Maddox Jolie-Pitt is already an executive producer at a young age, thanks to his mother Angelina Jolie, as they worked together on the upcoming film First They Killed My Father.
In an interview with People magazine, the 16-year old son reveals that he pitched in on meetings, prepping for shoots and helped review dailies on the film Angelina directed for Netflix (out on Friday, Sept. 15). The drama is based on family friend Loung Ung’s memoir about surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. Maddox’s younger brother, 13-year-old Pax Jolie-Pitt, was also part of the production and worked as a set photographer.
Maddox told the magazine about what it was like to work with his mother on the project. “[She’s] fun, funny, and easy to work with,” he revealed. “She’s a wonder.”
Angelina focused her time on her family after filing for divorce from Brad Pitt on Sept. 2016.
“I have had my ups and downs. I guess I am a little bit stronger,” the 42-year-old actress and director told People in the new cover story. “We all have our difficult times, but as a mother you also have a responsibility first and foremost towards the kids. They are going through their formative years and everything else comes second to that.”
“I haven’t worked for over a year now because they needed me home,” she added. “We’ve all been a bit in lockdown.” But now, “I think they’re itching to get out in the world again.”
Angelina, who adopted Maddox in 2002, said that her son encouraged her to direct the film about his home country.
“Mad knows himself very well and if he said he was ready, I knew he knew,” she shared. “He goes back and forth [to Cambodia] a lot, but this would be over four months of just being in the country, really reading, listening, learning and absorbing all things about his culture and country [including] the very, very dark parts.”
Maddox told the magazine that he loves the Cambodian people. “[They are] calm, relaxed, and when they want to do something wild, they do it — much like me in a way. I’m proud to be a Cambodian.”
According to Angelina, her son has been taking flying lessons and speaks several languages in addition to his filmmaking interest.
“He’s quite capable and always takes me by surprise,” the mother of six proudly shared. “He’s been practicing flying, then they called me the other day and said, ‘So Mad can go solo,’ and I nearly dropped the phone! He’s been taking French and Russian and all these different languages. I hear him talking in full, fluent French, and they’ll tell me he’s reached a certain level in his German, and I have no idea. He doesn’t do it in front of me.”
