Angelina Jolie covers Vanity Fair ahead of ‘Unbroken’ unveiling

The December issue of Vanity Fair finds Angelina Jolie in a familiar place: right on the magazine’s coveted cover, which she graces for her fifth time. At the same time, though, the 39-year-old actress, filmmaker and humanitarian is on the precipice of what could be a decisive career moment.

On Christmas Day, Universal Pictures will release “Unbroken,” Jolie’s highly anticipated biopic about the late Olympic runner turned World War II hero Louis Zamperini, who died in July.

The film is Jolie’s second as a director, after the independent 2011 Bosnian war drama “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” and marks her first outing behind the camera of a studio picture rather than in front of it.

Starring the relatively unknown British actor Jack O’Connell as Zamperini, “Unbroken” has been pegged as a potential Oscar contender but remains something of a question mark, as it hasn’t screened on the fall festival circuit.

As the film approaches its unveiling, though, moviegoers can expect the publicity machine to begin ramping up, as Jolie’s Vanity Fair appearance underscores: It’s worth noting that her last VF cover was in October 2011, not long before the release of “Blood and Honey.”

Although she doesn’t star in “Unbroken,” Jolie is nonetheless one of the film’s biggest selling points, along with Zamperini’s inspiring true story and what could prove to be a breakout performance from O’Connell. For Jolie and Universal, the biggest marketing challenge may be leveraging her mega-stardom without allowing it to overshadow the film itself.

For now, readers can check out a preview of the Vanity Fair cover story, in which Jolie talks about her relationship with Zamperini, including being at his bedside during some of the last days of his life and showing him an early cut of the film.

“It was an extremely moving experience,” Jolie told the magazine, “to watch someone watching their own life ... someone so physically strong ... and they are at the stage where their body is giving up.”

At one point, Jolie said, Zamperini seemed to be failing but then regathered himself: “[The doctors] said he was training to breathe on his own. And that’s what he always told me -- you train, you fight harder than those other guys, and you win. You can take it. You make it.”

The December issue of Vanity Fair will be available digitally on Thursday and on newsstands Nov. 11.

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