Jolie and Hayek Pinault on revenge, trauma and healing in Without Blood
Angelina Jolie directed Salma Hayek Pinault in a revenge story that never names its war. The two sat down together to discuss it in a joint interview published on 18 September.
Jolie is credited as the writer and director of Without Blood, while Hayek Pinault leads the cast as Nina, according to Variety. The interview covers the making of the film and what the two actors took from the shoot.
At the centre is Nina. She organises her adult life around finding the three men responsible for the wartime murder of her father and brother when she was a child. Hayek Pinault plays her, and Demián Bichir plays Tito, the third accomplice, now working as a clerk in a newspaper kiosk at a train station.
The film is an adaptation of the novella of the same name by Italian writer Alessandro Baricco, a short novel built for the screen by Jolie. The time is never fixed. The place is never fixed. The war itself is never identified.
Its characters speak English and Spanish. Production took place at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, the large studio complex that has long hosted international shoots, according to TIFF. The open setting keeps attention on the people rather than on any one conflict.
Jolie said the story explores universal truths about war, trauma, memory and healing, as described by the Boston Herald. She told Variety the team spent time talking about pain, losses and traumas, and said community can be very healing. She also said the project began as private work during “a very difficult time” in her life, in comments to People.
The two leads arrived with history. They first worked together five years earlier, co-starring in the Marvel film Eternals. That shared set gave them a shorthand they carried into a much smaller, quieter production.
The partnership will continue behind the camera. Jolie will serve as a producer on Arena, an epic romantic adventure written by Hayek Pinault that will be her directorial debut. A producer helps guide a film from script to screen, from hiring to release.
For fans, this means the reunion runs in both directions. Hayek Pinault took the lead for Jolie’s adaptation, and Jolie will now back Hayek Pinault as she steps into directing for the first time.
