Angelina Jolie’s sons Maddox and Pax were total pros on the set of their mom’s new movie.
Salma Hayek, 58, revealed that Maddox and Pax worked “hard” in their roles in the assistant director department of Without Blood, which Jolie wrote and directed, and Hayek stars in.
“They work hard,” Hayek told People at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Without Blood had its premiere on Sunday, September 8.
Hayek added that Jolie was “very professional” with Maddox, 23, and Pax, 20, on set.
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“She’s demanding. They got the respect of the crew, and they were good with the crew, and they were very in their place,” Hayek said. “They were not treating me like they treat me outside of there. They were very, ‘You have to come,’ and I go, ‘OK!’ It was kind of fun.”
“They work hard. They are very serious about what they do,” Hayek continued.
Hayek admitted that at the start of production, she was more playful with her longtime friend’s children, but quickly changed tack.
“It is kind of funny, I was teasing them at the beginning, but then I had to say, ‘No. I have to separate and just treat them like professionals because it’s disrespectful,’” she recalled.
In the new war drama, Hayek plays Nina, who is dealing with the aftermath of an unspecified war. Hayek told Entertainment Weekly that Jolie, 49, had to convince her to take the part.
“I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to be Nina,” Hayek explained. “I didn’t want to go to the places that she’s been, emotionally. So I told Angie, I don’t want to do this woman. I don’t want to. It’s too painful. It’s taken so many years for me to get to a place in my life where I’m really happy. I don’t want to go suffer for weeks and weeks.”
Jolie’s sons also worked on Pablo Larraín’s Maria, in which Jolie plays legendary opera singer Maria Callas.
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“Mad and Pax were on this one. Doing AD [assistant directing] work. They’ve done that quite a few times, and I think that’s good for them,” Jolie told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published last month. “Pax tends to do stills and he gets brought in, and Pablo was wonderful and recognized that he was good at it.”
Jolie also recently collaborated with her daughter Vivienne, 16, who is credited as an assistant and coproducer on the Broadway musical The Outsiders. The coming-of-age production won best musical at the Tony Awards in June.
Jolie, who shares Vivienne with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, praised her daughter’s eye for theater when they were announced as producers in August 2023.
“Viv reminds me of my mother in that she isn’t focused on being the center of attention but in being a support to other creatives. She’s very thoughtful and serious about theatre and working hard to best understand how to contribute,” said Jolie in a statement at the time.
