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CNN Larry King Live

Interview With Angelina Jolie

Aired June 14, 2007 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Angelina Jolie -- from Hollywood wild child to superstar mother of four to U.N. goodwill ambassador.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: These people would be casualties of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And one half of the world's most famous couple.

(VIDEO CLIP OF ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRAD PITT)

KING: And now, finding hope and humanity amid true life terror in her new film, "A Mighty Heart."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

JOLIE: Hello.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Angelina Jolie on fame and family, acting and activism and what she sees in her future.

It's all next on LARRY KING LIVE.

I have the pleasure to welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE Angelina Jolie, the Oscar winning actress.

Her latest film will open a week from tomorrow. It's "A Mighty Heart," based a memoir of the same title by Mariane Pearl, the widow of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl of the "Wall Street Journal."

Her partner, Brad Pitt, is one of the film's producers.

She's the mother of four and the United Nation's goodwill ambassador.

And I might add, on a personal note, this is a terrific movie. I already gave it notations. I must salute you on it.

Was it hard to capture someone living? ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: Yes, of course. And somebody -- and she's a -- she's a really complex woman. She's a really interesting woman. So not a simple woman to play. But really the most difficult thing was I got to know here and I have such a great respect for her. And so to have the responsibility to kind of help express to the world or show the world, somehow interpret who she is and hope that through that, helps people understand her better. So I took that responsibility to heart and that made it hard.

KING: She appeared on this show quite a few times.

JOLIE: Um-hmm.

KING: And you studied that?

JOLIE: I studied those interviews many, many, many times.

KING: What are you looking for? In other words, are you looking for speech intonation?

JOLIE: Yes, both. I mean I had -- I had all of her interviews on audio and I would just listen to them over and over and over again. But she also has a very interesting way of speaking, not just because her accent is Cuban/French, but she -- it's interesting the things that she -- you know her well. When she speaks about politics, when she's passionate, she is so forward and clear.

She's very private, so when she's asked about other things, she hesitates. And, you know, see -- I suppose it was that, too, seeing where she goes inside and where she's direct.

KING: She's sort of like someone else I know.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Why did you do this movie?

JOLIE: I believe in the message of this movie. I think people can interpret it different -- many different ways. But to me, the most important thing was that you -- the idea of this story -- a lot of people see it as a story about the division between our cultures and faiths and hate and anger and violence.

And when I read her book and started to work on this, it was very clear that it was a story about rising above all of the fear and the anger and actually coming to a place of dialogue and tolerance. And about this group of people, from different backgrounds, from different faiths, who came together.

So it was -- it was a positive story and I thought that was necessary today.

KING: And beautifully directed.

Now, Brad Pitt produced it?

JOLIE: Yes, he was one of the producers.

KING: Did you induce him to do that? Or did...

JOLIE: No. No. He had bought the book a while ago.

KING: Oh, he bought the book?

JOLIE: Yes. Yes. No, he was -- he was a -- like all of us, he saw her interviews with you and some other interviews at that time and was impressed by her and read the book and (INAUDIBLE)...

KING: Did he cast you?

JOLIE: No. No, she cast me.

KING: She did?

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: She had a say in the film?

JOLIE: She had a say in pretty -- everybody had agreed -- Brad has such respect for her as a producer that he never was intent on I have to get this movie made. He simply just said if it falls into the right hands and goes in the right direction, it will be beautiful. But everybody promised Mariane that if it ever took a direction she didn't want and was uncomfortable with -- the same with Ruth and Judea -- that we would stop. We wouldn't -- it wouldn't be done. And so everybody stayed true to that.

KING: Was it any kind of a problem when you're involved with the person who is also producing?

JOLIE: I suppose -- no, it wasn't. It was lovely.

KING: Because the producer's in charge, isn't he? Or the director's in charge?

JOLIE: He -- yes, Brad is a great producer, though. He really was -- he cared so much about the story and wanted to make sure it was all right and worked very hard to do all the things a producer needs to do. But he really backed off and let everybody do their work.

KING: Did you work for less money?

JOLIE: Yes, I did.

KING: Because you loved it?

JOLIE: Yes. Yes.

KING: What was the total budget of this movie?

JOLIE: I don't know, but I know that it's eligible for the Independent Spirit Awards.

KING: Then it wasn't a lot. It wasn't a lot.

Were you very happy with it?

JOLIE: I was happy when I got a call from Mariane and when I heard from Ruth and Judea. And then I was happy. I was...

KING: If they liked it, you were going to like it?

JOLIE: Yes. Yes. I was uncomfortable until that moment.

KING: You also met Daniel's parents, right?

JOLIE: Um-hmm.

