General News

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt And Jack O’Connell At UNBROKEN Sydney, Australia World Premiere

By Michelle McCue | November 17, 2014

The final, and yet-to-be-seen, film of the awards season had its world premiere in Sydney, Australia on Monday. Director Angelina Jolie and husband Brad Pitt walked the red carpet for Best Picture hopeful UNBROKEN, along with stars Jack O’Connell and Miyavi, to greet fans, sign autographs and take photos.

The epic drama follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII—only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Variety writes: “Reaction to the often-intense film was largely positive, with the black-tie audience gasping audibly at one particularly shocking maritime moment and the unrelenting visceral wartime brutality that punctuates Zamperini’s tale of survival. Warm applause at the end of the film drowned out the opening bars of the Coldplay tune penned just for the closing credits.”

Zamperini passed away in July and as you can see in the video below, Jolie breaks down when referring to him as “a great man.”

See more photos HERE.

Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie both directs and produces the film.

Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s (“Seabiscuit: An American Legend”) enormously popular book, Unbroken brings to the big screen Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit.

Starring alongside O’Connell are Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock as Phil and Mac—the airmen with whom Zamperini endured perilous weeks adrift in the open Pacific—Garrett Hedlund and John Magaro as fellow POWs who find an unexpected camaraderie during their internment, Alex Russell as Zamperini’s brother, Pete, and in his English-language feature debut, Japanese actor Miyavi as the brutal camp guard known only to the men as “The Bird.”

Universal Pictures has launched the #IAmUnbroken project inspired by Louis Zamperini’s indomitable spirit. With his determination and resilience, Zamperini exemplified the strength of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle and remain UNBROKEN. The #IAmUnbroken social movement works to spread inspiring stories of triumph over adversity, reminding us to live every day to the fullest and to never doubt the resilience of the human soul.

Share your own #IAmUnbroken stories, or that of a loved one, at www.IAmUnbroken.com. By uploading videos, photos, and social media posts with hashtag #IAmUnbroken, a few select stories will be chosen to have a professional team create a video segment.

The film is produced by Jolie, as well as Clayton Townsend (This Is 40), Matthew Baer (City by the Sea) and Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still). The director of photography is 11-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall).

Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) rewrote the screenplay from earlier drafts by William Nicholson (Les Misérables) and Richard LaGravenese (HBO’s Behind the Candelabra).