Brad & Angelina’s honeymoon dramas

They fell in love while playing a warring couple with a steamy relationship in the first movie they worked on together. A decade later, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will appear in their second movie collaboration, also playing a married pair, but this time it’s hoped life won’t imitate art – because their characters’ marriage is falling apart.

The pair, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary on August 23, have been plagued by ongoing rumours that all is not well in the Jolie-Pitt household. Working on their latest film, By the Sea, could have put them under extra pressure, not only because it involved some harrowing scenes, but because Brad (51) had to take orders from Angelina (40), who was directing. But, in fact, Angelina reckons working on the movie helped to bring the couple – who met while filming Mr & Mrs Smith together in 2004 – even closer.

“It was great. We know each other so deeply in comparison to when we first worked together,” says Angelina. “We got to push each other and be artists together, not in some big shiny film but in something very grass roots and emotional.”

Directing as well as starring in a film is always tricky, and making this movie was no exception. “It was difficult to be both inside and outside of the scenes, to be able to give directions,” she says. “It was hardest when I was directing our fight scenes. I’d be directing myself and him in a scene where we’re having a fight, and I’d be pulling out the parts [of him] that have an aggression toward me or when you’re frustrated with each other – it was very heavy.

“We kept joking that all of the crew felt like they were living in a house where the parents were fighting and you don’t know where to stand or where to look.”

Meanwhile, one spouse telling the other what to do might have caused problems for other couples, but not for them. “I understand and appreciate his creative process and his work ethic even more than before,” Angelina says.

The movie, due for release later this year, was shot on the Mediterranean island of Malta last year, straight after the couple tied the knot at their chateau in the south of France. At the time, Angelina, who also wrote the screenplay, told reporters, “We are working together on a drama about grief and finding a way through a difficult marriage. We find it funny that it’s our honeymoon.”

She added that a “few of our friends asked if we were crazy” for starring together as an unhappy couple so soon after getting married. “We’re proud of ourselves for being brave enough to try it,” she says.

According to some media, Brad and Angelina, who have six children, have problems of their own lately, with reports of frequent rows. One source even claimed Brad was “beyond miserable” in the long-standing relationship. However, a friend insists they’re not on the rocks.

“They have super-intensified lives with their career and children that cause arguments and sometimes their marriage comes in a distant third place, but it is still very important to them,” the source says.

WATCH: Brad and Angelina in Mr and Mrs Smith

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