KING: They live in UCLA. They live -- they go -- I'm involved in UCLA and their foundation.

JOLIE: Uh-huh. Yes, they live in L.A. so...

KING: They're very nice people.

Did you get emotionally involved?

JOLIE: Yes. Yes, you can't not. It is -- even before I -- I think anybody, especially maybe an American at that time, we were all emotionally involved in this story simply because anybody watching this interview probably remembers that time, remembers hearing what happened. And so we're all connected. And he is a symbol. And she and her strength was a symbol at that time, so...

But to get to know the family is very emotional. And they are -- and that's what I think led us all through the production of it. We were in constant reminder that this was a story about real people. And this was a real man who was killed in a horrible way and this is a real little boy that's going to grow up and learn all about this and maybe see this film.

KING: Yes.

JOLIE: And we have a responsibility to him. And so we never forgot that.

KING: Whenever I saw the place mentioned at the bottom of the movie, is that where you were?

JOLIE: I -- well, my -- I was always in India for the filming. I had been to Pakistan. But for the filming, I was in India.

KING: It's always in India?

JOLIE: But in -- well, no -- my character.

KING: Yes.

JOLIE: But, no, Michael...

KING: The other parts, though?

JOLIE: ... Michael shot in Pakistan and around the world and (INAUDIBLE).

KING: Who was the director?

JOLIE: Michael Winterbottom.

KING: Now that's important for an actress, I know, to be in simpatico with him.

You hadn't been directed by him before, right?

JOLIE: No.

KING: How did it go?

JOLIE: It was amazing. He -- he's a really rare director. He has a very unique style. He's very documentary -- he's very news- oriented. He's very focused on issues in the world and this part of the world that he had done different films about -- about this part of the world. And he did a story on refugees -- a film on refugees that I loved.

So he brings a real -- a real knowledge. But, also, he has this very improvised way of doing it. We had no trailers. We had no lights. We used to joke about lighting ourselves by the light of our computer to try to get some light on us, as women but (LAUGHTER).

But we had no...

KING: Whoa.

JOLIE: We had no...

KING: Big stars don't do that.

JOLIE: It was the -- it was -- I was so grateful to remember what it was to be an actor and to remember what it was to be a part of a team.

KING: Well put.

Angelina Jolie is our guest.

The film opens a week from tomorrow.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE (ON TELEVISION): We're doing everything we can to try to locate him and rescue him.

JOLIE: He has a gun to his head and he's smiling. He's telling me he's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you could say one thing to your husband now, what would you tell him?

JOLIE: That I love him.

This film is for our son, so he knows that his father was an ordinary man, an ordinary hero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (ON TELEVISION): We're coming to you from the home of Daniel Pearl, the journalist who's been kidnapped in Pakistan.

IRFAN KHAN, ACTOR: The most important thing for us is to find your husband.

JOLIE: There are so many people in this city, how would you find one man?

KHAN: We'll fight kidnappings with kidnappings.

Is Daniel Pearl still alive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought Jalani (ph) was the guy?

KHAN: He was just the bait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did your husband have to meet with these people?

JOLIE: He's a journalist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think this is the business of a journalist.

JOLIE: Forgive me for correcting you, but it is absolutely the business of a journalist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And we're back with Angelina Jolie and this terrific movie, "A Mighty Heart." I saw it last week. It opens a week from tomorrow, wide, as they say. And she might well win another Oscar.

There is the incredible scene when you learn of the death.

What do you bring to that? How hard, from an acting standpoint, but I don't want to be too technical, is that kind scene to play?

JOLIE: Really hard. It's really hard in that you just have to wake up that morning and hope that you can be open and be really open as a person, as an artist and just hope that something organic will come through. And you just pray it does and pray that you can connect to all of the things that matter. And at that time...

KING: Going into work that day, do you think about it a lot?

JOLIE: We -- you know, we shot in order, pretty much.

KING: Oh, really?

JOLIE: Pretty much.

KING: Ooh.

JOLIE: And so in that house, we went from -- my first day filming in the house, I was with Dan Futterman. And the next day he was gone. And the next...

KING: Futterman plays Dan?

JOLIE: He plays Danny Pearl. And the next night was us with the computers, trying to figure out information, which we really were trying to figure out, because we hadn't seen half the stuff and we were trying to make sense of it.

And it continued for five weeks and then different people came in, different actors arrived and we became a family. And we all spent time talking to the real people. We all spent time looking at pictures of Danny.

And we've all met Mariane and Danny's son. And when that night happened, we all just -- we all were really terribly sad. And it was a really heavy night on set, because we knew that this was the night -- since we'd been so, you know, involved it just was -- we were going to kind of reenact and remember and stand in that place.

