Actress Angelina Jolie has revealed her friends warned her and Brad against making their movie By The Sea.

The couple started filming the film which documents a bad marriage shortly after they tied the knot in August – nine years after meeting on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Pals were concerned that playing a husband and wife struggling with their relationship in the forthcoming drama would spill over into everyday life.

Angelina – who is directing the film – said on the Today show: “We did a drama about a bad marriage

“‘A lot of friends of ours thought is was a really … they didn’t say a bad idea … but they asked us a few times if we were sure we wanted to do it.”

Earlier this week, Angelina admitted it had been “uncomfortable” working on the movie with her husband – with who she has children Maddox, 13, Pax, 10, Zahara, nine, Shiloh, eight, and six-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne – but felt the experience had made their marriage stronger.

She said: “‘It [was] uncomfortable but we’ve already shot it, we’ve survived it and we’re stronger for it.

“It was very tough material, so for any actors it was heavy dramatic emotional work.”

The movie is set during the 1970s and sees former dancer Vanessa and her writer husband Roland travel together. Though they seem to be growing apart, things change when they stay in a quiet seaside town and get close to some of the inhabitants.

[via Daily Mirror]