Acting is like being in therapy: Angelina Jolie

Unlike the other diners in The Grill on the Universal Studios lot in Hollywood,I know she is coming. She explains that she chose the location because she is using an office at the studio to put the finishing touches to her directorial debut,In the Land of Blood and Honey,a love story she also wrote,which is set in the Bosnian war.

In addition to making films,Jolie,36,has six children and a raft of humanitarian commitments with the United Nations as an ambassador with its High Commission for Refugees. Over the years her UN role has involved visits to camps in countries such as Sierra Leone,Pakistan and Ecuador.

Her partner,actor Brad Pitt,had been filming in Europe and she and the children were there with him. She tells me she has brought her daughters with her for this trip. She explains that she and Pitt tend to travel everywhere with them and the family is never in the same place for long. “We take turns working so one of us can be home with the kids… I brought the girls so we’re having a special girl trip. All the boys are hanging out with Brad.”

The Jolie Pitt family is a miniature League of Nations. Their eldest son Maddox,who is almost 10,was adopted in 2002 from Cambodia. Zahara,aged six,was born in Ethiopia,while Shiloh,the couple’s first biological child,was born five years ago in Namibia. Pax,whom they adopted four years ago,was born in Vietnam and three years ago,Jolie gave birth in France to twins Knox and Vivienne. “They are all learning about each other’s cultures as well as being proud of their own,” she says. “They all have their flags over their beds and their individual pride. We owe Vietnam a visit,because Pax is due. Z wants to get back to Africa,and Shiloh too. So everyone takes their turns in their country.”

Given how much they travel I wonder where they consider home. “Home is wherever we are.” Does she feel rootless? “Yes,but happily… If you can travel I think it’s the best way to raise kids.”

Motherhood has changed her,she says,particularly with respect to her career. She explains that her relationship with acting has changed over the years. “It’s like being in therapy,in a way. You’re drawn to certain roles because they question something about life,or about love,or about freedom.” Now,she adds,“I’m older and I know who I am . . . and I’m less interested in the character helping me answer something . . . than in being able to answer it for myself,as a woman,as an adult,with my family.”

We talk about Salt,an action film released last year in which Jolie punches,shoots and kicks her way through the CIA,Secret Service and a cabal of rogue Russian spies. The title role was initially written for a man but the script was modified when it became clear she was interested. “I’d just had the twins,” she recalls. “I’d been in a nightgown for a very,very long time. And I was sitting in the hospital breastfeeding and reading this script in my nightgown,feeling so soft and mama . . . and I was flipping these pages and it was all fighting and shooting guns. I thought,‘That’s what I need. I need to get out of my nightgown and I need a gun’.”

She says she is not thinking of quitting acting any time soon. “But I don’t love it as much [as I did. I love being a mom.”

Jolie hints that we may see less of her on screen in future. “As Brad and I get older we’re going to do fewer films. I’ve been working for a long time,he’s been working for a long time . . . we’ve had a nice run and don’t want to be doing this our whole lives. There are a lot of other things to do.”

© 2011 The Financial Times Limited