LOS ANGELES, California—It’s an unglamorous route, but if you’re Angelina Jolie and you must walk through a hotel’s kitchen and ride the service elevator to get to your destination with minimum fuss, then so be it.

That was how Angelina entered the Conrad Suite of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last week—through the kitchen doors. “I snuck in the back. I tend to do that,” the actress quipped, smiling and looking stunning, as usual. With those words, Angelina set the tone for our latest press con with her, in which she talked about her twins, Knox and Vivienne (she volunteered that she was styled earlier while she was holding one on each arm); the other kids in the growing Pitt-Jolie household, Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Pax (she said they’re not quite done yet); Brad, of course; and her new film, “The Changeling.”

In a performance that should win her a Best Actress nomination in the coming awards season, Angelina plays Christine, whose young son, Walter, disappears in 1928 Los Angeles. Five months later, a corrupt police department, eager for a publicity coup in solving the case, returns a boy to her. Christine knows he is not Walter. Based on a true story, “The Changeling,” adroitly directed by Clint Eastwood, tells how Christine, in an era when women didn’t challenge the system, pushes the police to keep looking for her real son.

Following are excerpts from our interview:

What are the joys and difficulties of having twin babies? How are the other kids relating to the twins?

It’s great. Yeah, during hair and make-up [sessions], I had one [baby] on each [arm]. It’s so much fun. It’s hard work and we’re exhausted. Two is twice as hard but twice as fun. Like this morning, we all had jet lag so we tried to get to bed at a decent hour. Then about 4:30 in the morning, everybody started to wake up and Brad took them for me. He said, “You’ve got to work so I’ll take it on” and he went out. I just heard chaos in the living room for about four hours. I tried to sleep but I kept wondering what was happening.

Brad is an amazing, dedicated father. It’s absolute chaos but the kids are really forming beautiful relationships. They (the older kids) are very loving [towards] the babies. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we’re not working right now. We’ve had the kids home schooled. We’ve been together all the time. We haven’t gone away or spent too much time with the babies. Everybody’s getting a lot of time, so everybody’s doing pretty good.

You gave such an emotional performance. Do you detach yourself after shooting and get those emotions out of the way?

This one was very hard for me. I read the script and I couldn’t put it down. But I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to touch something that has to do with children being kidnapped. It scared me. It’s my biggest fear—anything happening to my kids.

But I found myself telling the story to Brad and somebody else. I was thinking about the woman and what she went through. I couldn’t get the story out of my mind. Through the whole process of the film, I was hugging and sleeping with all the kids. I wanted to know where everybody was at all times. I wanted them with me on the set. I was very emotional. It was the hardest thing to do—facing my biggest nightmare. It was very difficult. I never let it go. Everybody knew during that time that I was going to be a bit of a basket case. I was crying a lot at home and hugging everybody too much.

Following up on that question, how emotionally resonant was this role specifically with you?

I’m a mom so it doesn’t take much to imagine these things. Trying to raise children is what I do every day and trying to do it right. Anything happening to them is the only nightmare you have. I don’t think you have to be a mother to [portray] a mother but in this case, I don’t think I would have played the role with as much emotion or understanding if I weren’t a mom. I thought about my children every day. I thought about my own mother. This character is based on my mom, because she was a very soft woman who was very shy to speak up but when it came to her kids, she would find a way. She had that. So I had pictures of my mom with me throughout this [movie] in my pocket, in my purse.

What do you teach your kids in light of this movie’s story?

I try to teach them about their own instincts, who they are, what’s right and wrong. Often they ask when they watch TV, “Mommy, is he a bad guy? Is he doing something bad? Is he hurting somebody?” My son is curious about the military and he’ll ask, “Is this country good or bad?” I’ll go, “It depends who you ask, honey. It’s complicated, but to question government and authority is important.”

You chose to have your babies somewhere else. Are you making a statement about what’s going on in America?

I’m very proud to be an American. All my children have American passports. What I think is best about America is that it is a melting pot—a mixture of many different races and nations. I expect my children to appreciate and respect other parts of the world and learn about them. That to me is what being an American is. My children were born in other countries. They will learn about those countries and respect them. They are Asian, African—they’re very proud of that as well but they are Americans, too, like their parents.

You have become one of the most famous women on earth. It’s not that easy for you to be just Angelina and have that access to people.

I do wish I had more freedom to do things, especially with the children. But I feel blessed every day. I wake up and I live with my favorite people in the world. They’re the funniest people I’ve ever met. He (Brad) is my best friend and we have a big, loud, busy family so I certainly don’t feel isolated from what’s important to me. I do have dear friends and people I work with.

I want my children to have more freedom. Hopefully, we’ll be less in the public eye as they grow up and they’ll have more of that (freedom). I live with Brad who’s had more to deal with. We share that. We find a way to just make it fine and fun. We’re grateful for life, for everything we get to have. Do I wish I could just walk down the street with my kids? Sure, yeah. Go out with them, get an ice cream and pretzels in Manhattan like my mom did with me— but I can’t.

(To be continued tomorrow)

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.