Angelina Jolie says being pregnant while filming the movie A Mighty Heart, about the abduction and slaying of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, helped her understand how to portray Pearl's widow, Mariane.

American actress Angelina Jolie, right, speaks during a press conference for A Mighty Heart in Cannes Monday as Marianne Pearl, the widow of slain U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, looks on.
(Francoise Mori/Associated Press)

The Hollywood superstar and her partner, Brad Pitt, were at the Cannes Film Festival in France Monday for the premiere of their film, based on Mariane Pearl's book of the same name.

Mariane Pearl was more than five months pregnant at the time her husband, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was kidnapped while in Karachi investigating a militant Islamic group and then killed in January 2002. Pearl gave birth to her son, Adam, a few months later.

"I remember being six months pregnant and thinking, 'I can't imagine at this time not having the father with me … and being concerned about his life, and trying to eat and trying to remember to get some sleep and trying to take a deep breath and physically even just moving around,'" said Jolie, who was pregnant with Pitt's child, Shiloh Nouvel, during some of the filming.

"As a woman, it just made me so much more connected to her and aware of her."

The movie, which the 31-year-old actress co-produced with Pitt, is scheduled to be released in June.

Mariane Pearl, who was also on hand at the news conference, praised Jolie for her portrayal.

"I think about the fact that my son will see the film one day, and this is a great moment of pain for me," Pearl said. "And this role was played by somebody who loves me, and it means a lot to me."

Dan Futterman, who was on the TV series Judging Amy, plays Daniel Pearl in the film.

Film praised for its 'methodical account'

A Mighty Heart, directed by British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People ), is shot documentary style. 

It begins on the last day the couple, both journalists, spent together in Pakistan and details Pearl's harrowing five-week search to find her husband and his kidnappers, and then her struggle to deal with his death.

The movie has gotten good reviews so far. The Hollywood trade paper Variety said, "Winterbottom coaxes forth a staggering wealth of detail from this terse, methodical account of Pearl's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan" while The Times in London gave it four out of five stars, praising Jolie's "authenticity of … emotions."

It was filmed mostly in India, where Jolie and Pitt's presence attracted throngs of paparazzi and allegations that their security detail roughed up photographers. Some scenes were also shot in Pakistan and France.

Jolie said she was nervous about playing Mariane Pearl, with whom she became close friends with during filming.

"For me so much of why this film is important today was because I highly doubt there is anybody in this room who has more reason to hold hate inside herself than Mariane, and she doesn't," said Jolie.

"She is a very compassionate, thoughtful person who looks to dialogue, to change things, to make things better. That is, I think, a lesson to all of us."

With files from the Associated Press