There's no doubt that Angelina Jolie has been giving the tabloids little to write about in the way of scandal given her humanitarian work as a goodwill ambassador and the variety of film roles she's been choosing. As for Clint Eastwood, well, tabloid targeting the guy who embodied Dirty Harry, Josey Wales, and Sgt. "Gunny" Highway isn't a smart move. When you look at the evolving careers of both Jolie and Eastwood, the two have been maturing in a way that still feels like we still haven't seen their best work despite their numerous hits. And for Clint, that means on both sides of the camera.

As a director, Clint Eastwood didn't really reach his true potential until he was in his fifties and his post-Pale Rider era. Almost twenty years later in his early seventies, Clint amazingly took his directing game to new heights with films like Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Now at 78, Clint Eastwood is back behind the camera this time directing Angelina Jolie in Changeling, loosely based on a true story about a woman whose kidnapped son is returned to her but soon begins to suspect the boy is not her child.

With Changeling on its way to theaters on October 31, Clint Eastwood sat down with Angelina Jolie in New York to talk to journalists about how they came together, how they prepared, whether they believe the world works in mysterious ways, their thoughts on corruption around the world, the economy, and whether they'll be working together again on Clint's next project about Nelson Nandella.

The attention to detail in this film is mind-boggling. I wonder about the amount of research you had put into your movie before you started the cameras rolling.

CLINT EASTWOOD: Yeah, well there was a lot of research you have to do, the art director plays a very big role in this. As far as going back and getting books and going through pictures of the time, going through there’s several pieces of documentary footage of downtown Los Angeles at that particular time. It’s all very crude film, but it’s at the same time, it does give you an idea. This film took place between 1928 and 1935, and I was around in 1935, so I recall – there’s somewhat of a memory there. And then in the 1950’s, I went to college in Los Angeles and they still had the Red Car streetcars and all that sort of thing, which they don’t have now. And it’s too bad they got rid of them, in a way, because they were electric. They were a fine form of transportation. But maybe they wouldn’t have housed enough.

What do you look for in a script?

ANGELINA JOLIE: All sorts of different reasons, but a good story and something that’s worth telling for one reason or another. And on occasion, you stumble across something that is extraordinary. And especially when it’s about a real person in a real time, something like this, where this - I was saying to Clint that this, it is such an amazing story, what this woman went through, what was done to her, that if it wasn’t real, everybody would just say it’s the worst script that was ever written because it makes no sense and that would never happen. And when you read the script, they made the very smart choice of putting the front pages of all Xerox copies of all the Los Angeles Times in the script, so you could see her. And you read the stories, and you read the articles and you could look them up and they’re fascinating to see. So this real woman lived through this and fought this system. It was a story of justice to me, in the end, and so that’s always, I think, one of the best stories to tell.

You said Angelina reminds you of Meryl Streep because she’s ready when she gets on set. How do you get ready, Angelina, before starting shooting when you know it’s a director who’s not going to make 20 takes for each scene?

EASTWOOD:Could you repeat some of the first part of that, please?

You said Angelina reminds you of Meryl Streep.

EASTWOOD: Well, she is one of those kind of actresses that comes in - obviously, she comes in very prepared. She has a good understanding of the role, of what her participation is going to be and how she’s going to get there. And it became - it was very, very - kind of a director’s dream because there’s not a lot of - we didn’t have to sit around and pseudo intellectualize too much on what was going on here. The story was very understandable. Christine Collins, her emotions and the emotional trauma she’s suffering is very understandable. It’s not a hard thing to understand. She has to figure out, within herself, how she’s going to relate to that character and be that character. And my job is to sit there and see what happens and see what she brings. The way I feel about it as a director, and I do this because this is the way I like to be directed myself, is I don’t want a director coming in and chatting up with a lot of jargon. Let me show you what I’ve got in mind and then you tell me where I’m going wrong. But there are a lot of people that kind of have to be talked into things. But in this case, she is not one of them.

