We always see the brave Angelina Jolie in her interviews and public appearance however, this time Jolie gets emotional when Louis Zamperini was mentioned in the interview. Jolie became shaky and her eyes are well up with tears. Although, Jolie became emotional she decided to continue with the interview and still wants to talk about Zamperini.
Louis Zamperini, an American Olympic distance runner and a World War II survivor. Angelina Jolie remembered the day when she went to the hospital where the 97-years-old Zamperini was being cared for.
Jolie visited Zamperini to talk about her directorial project "Unbroken" which will featured the inspiring story of Zamperini. She still remembers the moment when she presented the film to Zamperini and how they talk about the film. For her, it was a beautiful moment. Zamperini was like a father and a grandfather for her.
"Unbroken" was shot in Australia and focus on the life of Zamperini after he finished eighth in the 5000 m race during 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
He was enlisted in the US Army's Air Forces. In 1943, Zamperini was one of the three survivors of B-24 Liberator when it was crashed into the Pacific Ocean. They spent their 47 days in the ocean and survived on fish, albatross and rainwater before they were captured by the Japanese.
Zamperini also survived the torture and beatings that he had while he was a prisoner of war and it only ended in 1945 when the war is over.
Laura Hillenbrand's 2010 book about Zamperini's life captured the interest of Jolie and made her decided to put it on film.
However, making the film is not a smooth ride for Jolie. She still needs to convince Universal Pictures to support her. While Zamperini was excited for the film, Jolie still need to have the green lit. For her doing the film is not easy because she was a new director and the film requires big action sequences and she still needs to figure out how to do those sequences without spending too much money.
She told Zamperini to keep an eye on the flagpole located on her home which Zamperini can see from his place.
She told Zamperini that he will know if she got the green lit, she will raise the USA flag. When she finally got the approval, she called her husband Brad Pitt and told him to 'Get the flag up'. He called Zamperini and he asked her if the raised flag was for him and she said yes, they finally made it.
Zamperini passed away days after Jolie showed the film to him. However, it may be a sad lost, Jolie still happy that he is finally at peace.
"Unbroken" will be released on Jan. 22, 2015 in New Zealand.