And just to go out on a balcony and see everybody and know that she stood here, pregnant, with her little boy and was told this. And this -- and that really happened. And...

KING: Whoa.

JOLIE: And so it was very -- we were all -- there were things that weren't in the film that ended up being, I think -- there was one take that we did where I ended up crying. Archie, who plays Asra, came in crying. The captain that came in, held my hand, he had tears in his eyes.

We were all -- Irfan, who plays the captain -- everybody was just a real -- it was a very cathartic -- and that is credit to Michael for making such an open, kind of warm set that makes for that kind of comforting connection, but also a credit to Mariane's book and his parents for -- who shared so much that we felt connected.

KING: Did you have to do a lot of takes?

JOLIE: Not too many. It felt right. I think we knew when it was time.

KING: You -- in fact, some condolences are in order because your mom passed away since last we were together, right, when you were on for "The Good Shepherd?"

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: So you're dealing with loss?

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: Is it hard for you?

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: She had cancer, right?

JOLIE: Um-hmm. Yes, ovarian cancer

KING: I don't think -- you never get over the loss of a mother.

We have an e-mail question from Lex in New York: "When you film something so wrenchingly emotional as 'A Mighty Heart,' how do you go about a daily life with your family, with the normal emotions of a home?"

JOLIE: It actually...

KING: A good question.

JOLIE: It is a good question. And it actually makes it -- you hold onto your family a lot tighter. I think those -- through that entire film, because of the subject matter, I was -- I would go home and I would squeeze my kids and I would hold onto Brad and I would be so grateful that I knew where my family was and that they were all right, and wanted to indulge in every moment with them and with -- you know, it just -- it helps to focus you.

And you need to laugh. And you need to play. And you go -- you need to go to the park much more. And so you end up being even better at that than -- than otherwise.

KING: How do you think Mariane, as you know her, will deal with Adam growing up?

JOLIE: As I know her, she will deal with it as good as anybody could possibly.

KING: Will she be straightforward with him?

JOLIE: Yes. She's -- she's a very straightforward woman. I don't know how -- how exactly she plans to talk to him about all that's happened. But I do know -- I do know she has raised him -- he's a very thoughtful, very loving boy. And she is his mom and his friend. And I'm sure she will be very, very direct.

And it's -- I'm sure that time is coming too, because he has come to that age.

KING: Now during the prep for this film, you were expecting Shiloh, right?

JOLIE: Yes. That's right.

KING: Well, did that have any of the -- any effect?

JOLIE: It did. It was, you know, it was strange. We were -- Mariane and Michael came to Namibia when I was about as pregnant as she was during when the film takes place. And, you know, so we were sitting together and I was six months pregnant talking to her about being five-and-a-half months pregnant. And it impacted me greatly because it was -- it was just that much more of a reminder of what they took away from that family, not just also her physical strength, because normal -- any woman who is that pregnant is kind of tired, wants to nap, snacks, is emotional, has -- you know, it's difficult.

And the thing that pulls you through it this great joy in knowing that somebody you love is there with you and you're about to have a baby together and you look at each other across the hospital room and this is going to be the most wonderful thing. So nothing exhausts you and nothing bothers you.

And she didn't have that. And she had, in fact, quite the opposite. She had nothing but pain and sadness and sorrow during that time. And...

KING: One of the quotes I gave for the film was that this film is so well made, you don't know how it ends.

I'll ask Angelina about that right after this.

(VIDEO CLIP OF ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRAD PITT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): Angelina, I adore you. Even (INAUDIBLE). Angelina I live for you. Enmusyane (ph), you have set my heart on fire. But Angelina never listens to my song.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

JOLIE: Hello?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD PITT, PRODUCER/ACTOR: I think it's more it echoed the direction that we could be going. And I -- I think that was the most important thing to me. And -- and in the process in searching for Danny and what he stood for, that it brought all these people together from all different walks of life. And that's what it's about to me. It's a global community.

QUESTION: How was it working as a boss to Angelina?

PITT: Oh, she has no boss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Angelina Jolie is the guest.

"A Mighty Heart" opens a week from tomorrow, Friday, the 22nd.

I imagine there was much discussion on this and then it came about that the film did not include the beheading. In fact, the only time beheading is mentioned is once, when she is told how he was killed.

Was there a thought to showing anything like that?

JOLIE: No, of course not.

KING: And one was...

JOLIE: Because...

KING: There must have been someone who once said...

JOLIE: No...

KING: ... we could have more drama...