Can you explain why? How did you prepare?

JOLIE: Well, why it was such a great experience for me and why I love working with Clint is because of the way he works, you do know that if you prepare yourself and you bring - you know you have to anyway because you feel a responsibility - and I think everybody does - to bring their best. And so you work that much harder because you want to. But there’s so much - as an actress, there have been so many times I’ve worked on films that required a lot of emotion and a director that didn’t understand it. And they do very, very - you start the scene, you start the day, and they do ten takes in a wide shot.

And you’re crying and you’re crying and you’re crying, and then they get close, and you’re still trying to emote the same honesty. And then they want to do another - and by two, three hours later, you don’t know what’s happening and you’ve lost any sense of kind of natural - and he doesn’t do that. You know that if you're there and you have everything, he’s going to capture it and he’s not going to exhaust you. You can exhaust yourself because he’s ready. And you can just lay it out for him and he’ll get it. And then he’ll take care of it and move on. And so you feel safe enough to just lay yourself bare and expose everything. So it’s that that allowed for it.

EASTWOOD: Sometimes you get a situation where you have very emotional scenes, and I’ll shoot them out of continuity. In other words, I might shoot closer shots first or medium shots first and then do wider shots later just for that one reason. And I like to capture actors when they’re still thinking about it, when they’re still formulating in their mind. Because after all, what is acting? You’re trying to make - you’re trying to give the impression that your immediate thought is being translated into your dialogue. And it’s your immediate emotion... and when you have to do it 20 times, as you were suggesting earlier, that’s very difficult. And sure, an actor can do it. And yes, you have the technique to do it over and over and over again. But somehow, there’s a little glint that gets missing at some point. And I just want to be trying for it. I don’t always get it in the first take. And I have a reputation for doing everything in one take, but that’s not true.

JOLIE: But you do do a lot.

EASTWOOD: You just try to take, but you’re trying for it. And then sometimes a technical problem comes up or something. But with the crew I’ve got, they’re always ready to go. I don’t even have to say, "Action," or "Roll the film" or anything. I just look at the cameraman and he turns it on.

Do you believe the universe works in mysterious ways? Do you have a story that proves it?

JOLIE: I suppose I would say I’m not somebody that usually believes in any kind of fate or something like that. But when I met my son Maddox, I had a - I went to that country and I left that country feeling I’d left something behind. And I went back to that country on a humanitarian mission, and playing blocks with a little kid and felt, ‘My son’s here. My son or daughter is here. I’m supposed to - my kid is here.’ And it was the strangest feeling. And I met Mad one day. And I woke up that morning thinking, ‘They’re going to introduce me to a kid and I wonder how I’m going to feel.’ And the moment I saw him, I knew I was his mother. And I can't explain it. I don’t know why. I don’t know why that country, but it was absolutely meant to be, so...

EASTWOOD: I’ve never had the feeling that I went to a strange country and had - my son was there, but maybe I was there to sire one. I don’t know [laughs]. So anyway, I kept an open mind about it all. But I don’t know. Everything - the universe does work in strange ways. I do believe in fate sometimes, fate having a part of what your life is like and what you become in life. And I know I had a couple of adverse circumstances growing up where I managed to escape an early demise. And my mother used to say she thought I had a guardian angel on my shoulder. And I thought, ‘Well, okay. If that’s what you want to think about, that’s great.’ But I was, of course, young and impetuous and didn’t think about it really.

You mentioned that you like to capture actors while they’re thinking their roles. Can that apply to you?

