Those Who Wish Me Dead: Angelina Jolie Knows What It's Like To 'Not Feel Good Enough'

She may be the recipient of an Academy Award and three Golden Globes, among countless other accolades, but it turns out that even Angelina Jolie suffers from occasional moments of self-doubt.

In an exclusive interview with Tyla, Angelina admits that she still battles with feelings of inferiority, just like the rest of us.

The 45-year-old actress is speaking ahead of the release of her new thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead, in which she stars as Hannah Faber - a badass smokejumper from Montana who battles raging woodland fires, while struggling with the haunting memory of the victims she wasn't able to save.

"What appealed to me [about playing Hannah] is that she's not a superhero or a perfect person, she's a regular woman, and she's quite broken," Angelina says.

"I can relate, and a lot of people can relate - especially women - to feeling like you just don't know what you have in you and if you're good enough.

"Then you go through something in your life and you're pulled forward - called to task to help someone or do something - and you find that you have it in you.

"I think for a lot of people, that's a character they can relate to".

Warner Media.)

Having entered the industry as a child, and gone on to star in cult classics like Mr & Mrs Smith, Maleficent and Girl, Interrupted, Angelina has been named as Hollywood's highest-paid woman on more than one occasion throughout her 39-year career.

While she hasn't appeared on screen since 2019, having focused on directorial roles, the mother-of-six says acting complex and vulnerable characters like Hannah has been an important way for her to "heal" amid her high-profile 2016 divorce from Brad Pitt, and process her own strength in the face of adversity.

Those Who Wish Me Dead is directed by Hell or High Water's Taylor Sheridan, and sees Hannah tasked with protecting 12-year-old boy Connor (Finn Little), who is being chased by assassins after witnessing a murder.

Hannah acts as Connor's safety net throughout the film - learning a lot about herself in the process of battling through her own personal demons to protect him at all costs.

While this certainly echoes elements of Angelina's life - not to mention an ongoing custody battle over her six children, Maddox, 19, Zahara, 16, Pax, 17, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12 - the actress admits she had to eschew her maternal instincts to get into character.

Warner Media)

"I trip him [Connor] when I first meet him and I throw food at him and tell him what to eat - she's not a good mum," she explains.

"So, I think that part of it was getting out of the habit of being loving towards him and actually be a bit rough, but then it got kinda fun."

Angelina stars alongside Medina Senghore (Happy!, Blindspot), who plays Allison Sawyer - the survivalist wife of local deputy Ethan Sawyer, in the movie.

Her character faces similar battles to Hannah as the film goes on - finding her inner strength while fighting to protect not only her husband but also her unborn baby from harm.

And like Angelina, she says she was drawn to the film because of the way it profiles "strong women", without perpetuating the idea that anybody is "impenetrable".

"The film challenges the binary presentation of strength versus vulnerability... that it has to be one or the other, and that, if you label someone a strong woman it means she's impenetrable, and you can keep anything on top of her," Medina says.

"Both characters in this movie are strong in spite of their fears, not because they're fearless. [They're strong] because there protecting someone that they love, and its that complexity is what we live in and sit in."

Watch Those Who Wish Me Dead for the incredible stunts, vast, stretching natural landscapes and breathtaking fire sequences, but also for the important reminder that women can be both broken and powerful.

Those Who Wish Me Dead arrives in cinemas from 17^th May.

Topics: Celebrity News, TV Entertainment, Angelina Jolie