There's no stopping Angelina Jolie at the minute. She's got the whole 'refugee/ adoption/ getting pregnant/ having a baby/ selling its image worldwide' out of her system, and has just announced her second film in a week.
You'll remember that earlier in the week Angelina Jolie decided to mark her acting comeback in a movie about a funny tiger teaching a fat panda how to fight. And now, after searching far and wide for the perfect companion piece to that little piece of cinema gold, Angelina Jolie thinks she's cracked it – she's set to play the widow of dead journalist Daniel Pearl in a movie based on her book. Daniel Pearl's widow's book, that is, not Angelina Jolie's. Obviously.
You can easily forgive Angelina Jolie for tiring of her current way of life at the moment. She's had her baby and done all the interviews where she admits how great she is, and now everything must seem a bit drab for her. Namibia has decided that the best way to move on from colonial overlords Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt is by cooking some meat, which must have annoyed Angelina some, and now not even the snappers that Angelina gets arrested are getting charged. What a crock!
Face it, if you were in the same position, you'd want to retreat into the magical world of film, too. But, Angelina Jolie is Angelina Jolie, so the films she makes must have a clear social ethic. That's why Angelina Jolie is going to star in Kung Fu Panda. No, not Kung Fu Panda, the other one – the film that continues the string of Angelina Jolie's morally-conscious movies, movies like Pushing Tin, Tomb Raider and Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. Or something.
Angelina Jolie has just signed up to star as the widow of murdered Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl in a movie based on the the book Mariane Pearl wrote in the aftermath of her husband's death at the hands of Islamic extremists in Pakistan four years ago, A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl. The movie is being made by Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company, and Pitt says:
"The film will focus on the deep collaboration between people around the world in search of Daniel in 2002. We hope the film can increase understanding between people of all faiths and portray the story and the people involved as honestly as possible without anger or judgment."
While he was at it, Brad Pitt put to rest rumours that he was going to let Jennifer Aniston play Mariane Pearl while they were married, only to snatch the role away and give it to Angelina Jolie instead:
"Jennifer was never attached to that role. When the project was first brought to Plan B, Jen was a partner in the company at the time."
It seems like everyone's a winner in this project. Angelina Jolie gets to flex her rarely-used dramatic chops, while the movie is bound to raise important questions at a global level. In fact, the only downside we can see is that – since Mariane Pearl is French – Brad Pitt might have to return to the dirty cabbage-stink of Paris.
Read more:
Angelina Jolie Will Play Widow Of Slain Journalist – People
[story by Stuart Heritage]