Angelina Jolie attended a special event on Thursday (December 6th), honouring World War II hero and the subject of her new movie Unbroken, Louis Zamperini. According to Page Six, the actress turned director, is said to have become “choked up” while presenting Zamperini’s family with the special honour.

Angelina JolieJolie directed Unbroken, based on Zamperini's life

The US Senate had passed a resolution on Wednesday “honouring the life, accomplishments and legacy of Zamperini and expressing condolences on his passing,” An official proclamation of the honour was present by Jolie to his family, including son Luke Zamperini, at the Porter House event. During her presentation Jolie tearfully said “thank you for allowing me to tell this story,” to the family of the former Olympian.

In an interview with Channel Nine earlier this week, the actress also revealed that she turned to Zamperini for support during Unbroken’s filming. "I had many sleepless nights feeling,“Oh my god, I hope I can do good enough work and be worthy of this man’s story, to be a keeper of this man’s story," Jolie said.

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“I was scared.” the 39 year old added. “But I worked hard and he made me feel that it was going to be all right. And even when I didn’t have faith in myself during production he would remind me I was going to do a good job.”

Zamperini died on July 2nd of this year, aged 97, before the movie’s final editing had been completed. However Jolie did say she had shown him the film’s first draft edit on her laptop.

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“'It was so beautiful to have the privilege of watching this extraordinary person watch his life before his eyes,' she said. ‘"Watching himself win races and fight, and survive, and it was so magical. It was very, very special,” she added.

UnbrokenJack O'Connell as Zamperini in Unbroken

Unbroken is released in cinemas on December 25th.