Angelina Jolie had to be vulnerable to portray a troubled opera singer in the film Maria — and her sons witnessed her emotional transformation while working on set.

According to the BBC , Maddox, 23, and Pax, 21 — Jolie’s oldest boys — landed jobs as production assistants while she channeled Maria Callas in her latest film, which hit theaters in November and is now streaming on Netflix.

“They’ve seen me go through a lot, but they haven’t seen me express a lot of pain that usually a parent hides from a child,” Jolie revealed in an interview with the network.

Brad Pitt’s ex, who is also mother to Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, found the process gave her a “new” and “even better way” to give her children an honest vibe. a look at her inner life.

“They were there to witness some of it, but then we hugged each other or brought me cups of tea,” she said of her boys, who adapted well to what could have been an awkward situation.

49-year-old Jolie said The Hollywood Reporter last summer that she would never stop her family from coming to her shoot. “I’m not that person,” she noted, explaining that in the past her children were always welcome to “climb over me or visit me.”

She also reflected on Maddox and Pax’s work on the new film, saying their presence “really meant a lot” to her.

And as for acting in emotional scenes, she added, “probably one of the more intense things was that usually when I express so much pain, it’s not in front of my kids.”

“You really try to hide from your kids how much pain and sadness you carry,” she continued, then joked, “That’s usually in the shower.”