Angelina Jolie is finally part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the upcoming Eternals, and her own six children helped spur her to take on the role among a group of undying superheroes.
“I just wanted to be a part of this family,” the 46-year-old told Entertainment Weekly. “I have a slightly unconventional family myself, so it felt familiar.”
Angelina and ex-husband Brad Pitt‘s s six children span in age from 13 to 20 and come from all over the globe. Son Maddox, 20, was adopted from Cambodia, while his brother Pax, 17, was adopted from a Vietnamese orphanage. Daughter Zahara, 16, was adopted from Ethiopia in 2005. Even the former couple’s biological children were born abroad, as 15-year-old daughter Shiloh’s birth country is Namibia, while 13-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne arrived at a hospital in Nice, France.
The actress has made it a point to raise the children with a global view, taking them along all over the world on movie shoots and humanitarian missions. She’s always encouraged their creativity and imagination, with constant trips to art supply and book stores.
Once Angelina got on set with the rest of the Eternals cast was when she first felt that sense of family. “Standing there next to each other, the first time we all stood in our suits together and took off our secrecy cloaks and had to stand there for the shot, what you felt was just a lot of support,” she explained to the publication. “We were smiling at each other, and there was just a lot of kindness.”
Angie is playing the character of Thena, described as “an elite warrior who can manifest different weapons out of thin air.” It’s a welcome return for fans of the actress who love her in action roles, this time with a fantasy/sci-fi element included.
Director Chloe Zhao said that for Eternals, she “specifically gravitated toward actors who she hoped could identify with their role.” For Angelina, the actress explained, “I don’t think we realized that until we really got there. It really felt like she was pulling out of us something that was more personal, from a deeper side of ourselves. She wasn’t looking to put something on top of us, like a character. She was looking for us to reveal ourselves as the character.” Fans will get to see how Angelina pulled her personal life into the role of Thena when Eternals hits theaters on November 5, 2021.