How Angelina Jolie's New Role in Those Who Wish Me Dead Was a 'Healing' Experience for Her

Jeff Spicer/Getty Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie's latest role allowed her to tap into her own emotions and experiences to create a more impactful performance.

During an on-set interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actress revealed that in the upcoming thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead, her character Hannah — a smokejumper still reeling from the loss of three lives she failed to save from a fire — is "a very broken person who carries a great deal of guilt."

"I am drawn to people who have been through something and are broken and then find their way forward and overcome it," said Jolie, 45. "As an artist, it's very healing to play people like that. She's been very healing for me, because you just get so broken and then you stand back up."

And while the movie "feels like a great thriller" and "a great adventure across an unusual terrain inside a great fire," the Oscar winner told ET that "it's a really emotional film" under the surface, as well, in a metaphorical sense.

"It's about people who have a great impact on each other and change each other," Jolie said. "Emotionally and practically, they go through the fire."

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Emerson Miller Angelina Jolie in Those Who Wish Me Dead

Emerson Miller Angelina Jolie in Those Who Wish Me Dead

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Directed by Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water), Those Who Wish Me Dead sees Hannah come across a distressed 12-year-old boy named Connor (Finn Little) with no one else to turn to.

"She carries a lot of guilt, and is quite broken," Jolie recently told PEOPLE of her character. "She's a smokejumper and a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but she's also somebody that has experienced tragedy, and she feels responsible for it."

And the actress and humanitarian didn't mind getting gritty for the role. "I was so happy to be pushed to just toughen up and get dirty and sweaty, and do things I've never done and feel very capable," the mom of six continued.

Getty Images Angelina Jolie wearing Dior with her children

"I had so much fun with Finn," Jolie added of her 14-year-old costar. "I think people will really respond to him in this film. He has a light, and a great energy. He can become very emotional and weep about something, and he can also jump over a building and dodge bullets and love it."

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Those Who Wish Me Dead is out May 14 in theaters and on HBO Max.