Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt play a couple going through a crisis in this fall’s By the Sea, but Jolie says the film doesn’t resemble their own relationship.
“It’s not autobiographical,” said Jolie in a recent Vogue interview. “Brad and I have our issues … but if the characters were even remotely close to our problems, we couldn’t have made the film.”
Jolie wrote and directed By the Sea, which follows a couple who struggle through their relationship issues while vacationing in France in the 1970s. The film marks the couple’s first onscreen appearance since Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005.
“Everybody knows there is never just the tragedy of life, or the humor of life or pure joy of life,” said Jolie in a Vogue featurette video. “Relationships have those extremes. You can absolutely madly love the same person you want to kill.”
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Although Jolie says the film does not represent her own relationship issues, she says the script comes from her “own crazy mind.”
“It’s the puzzle of figuring out those things that get in the way of really loving someone,” said Pitt. “A lot of it is the past; a lot of it is your own insecurities. A lot of it is wanting someone so much that you focus too much on losing it.”
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The video also shows behind-the-scenes clips where the couple’s kids joined them between takes. Jolie expressed that filming By the Sea was her and Pitt’s “honeymoon” since she and Pitt flew with their six kids to the set on the Maltese island of Gozo shortly after they married.
“We can experiment and play and it’s oddly a safer environment than any set I’ve ever been on before, so we let loose,” said Pitt.
Although Jolie expressed she was happy her husband took on her project, Pitt admitted the film was still challenging at times.
“Absolutely challenging,” said Pitt. “One of the most challenging things I’ve taken on.”
The “challenging” script was often labeled as “the crazy one” and “the worst idea,” according to Jolie, but in the end the actress expressed that the film has made the duo even stronger.
“As artists we wanted something that took us out of our comfort zones … just being raw actors. It’s not the safest idea. But life is short.”
By the Sea hits theaters on Nov. 13. Watch the featurette below.
