AceShowbiz - Angelina Jolie looked to Hollywood veterans Clint Eastwood, Michael Winterbottom and Robert De Niro for inspiration as she embarked on her directorial debut. The "Salt" star recently wrapped filming on her as-yet-untitled love story, set during the Bosnian war, and admits she incorporated aspects of the trio's work ethic into her own project to get the best from her cast and crew.

She says, "I learned a lot from Clint, who is very economic as a director. I learned a lot from Michael Winterbottom, who really gave a lot of trust in the actors and tries to capture them in their space instead of making it look too stagey (sic)." She adds, "Working with De Niro, it taught me a lot about being an actors' director. Hopefully, I've learned from all of them."

And Jolie enjoyed stepping away from the limelight to showcase the talents of her movie's stars, who were mostly of Eastern European heritage. She says, "It was nice to take the spotlight off myself and put it on some brilliant actors from an area... I'm excited to show their work and their talent to the world. I'm very proud of what they gave and what they did so I just felt lucky to be there for it."