Angelina Jolie ‘Absolutely’ Plans to Give Up Acting

Angelina Jolie in DuJour. Photo: Francesco Carrozzini 

In the new issue of DuJour Magazine, out today, Angelina Jolie makes a major confession. “I’ve never been comfortable as an actor; I’ve never loved being in front of the camera,” says the Oscar winner. “I didn’t ever think I could direct, but I hope I’m able to have a career at it because I’m much happier.” When pressed for further confirmation asked if she plans to give up acting entirely, her answer is “absolutely.”

While we could not imagine a world in which Jolie does not grace the big screen, we are excited to see how she continues to develop as a director. She covers the mag’s new issue with Jack O’Connell, the leading man for her sophomore effort, Unbroken, in theaters this Christmas.

The 24-year-old Englishman was handpicked by Jolie to reimagine the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who became a Japanese P.O.W. during World War II. Throughout filming for four months in Australia, the director and her leading man got very close. O’Connell had a best friend who was suffering from liver cancer and Jolie would arrange for the actor to helicopter home so he could visit. Jolie, as the world knows, had a double mastectomy last year.

A grueling shoot schedule, including filming battle scenes in unwavering heat, only strengthened the bond between the actor and nascent director, who made the film because she felt that this project would “make her a better person.”

She also made it for the young men in her life. “In the back of my mind, I wanted to make a film that would help my boys become better men,” she says. “They know Louie’s story, so I’m able to say to them that it’s not bad to be full of fire—it’s what you choose to do with that fire.”

Apparently at least one of her sons is channeling that fire into the family business. Her eldest, Maddox, served as a production assistant in By the Sea, a drama which comes out next year that Jolie wrote, directed, and stars in alongside her new husband, Brad Pitt. “It’s so weird,” she jokes about the whole experience.