Salma Hayek Pinault Says Angelina Jolie Was ‘My Motherly Figure’ on the Without Blood Set (Exclusive)

Angelina Jolie brought a maternal energy to the Without Blood set.

The Oscar winner wrote and directed the new drama, based on the 2002 book by Alessandro Baricco. Salma Hayek Pinault, who leads the cast along with Demián Bichir, says the film’s set helmed by her longtime friend Jolie “just felt like home.”

“I was surprised, even though we are very close and stuff, but I was [surprised by] how warm and generous and kind she was as a director to the actors. It was really something,” Hayek Pinault, 58, says at the PEOPLE/Entertainment Weekly suite at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Without Blood is premiering on Sunday, Sept. 8.

“I’ve worked with great directors that are really focused, but maybe because she’s also an actress… everything that maybe she wished somebody would’ve done for her, she did for us.”

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Hayek Pinault and Jolie costarred together in the 2021 Marvel movie Eternals. About their dynamics, Hayek Pinault says, “In [Eternals] I was a little bit of a mother figure to her. In this movie, I felt like she was my motherly figure because she would come to the set and run it like a family.”

“She was a very efficient mother, but she was also there emotionally every step of the way,” she adds.

Jolie previously directed films including In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), Unbroken (2014), By the Sea (2015) and First They Killed My Father (2017).

Hayek Pinault told PEOPLE back in 2022 that Jolie, 49, is “probably the best director I’ve ever worked with — and I’ve worked with some pretty good ones.” At the time, she added of Without Blood, “I’ve always loved her as a director, but I think this might be her best, or one of the best.”

The tale of family, war and revenge chronicles the aftermath of trauma, zeroing in on “a woman [Hayek] who witnessed her family suffer shocking violence and the man [Bichir] who inflicted it,” according to the festival’s description.

“It was a life-changing experience for me making this film,” Hayek tells PEOPLE of the difficult role completed with Jolie. “After so many years, to feel that somebody really listened, really saw me, really created a safe space for me, really embraced me, really admired my talent and let me know… I discovered things about myself as an actress. I was so proud of myself. I was doing things I couldn’t believe I was doing and how easy it was.”

Of her interest in the Without Blood ‘s subject matter, Jolie, who also stars in the new film Maria, recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’ve spent a lot of time in conflict zones, and I suppose it’s where I have seen the best of humanity and the absolute worst.” She added, “It’s not always about why these horrible things happen. It really is a lot about how people get through them.”

“And the kind of people I love and admire most in the world are the people who keep their grace after all of the harm done to them,” Jolie said. “I think I find those people the most moving, and I admire them.”