JOLIE: No, because I think we all knew, as Mariane rightly will, you know, say herself, that to -- to use that footage to -- they did that to him because they want people to show it. They did it in that way to get more media attention, to shock and to use -- and because they want those images to go around the world and cause horror and hatred and anger and all of those things.

To stop these things from happening, to stop people using these kind of things and filming these kind of things to try to get media attention, we have to not give them attention. And so it would have done a great disservice to the memory of Danny to actually give the people that did that to him what they wanted.

KING: But you didn't even show -- a lot of media outlets show the man holding up the thing and then they cut away. You didn't even do that.

JOLIE: Because that's not what the film is about. The film is about how -- how people rose above something like that and got together and fought with their hearts and their friendship and their dignity past something like that.

And that is a very -- it was a very -- it would just give any -- just to give any kind of credit or any kind of focus or thought to that and those people and what they did and what they tried to -- again, they would love for that image to be stuck in all our minds. And they are not going to get that from us.

KING: You've known a great love life. Now you know a great love life. Now this film has a great love life.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: That was some caring between Mariane and Danny.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: Did you bring to that a lot of that your -- to yourself?

JOLIE: No. I mean we -- we actually -- Dan Futterman and I actually had a problem at one point. We kept trying to find something negative about them.

We're like, "Can somebody tell us something about Danny Pearl that isn't perfect? You know, is there some bad habit, some thing? Did they ever fight?

Is there --" We almost made a joke that he should steal the cab from me because we wanted him to do something.

To be honest, we would -- every story we heard about Danny was what -- just what a lovely person he was and what a sharing, interesting, open-minded, friendly, honest man. And their relationship, the history of their relationship, how they came together, how he was with her mother when she passed, how he was with her always, how she was with him.

They symbolize so much good. And so the only problem Futterman and I had was, my God, we don't want to make them -- we can't, you know, perfect as in boring.

KING: Make them too sappy.

JOLIE: Yes, too sappy is boring. But they really were quite -- and are still an extraordinary couple. And she loves him.

KING: Still?

JOLIE: She loves him and misses him. And they are the parents of that little boy. And they are -- they'll forever be one of the great symbols of deep love, for me anyway, and hopefully for many people. They -- Danny and Mariane are...

KING: Was that hard -- do you bring your own stuff to that?

JOLIE: My own experiences?

KING: Yes.

Your own feelings?

JOLIE: Um...

KING: Good actors do, don't they?

JOLIE: I suppose. I mean, I, you know, I had the good fortune of working with Danny Futterman, who I -- who is such a great man.

KING: He's terrific.

JOLIE: He's such a great man. And so it was very -- he's very easy to enjoy and spend time and look up to and have -- so we had very easy scenes together.

The one thing I have learned in my life is that a relationship is not about having fun together, it's not about hiding behind each other and trying to protect each other, but it's about having a shared view of what you want to create and what you want to do in this world -- how you want to raise your family or, if you have a bigger purpose together. And Danny and Mariane had that.

And I've, certainly in my life, come to a place of knowing that that is what I need to have. I need to -- I need to feel strongly with Brad about how we raise our children, about what we think is right and wrong in the world, what we think is worth fighting for and what is morally, you know, the correct thing.

And if you have that same view, then you can go through anything. And then when you die one day, you look back at your life and you went on this -- the right journey together and the same journey.

KING: Was Futterman at all -- and this would be logical -- in awe of you?

JOLIE: Futterman?

KING: Yes, Futterman.

JOLIE: (LAUGHTER).

No.

KING: Well, wait a minute. I mean he's -- he's not a well-known actor. He's terrific. But here comes one of the most famous actresses in the world that he's got to be in scenes with.

JOLIE: I think I was more in awe of him because he's a writer.

KING: Ah!

JOLIE: And, you know...

KING: That's what you really want to be, isn't it?

JOLIE: Well, I have a great -- yes. I get -- I get shy around writers more than actors or anybody else, yes.

KING: So he wasn't...

JOLIE: I doubt he -- well, I wouldn't have noticed if he was... KING: He didn't give you any sign of...

JOLIE: No, no.

KING: ... as far as you would (INAUDIBLE).

JOLIE: He was just always really supportive. You know, I mean I think anybody that -- we got to know each other in this -- we were both in awe of Danny and Mariane and Ruth and Judea. And so we kind of both came into it as students of these people we admired very much. And so it gave us a very kind of leveled common ground. And, really, I have such respect for him that I -- I don't know.

KING: Some extraordinary scenes is the way that Danny Pearl was taken.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She didn't let himself drown in her sorrow or in her tragedy. And that should be told to the whole world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mariane had kind of overcome the worst experience. Can you imagine your -- to have your husband kidnapped, to have him killed?

