Jolie brushes off rumours of rift with Pitt

Actress Angelina Jolie, in Tokyo for the weekend opening of action thriller Salt, brushed off rumours today about her shaky relations with Brad Pitt.

"He was just a wonderful father," she said of Pitt, during work on the film, in which she plays a tough spy. He often brought the children to the set, she added.

"They played with fake blood, and they found mommy very strange in her different hair," she said.

Pitt and Jolie have been partners since they began a relationship after working on the 2005 film 'Mr & Mrs Smith'. They are raising six children.

Last week, Pitt and Jolie accepted undisclosed damages in London's High Court to settle a privacy claim against a British tabloid that had reported in January that they were planning to split.

Asked about her ability to work and maintain a happy family, Jolie told reporters at a Tokyo hotel: "Brad is the word that makes it possible."

Jolie, who arrived yesterday, brought four of the children along on the Japan trip. They have already spent some time shopping for toys inspired by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's animation characters Ponyo and Totoro, she said.

Jolie, 35, acknowledged she once surprised her eight-year-old son Maddox with her disguise as a male naval officer in 'Salt'.

He came into the room and reluctantly shook hands with the person he did not know was his mother.

"And I said: 'Honey, it's mommy,"' Jolie said.

"I think I freaked him out," she said with a laugh, adding that he then watched her peel off her fake ears, hands and nose.

"I play these roles, but I'm always in every minute their mom first," she said. "I'm a bit of a goofy. I'm funny at home, I think."

Her children are not going to be seeing the movie, however.

"I think it's very hard for them to see someone trying to kill their mom, even if she wins," she said.