Angelina Jolie, actors discuss 'Blood and Honey'

As a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Angelina Jolie has visited many post-conflict regions, among them Bosnia-Herzegovina. What she learned there about a war between neighbors haunted her so much, she had to express her thoughts in her first screenplay.

"I spoke to people from the U.N., from governments to victims to reporters ... and to the cast, many of whom lived through it, and all were affected by it. So it's full of those stories," Jolie says of "In the Land of Blood and Honey," which also marks her directorial debut.

"One story in particular, from one of the victims, was the human shield scene - that's from a personal account. Having to watch the older women strip and dance naked was a personal account. (One actress) lived through the siege of Sarajevo and went back and forth through Sniper Alley, so when we had to do her going to get the medicine, she had to direct me in how to direct her."

"Blood and Honey's" actors all come from the region, which lent authenticity, but also stirred deep emotions. The film does not shy from depicting some of the horrors of the Bosnian War, particularly the use of mass rape as a weapon.

"I would have never been in it if I felt it wasn't truthful," says lead actress Zana Marjanovic (ZAH-nah mar-YAHN-uh-vitch). "Because I am Bosnian and because it is recent history, but primarily because I am an artist, I feel you have to be aware of your choices. It's very important; it affects people."

Relationship changes

Marjanovic plays Ajla, a Muslim artist involved with Serbian police Officer Danijel (Goran Kostic), in the days before the conflict. Once the war erupts, their relationship changes in strange and complex ways. The actress, herself a Bosnian Muslim, says revisiting those peaceful days was moving.

"It was very emotional when we were doing it - I'm saying it now without crying," says Marjanovic, as both women laugh, "but usually it's very hard for me to even think about it. It's w! hen ever ything was fine. It sounds like a fairy tale now, but it was just normal. No one said we were happy; we just were. No one ever believed all of that could be taken away from you, and so quickly.

"The funny thing is, most people I know just kept thinking it would end the next day. It was just some conflict by some people who are creating problems where there aren't any. But it ended up taking a lot longer."

Jolie wasn't convinced she had written something for public consumption until someone she knew with experience in the business promoted the idea.

"Brad (Pitt) saw it and said, 'It's not that bad, honey, you might want to send it out and see what response you get.' I said, 'Well, I'm not doing it without the people from the country. If people from all sides agree to make it, then we'll do it. If they don't, we'll burn it.' "

Too close

Jolie ultimately decided she was too close to it to relinquish the film to another director.

"Every day I learned so much. I mean, everything," says the Oscar-winning actress, laughing. "I had to understand the camera, shot lists - how to make a shot list. The first time I said, 'Action,' nobody could hear me because I wasn't loud enough. How to do sound, color timing.

"Once the girls said, 'We need more of a scene at the top of this section.' And I said, 'Yeah, we do ...' And then I realized, 'Oh, I'm the writer! Give me a half an hour, I'll try to come up with something.' "

Marjanovic says she believed in the neophyte director because of what the script showed her.

"I remember sitting on the floor" after reading it, she says. " 'OK, someone's going to come in and I'm not really ready to talk to anyone,' because I was deeply affected by it. It was really difficult for me. You're really happy, at the same time, that there is a script that represents the country I was born in."

Part of that representation was a multifaceted depiction of Bosnian Serbs.