But she said I'm not giving into the kind of hatred (INAUDIBLE).

JOLIE: He did not fail, you know?

The kidnappers, their point is to -- to terrorize people, right?

I am not terrorized. And you can't be terrorized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A MIGHTY HEART," COURTESY PARAMOUNT VANTAGE)

DAN FUTTERMAN, ACTOR: Sorry. I'm so late. I'll call you. Leave your phone on.

JOLIE: OK.

When will you be home?

FUTTERMAN: I'm hoping 9:00.

Listen, I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Danny, how are you?

Is everything OK?

FUTTERMAN: Why are you -- is there a problem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, there's no problem.

JOLIE: I can't get through to Danny.

FUTTERMAN: How far are we going? Is it -- is it far?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Back with Angelina Jolie. Some of the extraordinary scenes in a movie with many, how he gets kidnapped. Where he's going looking for this person he wants to interview. And he gets sent there and then is the cab driver a suspect? What is this guy? Was all that pretty factual?

JOLIE: Yes, that is -- that's a Michael question but I believe so. In trying to put the pieces together, as everybody has tried to do, that's what we understand happened. But...

KING: It sure was real.

JOLIE: You know so it's based on as much information that has been collected, you know. And at the same time, there's so much we don't know and will never know.

KING: Is there any burial place for him?

JOLIE: I don't know. I don't know. I would think so. I haven't -- you know there are certain questions through this whole process that we just -- none of us asked.

KING: Did you sit with Mariane when you watched the film?

JOLIE: No. Just the thought of that makes me nauseous.

KING: She actually went to the premiere. She was at the premiere, right? You couldn't have handled that?

JOLIE: No, I couldn't have handled that, oh, God. I heard -- so there was a day where -- and she didn't come to set ever. She has no...

KING: No, never.

JOLIE: No, never. She came in once when I was trying on wardrobe and it was the wedding dress and it was just -- she was so gracious but it was just -- it would have been far too hard. It was very difficult. And she also just has very little vanity and just wants the messages right, go for the message. I don't care what I look like, what I sound like, just do your job. And so she was really great in that way. But...

KING: But to sit next to her would have... JOLIE: But when I heard -- no, I really couldn't. I can't do her accent in front of her. I couldn't -- remember -- you know for fun, somebody has asked me to do that, I couldn't.

KING: By the way, when you're doing an accent in a movie, and Anthony Quinn told me years ago he was so into a role that if he was doing an accent he'd bring the accent home. He'd be that person for six months. Do you?

JOLIE: I think my kids would have found that really weird.

(LAUGHTER)

JOLIE: But I did -- I think there were certain things that Brad being an actor didn't make me self conscious of during the filming, but towards the end he would tell me little things -- I think it was more even gestures and just the rhythm of the way I spoke changed a little that I didn't completely erase because it's hard, you get into the habit.

KING: Do you have a coach?

JOLIE: I did for this one, yes.

KING: It's a language coach, right?

JOLIE: Yes, a dialect coach, yes.

KING: That's hard. Not all actors can get that right. That's hard to get another sound.

JOLIE: It is. And it's a -- well, to find a way to do an accent and then make sure that it's not just that it's technically right, but that it doesn't take away from me sounding like a real person, and their emotions and...

KING: Daniel Pearl when to some risky places. So have you.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: Has what happened to him tempered you somewhat? Some place you wouldn't go?

JOLIE: No, I think an extraordinarily -- it certainly has not done that to Mariane. She travels probably more now.

KING: She still is?

JOLIE: Absolutely. Yes. No, there's never a -- I mean, unfortunately, for journalism and journalists abroad it's just the situation has become more and more difficult and more and more dangerous. And we've lost so many in Iraq and elsewhere. And that is a threat that I don't have. I'm not a journalist. And they are really brave to do what they do.

KING: You have great empathy or sympathy for journalists? Empathy would be a better word.

JOLIE: For especially journalists...

KING: In a war zone?

JOLIE: Absolutely. And to -- not even in a war, they don't have to be in danger, to have my deep respect, just those who are really working very, very hard, tirelessly to try to come to some honest understanding, some truth, and not just report something surface, or something that's seems cool, or something, but really to care enough to take the time to investigate and dedicate themselves.

KING: Were you happy with the way "The Wall Street Journal" handled all of this -- for Daniel?

JOLIE: I don't know enough about the whole situation. And I don't Know...

KING: Because they're portrayed pretty well in the film.

JOLIE: Yes. And I think that would be -- you know, the essence, you know at the end of day there's no -- I'm sure if you've asked probably anybody involved in the film they probably have feelings that they would have liked to have done things better, or that they could -- I'm sure everybody involved -- and I hope nobody does have any guilt because I think that there's nothing that could have been done and everybody worked very hard.

