Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the New York Film Festival Centerpiece Screening of Changeling at The Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City. October 4, 2008 Courtesy of John Spellman / Retna Ltd

The New York Film Festival's red carpet premiere for Oscar contender Changeling was buzzing with Brangelina excitement. The film, set in the 1920s, is directed by Oscar-winner Clint Eastwood, and stars Angelina Jolie as a mother whose child is kidnapped and then mysteriously returned to her — only for her to suspect that it is not her own child. As in real life, Jolie's character bucks the system — in Changeling she's determined to find the truth about what happened to her son.

Of course, the paparazzi went mad when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrived in each other's arms. When Jolie was done posing for their cameras, the photogs chanted, "We want fashion!" over and over until she returned rocking her figure-hugging black Versace dress and Sergio Rossi black-and-gold stilettos for a few more shots — without her paramour.

"God, that is really annoying," she muttered. Pitt, meanwhile, left his leading lady to work the press line solo, and strutted down the carpet declining to comment. "I've got the day off," he joked. Costar John Malkovich was MIA, and Clint Eastwood, looking like Dirty Harry, ducked out early to introduce the film.

Premiere.com got a few questions in with Jolie, who chatted about working with the legendary actor and director, a mother's worst fear, and how she got back into shape so soon after delivering the most famous twins in the world.

Angelina Jolie at The New York Festival Centerpiece Screening of Changeling at The Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City. October 4, 2008 Courtesy of John Spellman / Retna Ltd

How challenging is it to switch from the style of past directors you've worked with, like Robert De Niro, Robert Zemeckis, and Doug Liman, to the notoriously quiet, calm, and minimalist style of Clint Eastwood?

I loved it. I can see how it scares a lot of people in the beginning, because he really doesn't say, "Action!" really loud, and he often shoots rehearsal, and he does do one take. So you walk on set and start. On a lot of films, you have a cup of coffee, everyone talks, everyone hangs out... He just gets right into it, and before you know it, it was over. There were a few moments where I didn't even know we'd started, and it was over. But it captures a real freshness... and then it makes you, the next day, prepare that much more. So every day you do your work much more than you do on other films, and you bring your best.

That sounds like it could either be intimidating, or confidence building.

He is intimidating because he is Clint Eastwood, so I was shy in the beginning. But he is such a great guy that it ends up good. And he is very good, so you get a sense that he really wouldn't move on if he didn't feel he had it. So it's not just that he wants to go fast. He gets what he wants and he goes.

About playing Christine Collins, Jolie told the press:

Oh God, your worst fear — anything happening to your kids. The reason I didn't want to do the film for a long time. I read it and wanted to keep it as far away from me as possible. But it is also a great story of justice and I love the film. Every day after I'd come home, I'd so be clingy to my kids, I think I bugged them. I was grabbing them, and I was checking them in the middle of the night. It scared me, and it still scares me.

As for her stellar physique just a month after delivering twins, her explanation was:

A good dress. I just run around with my kids, and I am breastfeeding. I think that does something.