Jolie's mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer last year.

"My mother would fight that hard for her children," Jolie told the New York Daily News, comparing Bertrand to the crusading character she plays in the film.

"(The role made me) confront my worst fear. It made me feel closer to my kids and grateful every night just to know where they are and that they're healthy. Making the phone call (in the film,) saying that my kid was kidnapped, was difficult. I don't even like saying it right now," she explained.

In the movie, she plays a woman who fights to find and bring home her abducted son.

Jolie, who attended the film's New York premiere with her longtime partner Brad Pitt, said their own six children produce "the greatest chaos."

"(They're) constantly loud, constantly messy," she told the Daily News, adding she and Pitt are working on having another, "one way or another."