White House in Brangelina's future?
President *Angelina Jolie *and *Brad Pitt *the First Lad? It sounds like the plot of a politically themed Hollywood rom-com (perhaps penned by The West Wing's *Aaron Sorkin *).
But after sitting down with Jolie after the premiere of her World War II epic Unbroken yesterday, the idea of Brangelina in the White House doesn't sound so crazy.
Even though she has just directed a major motion picture with Oscar aspirations and has two more in the pipeline, Jolie says she's not committed to either acting or filmmaking or even being part of the movie business.
Her interests and ambitions shoot way beyond the Hollywood horizon and, as she recently told Vanity Fair, that might be a mid-career shift to diplomacy or politics.
"I love working in film and I am very happy to have been given the opportunity to work on a movie of the scale of Unbroken, which was a very steep learning curve for me," Jolie said during our face-to-face interview at Sydney's swish InterContinental hotel.
"But I wake up as a mother; I wake up as a human being. I want to learn, I want to learn about the world, I want to see where I can be useful. I'm also an artist but I want to be where I can do good work so I am open to seeing what life brings."
Indeed, the Angelina Jolie who graced the red carpet on Monday night and faced the media the next day is a far cry from the wild child who claims she wore a vial of *Billy Bob Thornton *'s blood around her neck and gave her brother an uncomfortably passionate kiss during the 2000 Oscars.
Jolie is now a global role model and the epitome of modern femininity - a woman of both style and substance who charmed and impressed both hard-bitten journalists and the thousands of adoring fans who lined the red carpet for the world premiere of Unbroken.
But for now the future politician (maybe) and current UN Goodwill Ambassador for Refugees is a second-time director anxious for audiences to love her new movie - so much so when I informed Jolie the first-night audience let rip with a round of applause during the end credits for Unbroken, she sighed with relief.
"That's so wonderful to hear," said Jolie, who was relaxed yet fully engaged during our interview. "You put so much of yourself into making a movie that it is a relief to know you haven't wasted your time."
MARK NAGLAZAS, SYDNEY
'I love working
in film and I am
very happy to have been given the opportunity to work on a movie of the scale of Unbroken, which was a very steep learning curve for me.'
