Angelina Jolie Explains Why Her Next Project Hits So Close To Home

The actress director has made a very special new friend while working on her latest film

Angelina Jolie may look like she has it all (an Oscar, a happy family, Brad Pitt, those lips...), but even she has times when she wonders where her life is going.

In fact, the actress says she recently went through a phase where she lay in bed wondering, 'What am I supposed to be doing with my life? I want to do something important. I want to connect, I need some help, I need some guidance.'

Well, she found it in the form of 97-year-old Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini.

The actress-director appeared on the Today show Tuesday to discuss her latest directorial project, a film adaptation of the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. Angie said she discovered the inspirational story, worked her butt off to sell Univeral Pictures on the idea.

But it wasn't until the film was greenlit that the 38-year-old mum of six realised the book's real-life subject was her neighbor. The roof of Angie's lavish L.A. home is actually visible from Zamperini's window.

'I imagine that for the last 10-something years, he's been sitting there having a coffee in the morning and wondering, "Who's going to make this movie?"' The answer was closer than he thought.

It's clear from watching Angie interact with Louis on camera that this project has gotten personal; they warmly embrace and exchange 'I love you's.

After all he's been through in his life - spending 47 days lost at sea, being tortured in a Japanese POW camp, meeting Hitler during the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Louis seems happy to have his story told on the bigscreen. And he seems even happier to be working on the project with his lovely neighbour.

We hope Brad Pitt isn't the jealous type!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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