‘Without Blood’ Author Says Angelina Jolie Made “Characters I Had Imagined Come To Life”; Filmmaker Says “He Was Almost Challenging Me” – TIFF

EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie‘s TIFF world premiere Without Blood is based on Alessandro Baricco‘s intriguing novel which is set a time of war, but the location and era aren’t defined.

The movie follows a grown woman who comes face-to-face with her father and her brother’s murderer, now much older, the two intelligently hashing out and making sense of the atrocity (played respectively by Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir). Without calling out the location specifically, Jolie shot what appears to be a Mexican turn of the century era — but in Italy.

Last night at the world premiere, Jolie said during the post-screening Q&A, “He said to me, when I first met with Baricco, they’re going to force you to change the end, they’re going to force you to pick a country, they’re going to force you to decide what year it is. Try to hold, because this is what it’s intended to be.”

“Now I think back, he was almost challenging me, instead of warning me,” said Jolie about the author.

This morning, Baricco tells Deadline exclusively: “I welcome the launch of Without Blood and wish the film all the luck in the world. Meeting Angelina was exciting but most of all it was great for me to spend time with her talking about the book, of which she is an intelligent and passionate reader. I will never forget the day I went to visit her on set: I watched parts of the film, and there, in the middle of the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, I saw for the first time the characters I had imagined come to life. It was amazing. Meeting Angelina, her talent, her courage, and her gentle strength, has been a privilege for me. The beauty of the film preserves much of what is so special about her.”

Prior to last night’s screening, Jolie received the TIFF Tribute Award for Impact Media in which she emphasized, “After pushing for basic human rights for all people, only to see the reality worsen for so many, I feel a part of the failure of the system.” However, Jolie ended her speech underscoring how world cinema provides a dialogue and an empathy among us.

Talking about the complexity about a woman who meets her family’s murderer, the guy who also spared her life, Jolie said, “One of the interesting things within it, is this idea: Well, who’s a bad guy? Who’s wrong? Who’s right? This idea that there’s some absolute and how important that is. And that the power, and how hard it is to sit at that table. It wasn’t easy for you to join them at that table; that is the hardest table to sit at, and the most important table for us to sit to get through this life.

In hope for a better world, Jolie summed, “I just hope there’s more conversation, and that’s really it.”