Angelina Jolie's 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' Directorial Debut May Change Her Acting Style

Angelina Jolie makes her directing debut in the war romance, In the Land of Blood and Honey, a project that has affected her both personally and professionally.

our editor recommends

Brad Pitt Puts Malibu Home on the Market for $13.75 Million

Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker Reap the Benefits of Being Fashion Savvy

Angelina Jolie Appears Without Makeup in Louis Vuitton's New Ad

Angelina Jolie Honored at Sarajevo Film Festival (Video)

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Highest Paid Actresses

“I’ve never felt more exposed. My whole career, I’ve hidden behind other people’s words,” she said in Vanity Fair’s October cover story. “Now it’s me talking. You feel ridiculous if you get something wrong.”

Jolie wrote the script, which is set against the backdrop of the Bosnian Civil War in the 1990s, while laid up with the flu and isolated from her family. Trusting no one else to helm her project, Jolie stepped in to direct the film, casting all unknown local actors and filming in both Serbo-Croation and English.

PHOTOS: 10 Billion Dollar Babies: Movies That Have Crossed the 10 Figure Mark

“Brad thinks I’m going to be a nightmare,” she joked of how the project would change her acting career. “I had such a good experience he thinks I’m going to be impatient with directors, which I already am. I get impatient with people working on a film that have their head in their hands like it’s the most complicated thing in the world.”

In addition to seeking advice from partner and father to her children, Brad Pitt, Jolie also gauged the accuracy of the script with “reporters and writers, people of Serbian and Bosnian nationality who’d been through the war.”

“If they said no, I wouldn’t have done it,” she added.

STORY: Angelina Jolie Says She Doesn't Love Acting as Much as She Used to

Jolie was recently awarded with the Sarajevo Film Festival’s “Heart of Sarajevo” award in the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she filmed parts of Blood and Honey. She was honored for her humanitarian efforts and “active engagement in the complexities of the real world.”

FilmDistrict will release Jolie’s directorial debut to U.S. audiences on Dec. 23.