KING: How do you balance your extraordinary life in that you go to some of the poorest regions in the world, right?

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: That's part of your role at the U.N. You go and visit places. There's a documentary that you're in that's out of this world. We'll devote more time to that at a later date and I saw that, too.

JOLIE: OK.

KING: And then you also have a life of abundance. Do you ever look at that and say "whoa"?

JOLIE: Yes, I look at it very clearly with how -- we talk about it often with how we're going to raise our children. And we want to make sure that we raise them to have as much respect for, and as much comfort in, the village with no video games and no, you know, comfortable beds and sheets and fancy this or that, and that they have just as much fun, and, as I said, just as much respect for those people as they do for somebody in a big city with all these other interesting things.

And fortunately, we have discovered that with all the traveling our children do and all the different places we all spend time in that we do have that balance, that they don't see it as different, unusual or less than to be in another country. They see it as kind different and wonderful things.

KING: But they do know they have a different life?

JOLIE: I don't know if they know they have a different life, but I know that they know -- I don't know what they know. I just know we try to show them -- I just know that we try to show them -- we're trying to instill compassion and understanding and tolerance. And hopefully they will have that by looking at each other as they grow up, and learning about each other's countries and just being a family. But also, we don't want them to be spoiled and we don't want them to be attached to things. And we don't want them to be attached -- or take fame seriously, or anything like that. We want them to be good people, like all parents.

KING: "A Mighty Heart" opens next Friday. Right back with Angelina Jolie after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOLIE: This is a little girl in Darfur, crying scared, having just seen her parents murdered. It's for the 15-year-old boy in Ghana who stood up and refused to carry a weapon and come (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's for the parents who have been forced into the jungles in Burma and are watching their children starve unable to do anything.

And we must remember our history, how the world treated refugees of the past shaped our present. And how we treat them today will determine our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: There's another cross section of two lives in this film "A Mighty Heart" and your own is the intense scrutiny Mariane was under during these terrible days that he was taken and then after we learned what happened to him. You live under intense scrutiny. So did that then come kind of easy?

JOLIE: It certainly made me -- my life can not compare. I've been under scrutiny for very silly things. And I've had press bother me during very regular days in my life, absolutely.

But I have no idea what it's like to go through what she went through, and have people writing false reports that could possibly put him in more danger, press being irresponsible, announcing that he's dead when he's not. I mean that is a kind of -- that is something that I -- in comparison, I have had it easy. That's really the worst I've ever been close to, where it's been a hurtful and misuse of the press, and that's her.

KING: How is she doing socially? Is she going out?

JOLIE: I hope so. I don't think at this time, at this moment, but you know I hope for her that she's able to find love again in her life, that she's able to have joy in her life. Yes.

KING: Pretty.

JOLIE: She's lovely. She's extraordinary.

KING: What's the boy like?

JOLIE: He is -- I never met Danny, but he's very much what I would imagine Danny to be. And the parents say that he's got something very similar to Dan. He's lovely.

KING: An email question from Cory, Anaheim, California: "Why make a movie like 'A Mighty Heart' that extols the virtues of a free press, only to try to control press coverage on your own life?" JOLIE: Well, it's very different. I think when we talk about the idea of press; the only things I've ever tried to control are I've tried to have some privacy with my family. I don't think I would consider it blocking freedom of press to say, I don't want to say whether or not I'm pregnant right now. You know, I think that that's not necessarily, you know, important news that I'm blocking or important.

I would never, ever step in front -- I've been very candid, as I am with you today, and always, to talk about death, to talk about cancer, to talk about my own mistakes I've made in my life. So I am fine. I am very open. I just would like to, and I have tried to have some -- you know, I look sometimes to protect my family, and to try to have some -- about things that I think are my right, because it's my family and my kids and my pregnancy, or my whatever it might be.

KING: There are two kinds of journalism, and Mariane is one of them. And there are a lot in that end. What does she think? Have you talked to her about the kind of journalists who want to know where you went to dinner last night, and must get the latest picture?

JOLIE: We don't talk about that. Fortunately, we talk about many other things. But it is nice to be close friends with a journalist. And I want to -- But, no, I mean, of course, it's silly. I mean, the other night at the premiere, there was a moment where somebody was asking me about whether or not we can overcome hate, and, at the same time, somebody was screaming for a fashion shot, and wanted me to turn around while I was talking to this person. And it was just such a like -- it was that I think that -- I think all of us, not just a journalist, not the person; it's just a bizarre thing that we're living with right now. But I would like there to be more of a line drawn between sensationalism and tabloid and real journalists. And I think journalists want that as well.

