United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador U.S. actress Angelina Jolie adjusts her headphones
during a session at the Open Forum 2006 which is part of the World Economic
Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in this file photo dated January 27, 2006.
REUTERS/Pierre Verdy/Files (SWITZERLAND)
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, whose relationship was spawned on a film set,
will again work together - this time on a movie based on the life of Daniel
Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered in
Pakistan.
Jolie will star as Pearl's wife, Mariane Pearl, in an adaptation of her book,
"A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl," it was
announced Thursday. Pitt will produce the film, directed by Michael
Winterbottom.
The movie will be based on Mariane Pearl's account of her husband's abduction
in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002, while researching a story on Islamic militancy.
Months later, his beheaded body was found in a shallow grave in a compound on
the outskirts of Karachi.
"The film will focus on the deep collaboration between people around the
world in search of Daniel in 2002," Pitt told People magazine. "We hope the film
can increase understanding between people of all faiths."
"A Mighty Heart" will be co-produced by Plan B, the production company Pitt
and his wife, Jennifer Aniston, founded. Pitt and Aniston, who were divorced
last year, remain co-owners of the company.
It is the first announced on-screen role for Jolie, 31, since the birth of
daughter Shiloh Nouvel, born in Namibia in May. The couple have two older
children, 18-month-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, and 4-year-old Maddox,
adopted from Cambodia.
Pitt, 42, and Jolie first collaborated as co-stars in last year's "Mr. &
Mrs. Smith."
"I am delighted that Angelina Jolie will be playing my role in the adaptation
of my book," Pearl said in a statement released by studio Paramount Vantage. "I
deeply admire her work and what she is committed to."
There was no announcement about who would play Daniel Pearl or when shooting
would begin.
Pitt, who is producing a slew of upcoming films, will next star in Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" and as Jesse James in "The Assassination of Jesse
James by the Coward Robert Ford."
Jolie will next be seen in "The Good Shepherd," directed by Robert De Niro.
She will also lend her voice to two animated features: "Beowulf" and "Kung Fu
Panda."
In producing "A Mighty Heart," Pitt is joined by Dede Gardner of Plan B and
Andrew Eaton of Revolution Films.
