Angelina Jolie Welcomed Change In 2008, Earning A Golden Globe Nod For 'Changeling'

The Golden Globes are only days away — and MTV News will be here all week long to get you geared up for the big night with profiles, previews and fashion galore. It all comes to a head Sunday night, when we'll have more coverage than you can throw a shiny statuette at. Mark your calendars: Sunday, January 11, is the night, and this is the place to be!

Angelina Jolie didn't let the births of her twins (as well as being a mom to four other kids) stop her in 2008. In fact, she continued to diversify her rйsumй, starring in films ranging from an animated kids' flick to an action movie to a drama, the latter of which has earned her a Golden Globe nod.

Jolie played a tiger in the kiddie movie "Kung Fu Panda," but it was her turn as an action babe in "Wanted" — in which she got to shoot guns, be practically naked and get it on with co-star James McAvoy — that left fans salivating.

(Don't miss our look back at what 2008 meant to Golden Globe nominees Brad Pitt, Beyoncй and Miley Cyrus too.)

"I was itching to do something that was physical, because I had done some emotional films and I had been at home with the kids," she told MTV News. "I didn't know that there was anything original out there [until] I came across this script. One, it has a great story. A lot of action movies are kind of lacking in that."

And she insisted that getting physical with McAvoy was a lot different than when she messed around with longtime boyfriend Brad Pitt — who is also up for a Golden Globe for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — while filming "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

"I'll always prefer rolling around on the floor with him than any other man," Jolie laughed about Pitt. "You know, in general."

But it is her work in Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" that has earned Jolie her Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama. Jolie has won three previous Golden Globes for her work in "Girl, Interrupted," "Gia" and "George Wallace," but she almost passed up the opportunity that led to this most recent nomination. She initially didn't want to make "Changeling," because of the film's story line about a mother looking for her missing child.

"I've said before that reading the script made me want to stay as far away as possible," she told MTV News. "I didn't want to think about anything happening to my children, but I couldn't forget it. I wanted to tell her story. In the end, it's also a story about justice."

She also couldn't pass up the chance to work with Eastwood. "He's just decisive," she said of his directing style. "He knows what he wants. He's a great leader, so it just works."

And, maybe because of Eastwood's directing, Jolie said she broke her rule of not watching herself on the big screen. "I never like to watch myself, ever," she said. "I still haven't seen 'Wanted.' I heard it was fun, but I haven't seen it. ... I think it says something that I feel like I did something right if I can watch something and feel removed enough from myself. And I can watch this movie ['Changeling']. I'm proud of the film. You'll have to ask Brad, but I think he likes this one."

She has "The Mercenary" lined up for 2009, but Jolie has also talked a bit about slowing down in the near future to be with her kids. "I don't plan to keep acting very long. I'm ready to do a few things now and fade away," she told BBC News in November. "I like being home a lot. First and foremost, I have a lot of children, and I need to make sure they're growing right and they've got us there for them."

We're all over the Golden Globes! MTV News will be rolling out profiles, previews, fashion and much more in the days leading up to the awards — and this is the place to be on Sunday night, when we'll have live blogs, photos, interviews and more!

Check out everything we've got on "Changeling."

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