Angelina Jolie will play Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart," Paramount Vantage & Plan B's adaptation of Pearl's memoir about the kidnapping and murder of her journalist husband Daniel Pearl by Pakistani militants reports Variety.
The memoir details Mariane's search to locate her husband after he went missing in Pakistan. Also a journalist, she was pregnant at the time. The drama ended as Daniel was murdered by his abductors, suspected to be Muslim terrorists tied to Al Qaeda.
Michael Winterbottom is finalizing a deal to direct with shooting to begin in August from a script by Laurence Coriat and Winterbottom. This will be Jolie's first live-action film since giving birth.
"A Mighty Heart" is one of two films being planned about the Pearl murder. Beacon Pictures is adapting Bernard-Henri Levy book "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" into a fictionalized drama that will star Josh Lucas as a newsman who journeys into Pakistan to uncover the truth about a journalist's murder. Kip Williams will direct with production to begin this fall.
