind enemy lines after spending over a month at sea without food or water.
This animated trilogy concludes on a very high note with this smart, involving and often...
For their first on-screen partnership since Mr & Mrs Smith a decade ago, Brad Pitt...
Po and The Furious Five return in Kung Fu Panda 3! Po might now be...
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt talk about the unusual situation of playing a married couple...
It's the 1970s and Roland and Vanessa are an outwardly respectable married couple, struggling to...
Po the giant panda may be ever increasing his prowess at kung-fu, but he still...
With a true story that's almost hard to believe, this inspiring biographical drama is made...
Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) is a rebel. His constant fights and reckless behaviour cause more...
Louis Zamperini has learned to fight tooth and nail for what he believes in all...
Disney rewrites its own history again with this revisionist version of its 1959 classic Sleeping...
'Maleficent' stars Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning talk about the upcoming fairytale movie alongside screenwriter...
Maleficent is a cruel sorceress who will stop at nothing to destroy those who have...
Louis Zamperini may have been a wayward child, constantly getting into trouble with the local...
Maleficent is a merciless sorceress who dubs herself the 'Mistress of All Evil'. But she...