Angelina Jolie went to Spain’s San Sebastián Film Festival to promote her upcoming Alice Winocour movie Couture, and it was inevitable she’d face political questions from the press considering the tense state of American affairs. It would have been easy to dodge them and circle back to the movie, but Jolie didn’t hold back when asked what she feared as an artist and an American.
“I love my country, but at this time, I don’t recognize my country,” she said via Variety. “I’ve always lived internationally, my family is international, my friends, my life … My worldview is equal, united, and international. Anything anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms from anyone, I think, is very dangerous. These are such serious times that we have to be careful not to say things casually. These are very, very heavy times we are living in together.”
Jolie didn’t pin the divisions in America on either side of the debate, but Jolie has aligned herself with left-wing causes throughout her career. She also served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2012. And between 2012 and 2022, Jolie was the Special Envoy for UNHCR.
In Couture, Jolie plays an American filmmaker who discovers she has breast cancer in the middle of Paris Fashion Week. “I lost my mother and grandmother very young, so I chose to have a double mastectomy about a decade ago,” Jolie told the press. “Those were my choices. I don’t say everybody should do it that way, but it’s important to have the choice. I don’t regret it. Anybody who’s gone through something feels vulnerable and alone. There is something particular about women’s cancers because [they] affect how we feel as women.”
Trending Stories
She stars in the movie alongside Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, and Garance Marillier. Jolie wears her mother’s necklace throughout the film. “I also wore her ashes,” she said. “I thought about her a lot. I think everybody in this room has sat in a hospital room. Maybe some of you have been through heavier things. In the film, I would think about these moments, and wish [my mother] had this community. I wish she were able to speak as openly as I’ve been and that people would respond as graciously as you have.”
Jolie’s next movie, Anxious People, is a much lighter project. Based on David Magee’s 2019 novel of the same name, it’s a comedy about a group of people caught up in a bank robbery. Jolie’s co-stars include Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Segel, Carol Kane, Stephanie Allynne, Joanna Scanlan, Lennie James, and Jessica Gunning.
