No matter what movies Angelina Jolie makes for the rest of her life, none will be as controversial as A Mighty Heart – not because of the subject matter, but because Angelina Jolie probably won't paint her face black or annoy a whole country again.

Thanks to the relentless media interest in Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the filming of A Mighty Heart was troubled to say the least; but Angelina Jolie has put all that behind her to discuss the forthcoming movie about murdered journalist Daniel Pearl. Ever the professional, Angelina Jolie managed to ignore the media intrusion to her best ability during filming, with the only concession being a new ending, where Angelina Jolie looks directly at the camera and says "I'm glad he died, because all journalists are wankers."

It's quietly ironic that the filming of A Mighty Heart, Angelina Jolie's passionate movie about the need for a free press, saw more run-ins with paparazzi than maybe any film before it, with the possible exception of Denise Richards' new flick. While filming in India, word spread that Angelina Jolie's entourage was choking photographers and running over children and causing riots at schools – not to mention the bizarre blackface that Angelina sported throughout filming.

All this controversy has left A Mighty Heart in a bit of a quandary. Even though the film is based on the real-life events of Mariane Pearl frantically searching Pakistan for her kidnapped journalist husband Daniel before a video of his beheading was tragically placed on the internet, it's always going to be known as the film where Angelina Jolie blacked-up and scared some Indians on a train.

That could be why – a full two months before it's released – Angelina Jolie is going on the offensive. Leaving care of her bazillion children with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie has given an interview to Entertainment Weekly where she discusses the tragic, gritty subject matter of A Mighty Heart – directed by Michael Winterbottom – while also describing the emotional toll the filming took on her. Reuters reports:

"We didn't want to be too melodramatic or too polished. We didn't want it to be a typical movie," … "Michael and I would have disagreements over where he could follow me. We came up with a system. If I closed the door, he couldn't follow. If I left it open, he could," she said. "I just needed to know that if things got too heavy, there'd be a place for me to cry by myself."

The gritty realism and stark subject matter of A Mighty Heart will no doubt present Angelina Jolie with her best shot at another Oscar in years, and it'll lend a hitherto-unseen emotional depth and clarity to her work that will no doubt be best used in that film she's doing about the panda what does karate.

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Jolie At Her Toughest In Daniel Pearl Film - Reuters