Los Angeles, Dec 11 (IANS): Hollywood actress-filmmaker Angelina Jolie says that she struggled a lot to land the opportunity to direct her forthcoming film "Unbroken".

"Unbroken" marks the return of Jolie to the director's chair for the first time since she made her debut with "In The Land of Blood and Honey". And this is a much bigger project compared to her directorial debut, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I fought hard for the opportunity. I'd directed only one other film, which was very small in comparison. I had to prove I could handle locations, the budget, balancing two plane crashes, the visual effects and the technical aspects. I had not done anything like that before! I had to go to school quickly, then I pitched my little heart out," she told US weekly.

"I over-prepared, with all of these graphs, maps, images and boards that I tied together and put in a garbage bag. Then I didn't hear anything for three days. It was terrible! I was so driven to get 'Unbroken' right, I'd work all night," she added.

The movie is a World War II drama and follows the true story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, who is captured and held in a labour camp by the Japanese.

Jack O'Connell has been cast in the central role of Zamperini, while Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, and Luke Treadaway are all also on board.