According to The Hollywood Reporter, Angelina Jolie is gearing up to get back in the movie star business after a two-year absence from theaters to focus on her directing career. The two starring vehicles for Universal Pictures are an adaptation of Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book “Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair” and a World War II spy drama based on Clare Mulley’s 2013 book “The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville.”
The book “The Spy Who Loved” tells the story of Christine Granville (real name Krystyna Skarbek), the daughter of a Polish aristocrat who became one of Britain’s most highly-decorated spies. Her daring exploits included skiing into occupied Poland, being parachuted into France and saving one of her many lovers from a Gestapo execution squad. James Bond author Ian Fleming based the “Casino Royale” character of Vesper Lynd on Granville.
The Catherine the Great biopic would focus on the love between the long-reigning Russian ruler and Prince Grigory Potemkin, the military leader, statesman and nobleman, who together seized Ukraine and Crimea. Among the many previous Catherine the Great biopics includes a 1996 TV movie starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
These two roles are also in the running with Universal’s strong desire to have Jolie star in their Monsters Universe reboot of The Bride of Frankenstein, which is still in early development and searching for a screenwriter. Jolie is also considering reprising her title role in Disney’s Maleficent 2.
Jolie just premiered her new directorial effort for Netflix, First They Killed My Father, a Khmer Rouge memoir, and is prepping her next film behind the camera titled Without Blood, based on Alessandro Baricco’s 2004 novel.
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