First announced late last year, Angelina Jolie drew attention of none other than Joel and Ethan Coen to rewrite the script for the long in-development biopic about the legendary Lou Zamperini.
Jolie replaced Francis Lawrence at the helm of Unbroken and became the latest in a long line of filmmakers who’ve tried to bring a biopic of the Olympic track star turned World War II Air Force officer because Universal has been attempting to make the Zamperini film for over five decades now.
Coen Bros will rewrite the current draft by Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson based on the Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 bestseller biography that follows the life story of Olympian and war hero who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner of war camp. Now 96, Zamperini will also contribute to the film.
Earlier known as filmmakers who typically direct the scripts that they wrote, the Coens broke their own rules with Crimewave back in 1985, which the duo co-wrote with Sam Raimi, and last year their screenplay for the remake of the crime comedy Gambit was put into production with Michael Hoffman at the helm.
The project that was tentatively on track for a 2013 start will mark the first-time collaboration between the brothers and Jolie.
Sounds interesting. Stay tuned.
