{"id":28486,"date":"2014-10-11T04:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=28486"},"modified":"2014-10-11T02:13:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:13:52","slug":"jack-oconnell-of-71-fame-calls-being-in-angelina-jolies-unbroken-his-biggest-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/11\/jack-oconnell-of-71-fame-calls-being-in-angelina-jolies-unbroken-his-biggest-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack O\u2019Connell of \u201c71\u201d fame calls being in Angelina Jolie\u2019s \u201cUnbroken\u201d his biggest challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON\u2014Jack O\u2019Connell, 24, is a hot property right now.<\/p>\n

Following his much-acclaimed performance earlier this year in the angry prison drama \u201cStarred Up,\u201d now he is receiving rave reviews for his part in director Yann Demange\u2019s high-octane debut \u201c\u201871.\u201d And then there\u2019s his highly anticipated role in director Angelina Jolie\u2019s \u201cUnbroken\u201d later this year.<\/p>\n

The rising young star says he\u2019s not letting all the attention go to his head\u2014he just thinks about what\u2019s next and how he can do the best possible job.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise I\u2019d just be a one-trick pony. I just got to look forward,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In \u201c\u201871,\u201d O\u2019Connell plays Gary Hook, a British soldier lost in the streets of Belfast. For the half-English, half-Irish actor, Northern Ireland\u2019s decades of unrest are a very real part of his family history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to know that the film wasn\u2019t going to try and point fingers and take a biased view on anything, nor portray anyone either side of the divide unfairly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He even considered joining the military as a teen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there was an honour in it and I still believe that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Luckily for film lovers, O\u2019Connell turned to acting instead and his role in Jolie\u2019s \u201cUnbroken,\u201d due for release around Christmas, could firmly establish him in Hollywood. O\u2019Connell plays former U.S. Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini, who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during WWII, where he was shot down over the Pacific and spent two years as a Japanese prisoner of war. He had to lose a lot of weight for the very physical role.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell says he found the experience \u201cmaturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made a man out of me and it broke me, contrary to the title,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The actor described Zamperini, who he met before his death in July at age 97, as a \u201cmost extraordinary human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so humble,\u201d he added. \u201cHe never once considered himself anything extraordinary at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell said \u201cUnbroken\u201d was his big biggest challenge to date because he was \u201cunder the command of one of the most famous people on the planet\u201d\u2014director Jolie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the more I focused on the enormity of the whole project, the more it felt beyond me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnbroken\u201d is set for U.S. release Dec. 25, reaching UK cinemas on Dec. 26.<\/p>\n