Mother’s death inspired movie
In an interview on The Today show, Jolie says By the Sea is inspired by her mother’s death in 2007.
We can’t say what the whole film is about, but a lot of the film was when I went to visit my mom in the hospital, when she found out she had cancer the first time. She was going to have her ovaries removed, [and] was very upset, feeling like…they’re taking out her parts that were female, and there was a woman down the hall who was wailing. I later found out it was a young woman who had not had children yet, and that put everything into perspective.
She also talks about how her mother urged her doctor to take her ovaries removed.
We had some of the same nurses, some of the same doctors. So, the doctor that did my ovary surgery was my mother’s doctor. And apparently my mother had said to her, ‘Promise me you will take Angie’s ovaries out.’ So when we kind of got together, we both had a big cry, and she said, ‘I promised your mother, and I’ve gotta do this.
Addresses ‘vial of blood’ rumor
Thornton explains the ‘vial of blood’ rumors that circulated while he was married to Angelina Jolie. Thornton is questioned about the vial while speaking at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television.
[A] vial of blood is very simple. Angie came home one day with a kit she bought. You know those lockets you buy that are clear and you put a picture of your grannie in it or something like that and wear it around your neck? That’s what it was. She bought two of those. We were apart a lot because she’s off making Tomb Raider and I’m making Monster’s Ball. We were on opposite ends—we see each other for two weeks and whatever. She thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razorblade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter’s baby hair in one. Same thing. From that we were wearing quart jars of blood around our necks. And we were vampires and we lived in a dungeon. I think it’s your duty to kind of tell people the truth about this stuff and the truth is not encouraged anymore.
Hello Magazine cover
Jolie and Pitt’s wedding picture is featured on the cover of Hello Magazine. The family made the children a large part of the wedding celebration and planning including the wedding dress. When questioned on their children’s choices for the wedding Jolie replied:
We are discussing it with the children and how they imagine it might be, which is verging on hysterical, how kids envision a wedding. They will, in a way, be the wedding planners. It’s going to be Disney or paintball – one or the other!
Angelina Jolie interview
Entertainment Weekly interviews Jolie about how her children reacted to her playing the role of the villain in the film Maleficent.
I told my kids I was playing Maleficent and they went “She’s so scary!” and I said “Let me tell you the real story but you can’t tell anybody” so I put them in the room and I told them the [film’s] story. So this was my test too, like any parent. And the next day, I heard Shiloh getting into a fight with another kid, defending Maleficent. Saying, “You don’t understand her!” They got into a bit of an argument and I thought that’s the reason to do the film. It’s not just that there’s more to people than meets the eye, but that there’s injustice in the world and children get fired up about injustice. [They] want the character they believe in to get up and fight. And when that character makes mistakes — which Maleficent does, and crosses many lines you want them to be angry at her and concerned and confused and in the end, somehow understand something that they didn’t know before.
Angelina Jolie interview
Elle Magazine interviews Jolie about her fight with breast cancer and her decision to allow doctors to perform a double mastectomy.
The decision to have a mastectomy was not easy, but it is one I am very happy that I made. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.