The Coen Bros Are Writing Angelina Jolie's Directorial Follow-Up

I never got around to seeing In the Land of Blood and Honey, Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut from 2011, which she also wrote. But I heard good things from people who saw it, and now I have even more reason to see her next one, because the Coen Brothers are writing it.

Ethan and Joel Coen are teaming up with Angelina Jolie to tell the story of World War II hero Lou Zamperini.
Universal picked up the rights to Unbroken, by Lauren Hillebrand, in January 2011, initially for Francis Lawrence to direct. Jolie boarded as director in December. She has spent weeks searching for top-flight writers to tackle the project, with sources saying the director was extremely choosy.

Well it’s not like she has to rush, that’s the advantage of having enough money to last you six lifetimes. At least she has good taste.

Zamperini was a Los Angeles high school track star who raced in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In 1943, his Air Force plane crashed in the Pacific. He survived without food and water for 47 days, enduring shark attacks, aerial attacks and hunger before washing ashore on a Japanese island behind enemy lines, where he was held as a prisoner of war for two years and tortured by his captors. [THR]

Here’s a little more from the Amazon description:

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.
In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit.  Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

They say you write what you know, and so far, Angelina has taken on a love story set during the Serb-Croat war, and now a survival drama about a shipwrecked WWII POW. You might be wondering, what experience could she possibly bring to this story? Well, Zamperini was a runner, and if you’ve seen Salt, you know that Angelina Jolie is basically the Usain Bolt of emaciated Oscar actresses.

I’m excited to see her direct the running scenes. “That’s it! Now pump your arms faster than your legs, and really try to loll your head loosely from side to side like your neck is made of rubber!”

No one’s set to star as of yet, but I’m thinking… Tom Cruise?

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