9/19/2014

Angelina Jolie to Direct Anti-Poaching Drama, 'Africa'


Angelina Jolie is currently directing her third feature film, By the Sea, in which she'll star alongside her husband Brad Pitt. But her first two features were both well-regarded and centered on true stories. In the Land of Blood and Honey was set during the Bosnian War, and this season's Oscar hopeful Unbroken during WWII. Now she's back with another real-life tale on a subject that's close to her heart.

Jolie is set to direct Africa, a biopic on Kenyan conservationist and archaeologist Richard Leakey. Written by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), the film will follow Leakey's battle to protect endangered African elephants from poachers in the 1980s. In the '90s Leakey helped form a new political party but ran into trouble with some of the enemies he made during his conservation efforts due to his gruff demeanor.

And the film is sure to look great with Jolie bringing on her Unbroken cinematographer, Roger Deakins. It may be awhile before we see Africa in theaters but it's good to see that Jolie's not sitting around waiting for projects to come to her. She's taken this directing chapter of her career by the horns.