KING: I'll ask you in a minute if you would like to be one. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: We're back with Angelina Jolie. The film "A Mighty Heart" opens a week from tomorrow. Would you like to be a journalist? You talk a lot about it. You have great affection for Mariane.

JOLIE: I don't know if I'd be a good enough journalist.

KING: You know how to write. JOLIE: I do. Again, I have deep respect and I don't know if I'd be able to write something without putting my opinion all over it. And I think the best journalists don't do that. So I don't know if I would be very good.

KING: Is there a distortive thing between you and Brad? You chose the lives you lead. You chose to be actors. There's a price you pay for that, right?

JOLIE: Apparently.

KING: It goes with the territory, as they say, but your children didn't. Is there a dichotomy when these people want to take pictures of your children, which I've never figured out?

JOLIE: Yes, it just one of those things that's best not to think about too much. And I hope, as our children grow up, that we will be less and less in the public eye, and they will have less and less that they will have to live with as they become, you know, impressionable adults. And they won't see too much of it. I think hopefully we can fade away as those years approach.

But, you know, they went to some place the other day, a museum. And we weren't there. We were working and found that they were followed. And it is -- especially when we're not there, it seems that does -- yes, it seems something wrong with that.

KING: Pax from Vietnam. Where did you get that name?

JOLIE: My mom wrote a list of names when we were going to have Shiloh. And the -- Shiloh being the...

KING: Shiloh is a western kind of Virginia name, isn't it?

JOLIE: It's a -- apparently it's a lot of things. And you name a baby and you hear from across the world that it means...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: There was a movie about Shiloh.

JOLIE: There are a lot of songs, there is -- yes. It was just for different reasons a name we love. But it wasn't -- but she had written -- one of the names that she suggested was Pax because it meant peace. He's anything but at the moment.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: How old now?

JOLIE: He is 3 1/2.

KING: Is it hard to get someone out of Vietnam?

JOLIE: I suppose. It took us about a year.

KING: Did you go there?

JOLIE: Yes, yes.

KING: What was that like?

JOLIE: I'm fascinated with Vietnam. I plan to spend a lot more time there. We didn't get to go out as much as we would like to. But it's a part of the world where my being an American and having a relationship with Cambodia, it is obviously a part of the world that I'm fascinated with. And Vietnam itself is something...

KING: It is beautiful too, isn't it?

JOLIE: It is beautiful. It is very beautiful.

KING: Is he a good boy?

JOLIE: He is. Yes, he is.

KING: You're a little hesitant.

JOLIE: He's wild. He's beautiful and wild. And he is -- you know, he had no freedoms for three-and-a-half years. He had -- he lived in the same place in the same cot along with 20 other cots and did things at the exact same time and had no chance to have an opinion himself or do -- he lived a very structured, structured life. And now he has a lot of freedoms. And so he is a very good boy, but he's also suddenly very free.

KING: His brother like him?

JOLIE: He does. I mean, he has moments where they're brothers, but they have absolute moments of pure joy. KING: Brothers, fight. I have an 8 and a 7.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: They fight.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: But they love each other.

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: That is -- I mean, that is -- does Mariane know your family?

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: Did they come to the set?

JOLIE: Did my family come to the set?

KING: Yes.

JOLIE: Oh, yes. Yes, yes, also Mad always found it really funny that I looked like Adam's mom. That's all he kept saying that he thought I was goofy that I kept dressing up like Adam's mom and that that was my job. It was just weird.

KING: Our remaining moments with Angelina Jolie, one of the more talented people I know I have to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Back with our remaining moments with Angelina Jolie. We've been giving you, our viewers, the chance to appear on this show via the Internet, asking questions of our guests. We call it I-Ask. Here is tonight's I-Ask question for Angelina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Angelina, I idolize you. And my question is, did you read the memoir, "A Mighty Heart" before you took the role of Mariane Pearl?

KING: Did you read the book.

JOLIE: Yes, of course.

KING: Did you read it before you knew you were going to do it?

JOLIE: Yes. Well, I -- partially. I hadn't -- I had read what I could get my hands on at the time. A while ago I was sent like pieces of it because I was curious. And then I never got the full book. And then...

KING: How do you think -- I know it's hard to predict, how do you think it's going to do?

JOLIE: I...

KING: It is an independent film.

JOLIE: Yes. The great thing about it is it was shot for very little money and it was never made with the intention of doing well. So we don't -- it doesn't matter, you know, we hope people see it. We hope the message gets out. We hope people appreciate it. But it's not about how big the numbers. It has nothing to do with that. And that is nice.

