The 39-year-old star insisted on casting the then-unknown actress as sociopath Lisa Rowe in 1999 movie ‘Girl, Interrupted’ – in which Winona starred in and also served as the executive producer on - and thought they would get along well.
However, Angelina – who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance in the movie - insisted on maintaining a distance from her.
Winona said: “I remember thinking, ‘Oh we’re going to turn out to be great friends.’ But I think she needed to be able to look at me just as the character Susanna, not as Winona, so in a very respectful way she just kind of kept her distance.
“I saw her at one of the awards shows but I haven’t really seen her since.”
Despite not becoming friends with Angelina – who raises six children with partner Brad Pitt – Winona is delighted at the way the actress has overcome her personal problems to carve out a successful career.
She added: “What she’s accomplished after the film in terms of humanitarian stuff, I’m just really happy she did that. I remember in the press junket for ‘Girl, Interrupted’ she would just be so open about her problems and then I would come in and everyone would think I was so boring. So it’s really great to see she’s found her calling in her personal life.”
Winona also admitted she finds the movie difficult to watch because of late actress Brittany Murphy’s role in the film.
She added to Total Film magazine: “I can’t watch the movie now because of Brittany Murphy. She kills herself in the movie … I was very close to her before she died.”
Brittany passed away in December 2009 from pneumonia aged 32.
