Angelina Jolie has praised her role in upcoming movie Changeling, stating that it was a pleasure to play a character that reminded her so much of her late mother.

The movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, and the pregnant actress plays a desperate mum whose nine-year-old son is kidnapped in the real-life story.

Jolie claims she saw many of her mother's traits in her character, and the role enabled her to "revisit" Marcheline Betrand soon after her death from cancer in January 2007.

Jolie explains: "To me, she's very much like my mother. My mother was very passive in many ways and very, very sweet, but when it came to her children, she was a lion.

"So, in many ways, (my character) Christine reminded me of my mom, and it was a way to kind of revisit my mother after her passing and spend time with her."