Angelina Jolie "had a complete emotional breakdown" while filming her directorial debut.

The Hollywood actress made her first foray into filmmaking with In the Land of Blood and Honey. The drama focuses on the relationship between a Serbian soldier and a Bosnian prisoner.

Angelina has admitted she felt overwhelmed by the film project and let her concerns get the better of her at one point.

"I had a complete emotional breakdown in the shower and Brad [Pitt, her partner] found me crying. I felt this huge responsibility and I felt very small and, who am I to take this on?'" she said in a live video web chat.

"I had a complete meltdown."

Angelina finds it surreal that she is now a director in her own right. The 36-year-old star says the only reason she took on the sometimes daunting task was because the story was so close to her heart.

"I didn't plan to become a director, and I still have trouble saying I'm a director. I just wanted to tell this story and I ended up by default being the director," she revealed.

"It was a pleasure but I wonder if it would be a pleasure with another cast and crew, and a subject matter that wasn't so special."

Angelina has been a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador since 2001 and has been exposed to several atrocities in war-torn countries around the world.

In the Land of Blood and Honey is a reflective piece about the aftermath of violence she's witnessed.