'By the Sea' was a 'walk in the park' after 'Unbroken,' says Angelina Jolie

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Angelina Jolie says directing her husband Brad Pitt in the 1970s-set marriage drama By the Sea was "a walk in the park" after helming the World War II epic Unbroken, which features battle, ocean and torture scenes.

"By the Sea was emotionally difficult because I was acting in it, but it was, logistically, a walk in the park in comparison to Unbroken. It was a nice break," Jolie said at a press conference in New York last week.

Despite understanding the difficulties of mounting such a massive project, the actress-turned-auteur said she was so moved by Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling biography of Olympic runner, U.S. Army airman and prisoner of war Louis Zamperini, she knew she had to be the one to bring Unbroken to the big screen.

"Like everybody, we wake up and we read the news and we see the events around the world and we live in our communities and we are disheartened by so much and we feel overwhelmed," Jolie explained.

"And we don't know what is possible and we don't know where... We want something to hold onto, something to believe in, something to give us strength and I was halfway through this book and I found myself inspired and on fire and feeling better and being reminded of the strength of the human spirit and the strength of having a brother like Pete and what that is and to remind us to be that for each other and how important that is to have that in your life and so many things and I realized if this was having this effect on me and I knew it was having this effect on so many people, isn't this what we needed to put forward into the world at this time? And I believe it is and I am very happy that it is coming out also during the holidays. I think it is an important time, the right time."