It was reported back in December that the newest director to try and tackle the World War II story UNBROKEN was going to be Angelina Jolie. The film is based on a book by Laura Hillenbrand which tells the true story of Lou Zamperini.
Zamperini was a high school track star who made it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but when World War II broke out he switched gears to join the U.S. Air Force. During one search mission crashed his plane over the Pacific. He survived on a raft for 47 days, but was captured by Japanese guards when he finally reached the shore and kept as their prisoner for the rest of the war.
This sounds like it could be a great story, and now the film has gotten two heavyweight writers on board to help get the story straight for the screen. Joel & Ethan Coen has previously written scripts or stories for other directors to use, most recently the maligned GAMBIT, but this could be a real coup for Universal based on how good the vast majority of their films are. While this is a story that doesn’t seem to fit the Coen Brothers’ trademark quirkyness, I still believe that this could be a breakout film for the actress turned director after the mixed reviews of her last effort, IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. We will bring you any new developments right here on this site as they come.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
