As Angelina Jolie awaits the release of 'Unbroken,' she says directing husband Brad Pitt brought them 'closer'

The family that yells together stays together.

That’s at least Angelina Jolie’s marital tip for the year. After finishing her grueling WWII film, “Unbroken,” the star and second-time director moved on to the only subject more punishing than war — marriage — then cast her newly- minted hubby Brad Pitt as her onscreen combatant.

Jolie tells the Daily News that directing Pitt while the two made her marital crisis drama, “By the Sea" — opening next year — made her fall in love with him more.

“It brought us closer,” she says.

So, stressful subject matter makes the heart grow fonder — at least, it does when you’re both tough-minded, thick-skinned Oscar winners.

 

“The last time we worked together” — on the 2005 film, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” where they met — “it was a lighter movie. So sharing something in a deep artistic way, it’s something I think is necessary for artistic couples.

“I hadn’t realized how good it would be for us.”

Now, as for the yelling:

“The scenes on ‘By the Sea’ were so tense that we let out (any stress) on camera. There’s really heavy fighting in it, so I think sometimes the crew felt like, ‘Mom and Dad are having a fight!’ — because Brad and I are the producers too,” she said. “Success or failure, it’s all on us.

“But it was all oddly freeing. We both wanted to do something as artists ... and push each other. So we got this opportunity to go out there and play.

 

“I had missed being that free as an actor, and to do that depth of work, and what a pleasure it was to do it with Brad, because I really saw him as an actor, not just the man I loved,” she says. “In the end, it was an amazing thing, because there’s no actor who wants to help me more, or push me more as an actress, or give me more as a director or writer than my husband, and there’s no man I want to see succeed more than him. We were so there for each other.”

Pitt’s support has certainly come in handy, starting with Jolie’s pre-emptive double mastectomy in 2013 and through the fallout from the leaked emails from Sony’s hacked computers — including one missive from uber-producer Scott Rudin that tartly described Jolie as a “minimally talented spoiled brat.”

 

Angelina Jolie and the real-life Louis Zamperini, whose harrowing story of survival is the basis for "Unbroken."

 

When Jolie had to skip the subsequent “Unbroken” premiere in L.A. due to chicken pox, Pitt and three of the couple’s six kids, plus Pitt’s parents, stood in for her.

Though married only since August — and globe-trotting from sets around the world to homes in Los Angeles, New Orleans or France — Pitt and Jolie are dedicated to setting aside Christmas as family time, she says.

“Our tradition is, well, being somewhat traditional,” Jolie reveals, even cozily referring to herself and Pitt as “Mom and Dad” when detailing their household holiday.

“Dad is the main one to deal with the tree, Mom and the kids help decorate, and then we put all the kids to bed. And, as anybody who has a big family knows, [the gifts] take a really long time! You have to be very organized when you’re wrapping them and putting presents around the tree. And you have to make sure no one gets up and leaves before everyone else is done.

“It’s all a bit military! We’re constantly cleaning up the wrapping paper and getting coffee, like any other parent,” she says.