EASTWOOD: Yes, it can, it can. A lot of times, I’m on the set and I’ll have an idea of a scene and then maybe I’ll start sketching it out with the cameraman, talking, philosophizing about it. And then finally I’ll say, 'Well, let’s just try something here. Let’s just roll something. She’ll come in here. He’ll come in there. And they’ll meet. And we - as a camera, will go around here.’ And I tell the camera operator, 'Just be prepared to move over here at this point and then come back around here. Just stay loose.' And if the camera is not on a stand, they’ll do that. And if it’s on a dolly or something, we’ll still do that. He’s always turning back to the dolly guy and motioning with his thumb, you know, ‘Move to the right a little bit. Move to the left a little bit.' So we do a lot of things improvisational, and it works. I like it. It’s great fun for me to see that. But you have to definitely have some sort of a plan, for the most part, because there are certain complications that have to be overcome.

Why do you choose such emotional themes?

EASTWOOD: The basis of drama is conflict. And the basis of stories are conflict, either inner conflict of one’s self or physical and emotional conflict with other parties. And so in order to do that, that’s what’s interesting. That’s what people want to see. You can do a very simple story with minimal conflict and probably have a limited audience, too. So I think the unusual story - that’s the same reason the newspaper will always put the more unusual stories on the front pages and the less usual on the back pages.

But that doesn’t mean every story should be murder and mayhem. There are a lot of happy stories that are wonderful to tell, too. And this story that we’re telling is not necessarily a happy story, but you’re trying to find that. You’re rooting for something, and if you’re rooting for somebody to accomplish something, you’re rooting for Christine Collins to have a life. And as the picture goes on, in my mind, that’s the way it’s supposed to work anyway. Christine Collins is - there’s got to be some comeuppance or something where she has some life. And you get it for a moment there in 1935 and she’s back on the job and life is starting to come back together. And then this case is sort of reopened. But those were the ironies of the real case, and that’s the way it must have been for her.

You’re about to make a happier story, the one about Nelson Mandela. I understand that Angelina could get a role in that one.

JOLIE: Oh, he knows.

EASTWOOD: Yes, we’re going to do that. And that, hopefully, is an inspirational story. It certainly was an interesting time and an interesting dilemma and an interesting conflict too, speaking of inner conflict, because here’s a man who was in prison for 26 years and all of a sudden comes out and goes from a prisoner to running and winning the presidency. And then he has to - then what do you do after you win? So what do you do? He turns out to be a great inspiration to a lot of people and not only the black people that were depending on him to come and be a savior, but the white people that he melded back into the political structure of the town. He knew how to build esprit d’corp among people. So right now, in this day and age, when we’re looking for inspirational leaders, he certainly was at that particular time in history. And that is a story worth telling.

You tried not to make it about kidnapping of a child but of the fight against a corrupt system. What is the resonance of this tale in today’s society?

EASTWOOD: For some reason, I think the inspiration for film noir films - there were so many bizarre incidents, but for some reason, because Los Angeles was left out there by itself in those days on the West Coast, it became sort of a world of its own. And I don’t know why this happens, and corruption is always there. I don’t know how to relate it to the current economic crisis, like you’re insinuating there, but there is definitely corruption there from not only - everybody is blaming it on Wall Street, but it’s corruption among the mentality of our country, as well. People think they can just take a plastic card and charge the world on it and not really pay attention to what you can afford and live within your means. It’s a whole different mentality. We’re all living in kind of a dream world, including Wall Street and including the politicians who are afraid to institute economical restraint.

Angelina, you’ve done a great deal of traveling. You may have come across elements of corruption in other parts of the world.

JOLIE: Well, certainly, yeah, there’s corruption all around the world. And why this story was interesting to me is because it is - as much as it’s a story about corruption, it’s also a story about the ability to overcome it and for even one individual citizen to change a law, which we have the ability to do in this country, which is pretty amazing and one of the best things about this country. So we could focus on, certainly, the darker side of how it relates, but it also relates in a positive way.

Clint, how do you go about your casting process? Angelina, this is your second movie about a mother that has lost the most important person in her life. Did it get easier playing that same loss the second time around?