KING: In our remaining couple of moments, as the world goes on and you view it, are you less optimistic?

JOLIE: No, I'm optimistic, but I think a lot of big changes need to be made.

KING: Like?

JOLIE: Like I think we need to have stronger bodies in the world that handle peacemaking and...

KING: Stronger than the U.N., you mean?

JOLIE: We need -- yes, when we need to rebuild a country after a war, we need to not have to, you know, reinvent the wheel every time we do that. We need to have a real proper plan. We need to know how to do that. We need to do it really strong.

I don't want to have to keep going to refugee areas. I don't want to have to send people back to their home where it's not secure and then have to see them five years later because it exploded again into violence because we did not have proper justice.

I don't want to do that. And I think it is time that we can handle it better as an international community.

KING: Do you think we will ever end violence as we see it, suicide bombers and Daniel Pearls?

JOLIE: I think there needs to be more accountability for that kind of behavior. And I think we need to have better education. As Mariane says in the film, that a lot of these extremists and people who are, you know, subject to ideological capture are victims of it because they do not have any other option in their life.

They have no opportunities. They don't have food often. And they have no education. And then they have -- you know, a very extremist group that has a free school and a lunch. I mean, this is an obvious...

KING: That's out of whack.

JOLIE: This is an obvious problem we're having in the world. We need to rebalance the world.

KING: Are you going to support a candidate?

JOLIE: I don't know.

KING: Have you in the past?

JOLIE: No, not publicly.

KING: Any reason?

JOLIE: I've never been that passionate about anyone.

KING: Look, you are so passionate about so many things.

JOLIE: I know. I'm trying. I'm learning a lot about all of the different candidates, Republican and Democrat, and I'm trying to see if there is one that I'm passionate enough about to -- and then the question is, does celebrity help, you know? Is it a good thing to get involved or is it more distracting?

KING: Does all of your work you do -- are you going to continue -- doesn't it take away from your family life?

JOLIE: No. My...

(CROSSTALK)

JOLIE: Again, my family comes with me to these places and there's no greater thing than I can teach my children than for them to see that side of my life and that side of the world. So no, it's very important. And we do, we all stay together.

KING: Would you adopt again?

JOLIE: Yes, yes. Not tomorrow, but...

(LAUGHTER)

KING: You would because?

JOLIE: I would because I have a great -- I consider it an honor to have these children in my home and then they're a joy. And it's...

KING: How about natural birth again?

JOLIE: Yes. I'd consider it, absolutely.

KING: A great writer in Chicago years ago wrote: "I have four children, two are adopted, I forget which two."

JOLIE: Yes. That's right.

KING: What's your next film?

JOLIE: The next one out is "Beowulf," with Zemeckis. It is the guy that did "Polar Express," and it is kind of -- and I'm the monster's mother.

KING: Robert Zemeckis. Who else is in it?

JOLIE: Oh God, Ray Winstone and Robin Wright Penn and John Malkovich and many, many people. It's a really interesting project. So it's fun to do.

KING: It's always great seeing you, Angelina.

JOLIE: Thanks, you too.

KING: By the way, one other thing, selection process. Do you have to be the star?

JOLIE: No. It's nice not to be. KING: Nice not to be.

(LAUGHTER)

JOLIE: Yes.

KING: "The Good Shepherd" you weren't.

JOLIE: Yes. It's not nice to be. Yes.

KING: So it has to tweak you then?

JOLIE: Yes. Just the -- something about the story, it doesn't even have to be that -- it is not -- something, even if it is just really funny and entertaining or something different or something that I -- something, yes, all different.

KING: Is it harder when Brad goes out to do a film, somewhere else? Is it hard on you?

JOLIE: No, it's nice -- when one of us is working, the other one is with the kids. You know, when we shot "A Mighty Heart," he was figuring out fun things to do in India with the children.

KING: A load of laughs.

JOLIE: It can be challenging, but it's fun. It's always harder and more fun to be home with the kids.

KING: It's always great to see you.

JOLIE: You, too.

KING: Angelina Jolie -- "A Mighty Heart" opens one week from tomorrow.

Tomorrow night's guest is Al Pacino. We've got a lot to talk about with the Academy Award winning actor. But recently he told "Time" magazine he's a dancer and would consider doing "Dancing with the Stars." So our text vote question is should Al Pacino do "Dancing with the Stars?" Text vote from your cell phone to CNNTV, which is 26688, text King A for yes, King B for no. And we'll have the results tomorrow night with Al Pacino.

We'll talk about the Pacino DVD collection and his new movie, "Ocean's 13."

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