ANGELINA JOLIE has spoken about her "unceremonial" Californian wedding to Brad Pitt, which preceded the couple's official marriage in France - revealing that compared to the commitment they had already made to their children, the wedding felt very "casual".
"For me, the big moment was when we signed the joint adoption papers for Maddox and Zahara. That was a decision to parent together, to commit to being a part of each other's lives for the rest of my life. So marriage wasn't close in comparison. In a way, it was very casual," she told The New York Times. "The ceremony was in France, but we had to do things legally in California. One day I was in the edit room, and Brad was doing something and an assistant said, 'You have to sign some papers.' So we came back and between meetings we were told, 'Here's your licence.' Then someone said, 'The judge is outside.' We both said, 'What do you mean, the judge is outside?' Then the judge came in, this lovely guy, and at some point, Brad said, 'Shouldn't we be standing up?' The judge said, 'No.' Then suddenly we realised we were married, in the most unceremonial way possible."
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As soon as their French ceremony had taken place, the couple began filming By The Sea - a gruelling drama about a couple whose relationship is unravelling, in which they both star and Jolie directs.
"I'm the first female director Brad has ever worked with. That doesn't seem right when you think about it," she said, referring to the often-referenced gender inequality in Hollywood. "I'm not just a woman, but a writer-director. We're also husband and wife. I think it was doubly hard. We know certain things about each other. At first it was a little uncomfortable. You want to be careful what button you press and what you don't. At the same time, he later said he felt like he could be the most open in his acting, because he trusted I was genuinely there to help him give the best performance."
But it wasn't just Pitt who had to push his comfort levels in order to achieve the best performance; Jolie - who initially had not intended to play the lead role - also had to challenge herself.
"There were lots of scenes I wanted to change or cut. I realised it was going to be me naked in that bathtub," she said. "But I told myself, put all of that aside. Like; you can't change or cut this scene because you've had a mastectomy, or because we're married and people are going to analyse this or that. That would be cheating."
After the emotional rigours of filming such a movie, it would be understandable if Jolie was next seen in something much more frivolous, but the actress revealed that it is unlikely to happen.
"I love comedies," she said, "but I'm never asked to do anything even self-mocking. I tried to do comedy when I was younger. It didn't work. I don't think I'm very funny."
Addressing again the question of whether the film's warring central couple are anything like them, Jolie was as candid as ever.
"If people think these are our particular issues, well, that's wrong. But if they want to think we have terrible fights, are imperfect, have insecurities and can be depressed and emotional, of course that's true. We have problems, arguments. We are two very human, flawed people. And I think that's a good thing to show."
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