EASTWOOD: It’s just a matter of how you feel at the time. When I first was given this script, I was told that Angelina had read this and liked it. So I told Brian Grazer that I didn’t see any reason to look further. I liked her very much, and I liked her as an actress. And she is a mother and a famous mother now. But she would - I figured that she would just know all the proper things about this character. And with the other cast, the same way. I do a lot of casting via videotape and people coming in and reading scenes and what have you because I’ve been turned down for so many parts over the years, in my early career, that I hated to be one of those guys who’s sitting there smoking a cigar and blowing smoke in actor’s faces that have come in to read.

And so I figure, if they come in and casting can give them a read, you can just get a look, how they look, how they sound, how they feel. And then if you get close to casting them, then you maybe meet with them and talk further or maybe not at all; sometimes just a reading. Jason Harner, who plays Northcott, he just did a brilliant reading on tape. You just could go, ‘Yeah, too bad the regular camera wasn’t rolling.’ He was the guy. I said, 'Yeah, that’s him.' So we didn’t go any further. And I’ve done that on other pictures. I remember with "Bird" years ago, Diana Venora, we had a whole tape of about five different actresses I was supposed to look at. And we did the first one, and she came on first. And she got about halfway through the scene and I say, 'That’s the girl. Okay.' And then everybody said, 'No, don’t you want to look at the rest of them?' And I said, 'For the next picture. For this picture, this is her.'

Angelina, does the pain of portraying loss get any easier?

JOLIE: It doesn’t get easier. It was a very different... Certainly, Marianne Pearl lost her husband in the most horrific way, but I think even she might agree that the loss of a child and not knowing where they are is probably the absolute worst thing in the world. So it was harder. It was harder to think about a child and imagining, as a mother, that somebody might be, every day, abusing that child and that child somewhere wondering why Mommy isn’t coming to get them. As a mother, that’s just the worst possible. So this film was very, very, very painful.

Do you talk to your children about the danger of strangers? Clint, you have children in different generations. Did your education on the subject change over the years?

EASTWOOD: Well, for me growing up, I grew up in a time when they were - of course, it was a time similar to the time of this picture, but at the same token, everybody - kids went outdoors and played. There was no television and all that, and everybody played outdoors. And your parents always told you, 'Beware of strangers,' or 'Don’t...' and that old gimmick of - which they use in the picture, and actually Northcott used is somebody coming and telling you your mother is in the hospital. 'You must jump in the car and come with us now.' That is one of the oldest ploys in the book and has been. [It] was used by him and other people over the years.

I think your parents have to kind of instill in you, and we have to instill in ours that not everybody has their best interests at heart. And there are a lot of motivations out there. It’s hard for kids not to know that now, with the great information age we live in and plus watching all the mayhem on television all night, just by watching the news, not even fictional stories. But I think it’s up to parents to do the educating on that level. And naturally, a person of higher profile is probably a little more diligent about that then somebody who is not a public figure. But at the same token, you want to give a child a normal life. You don’t want to scare the child and have them going around thinking that there’s somebody waiting around the corner to hit them with a club or something... so it’s a fine line. And you have to work that out within your family and what your philosophies are and build up a - the adults, at least, have to build up sort of a supposing situation, suppose how would you handle that.

The film serves as a reminder of how vulnerable children can be.

JOLIE: Of course. Yes, no, of course. We do have a high profile family, so we are, as Clint mentioned, maybe that much more careful. But also what he said is very true. I don’t want my children to be scared of why we have to go quickly into the car or why that person is running at us with a camera or something. I don’t want them to - it is a fine line of saying to beware of strangers but not to make them afraid or to say that we have security at this time, for this moment, but it’s not because somebody wants to hurt you. You should be able to sleep well at night. 'It’s okay, honey. It’s just --' So it is. It’s just - but I suppose, like with everything with children, it’s just communication and being honest with them. So maybe you even say, 'I don’t know how to...' You say everything, and they tell you that you’re crazy and go to bed, and it’s fine.