Angelina Jolie is getting buzzy.
The “Maleficent” star, 45, covered herself in bees for a striking National Geographic portrait to raise awareness for World Bee Day on Thursday.
A video posted to the magazine’s Instagram page showed the dangerous insects crawling all over Jolie’s chest, neck and even her face, though she appeared completely unfazed.
“Everyone on set, except Angelina, had to be in a protective suit,” photographer Dan Winters explained in the post’s caption. “It had to be quiet and fairly dark to keep the bees calm.”
He added, “Angelina stood perfectly still, covered in bees for 18 minutes without a sting.”
The Oscar winner was recently named “godmother” for Women for Bees, a five-year year program launched by Guerlain and UNESCO that will help train and support 50 female beekeepers around the world. As part of her new role, she will take part in a 30-day program in Provence, France, where she plans to be trained in beekeeping as well.
The single mother of six revealed in an accompanying interview that her brood is “much more informed” about the environment than she was at their age.
“Listen, it’s down to their generation,” she explained. “We’re at the wire. Decisions made and things that we do in the next 10, 20 years are going to make or break the way we’re able to live on this planet. Sadly, they know that. That’s very hard for them. I can’t imagine being a little kid again. Whether the Earth will be able to exist in the same way, and whether there will be bees and pollination, was not something I was thinking about at 12 years old.”
Jolie explained that there are two types of bees: “wild and solitary or domestic and honeybee.” When asked which type she would be, she quipped: “I feel like lately I’ve been a lot of domestic honeybee, but in my heart, I’m wild solitary.”
To pull off the arresting image, the “Lara Croft” actress said that she couldn’t shower for three days beforehand.
“It was so funny to be in hair and makeup and wiping yourself with pheromone,” she said. “We couldn’t shower for three days before. Because they told me, ‘If you have all these different scents, shampoos and perfumes and things, the bee doesn’t know what you are.’ … Then you put a few things up your nose and in your ears so you don’t give them as many holes to climb in.”