Angelina Jolie Gearing Up to Direct Her Second Feature Film from Seabiscuit Writer Laura Hillenbrand

With Salt 2 still in script stages, Maleficent well on its way, and a bit of voice work in Kung Fu Panda 3 at some indeterminate place on the horizon, it’s no wonder Angelina Jolie is lining up something to keep herself busy. According to The Wrap, the actress/director is in talks to helm the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand‘s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption for Universal Pictures.

Unbroken tells the true story of olympic sprinter and American soldier Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash, forty-seven days at sea in a life raft, and then two and a half years in Japanese POW camps. I remember Hillenbrand’s work on Seabiscuit fondly, and can only partially chalk it up to being personally susceptible to horse stories. Said Jolie:

“I read Laura Hillenbrand’s brilliant book, and I was so moved by Louie Zamperini’s heroic story, I immediately began to fight for the opportunity to make this film. Louie is a true hero and a man of immense humanity, faith and courage. I am deeply honored to have the chance to tell his inspiring story.”

It’ll be Jolie’s third time directing a film, and second time directing a feature. Her past movies include the documentary A Place in Time, and the better known, 2011 In the Land of Blood and Honey. Between Jolie, Hillenbrand, and the scriptwriter behind Les Misérables taking a pass at the script on Universals’ behest, that’s a pretty awesome pedigree to me.

(via The Wrap.)

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Susana Polo

Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.

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