There's no stopping Netflix as they continue to show their strength in the field of original feature films. They've already had one Oscar contender in the documentary Virunga, and they have a potential one coming later this year with Cary Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation. Plus they've got the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sequel and a multi-picture deal with Adam Sandler. What's next? How about scoring the next major directorial project from Hollywood's biggest star, Angelina Jolie Pitt?
Jolie Pitt will direct a Netflix original film based on Loung Ung’s memoir, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Jolie Pitt will also co-write the film along with Ung, with Cambodian director Rithy Pahn (The Missing Picture) producing.
The story recounts Ung's harrowing survival during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia after they took power in 1975. She was only five years old at the time they attained power and killed more than two million Cambodians over the next four years. Jolie Pitt's adopted son is Cambodian and was clearly a major influence on her interest in this subject. Here is what she had to say...
“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book. It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son’s homeland. It is a dream come true to be able to adapt this book for the screen, and I’m honored to work alongside Loung and filmmaker Rithy Panh.”
This project will leapfrog ahead of Africa, another activist drama that was to be her next film. The press release by Netflix reveals that it has been postponed and continue on at a later date...
Africa was postponed to provide additional time to get the script finalized and all production elements lined up properly to provide for the ambitious scope of the film. Jolie Pitt remains committed to making the film and continues her strong support of Dr. Leakey, the people of Kenya and ending wildlife crime and the illegal wildlife trade
Filming on First They Killed My Father is to begin later this year, with plans for it to hit the streaming network in late 2016. [Variety]
