Angelina Jolie is joining Brad Pitt to reinvent Netflix for the big screen.
The streaming service, which is delving into original feature film development, announced their partnership with Jolie on Thursday night. The actress-filmmaker will direct an adaptation of the 2000 memoir First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Written by Loung Ung, a human rights activist and Cambodian author, the memoir tells her story of surviving the Khmer Rouge regime after she was separated from her family and trained as a child soldier in 1975 during the Cambodian Genocide.
Jolie and Ung met in Cambodia in 2001 and the actress said the memoir changed her understanding of children’s experience of war. “Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” Jolie said in a press release. “They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.” Jolie’s 13-year-old Cambodian-born son, Maddox, will also be involved in the film. The adpatation, which will be available to stream in late 2016, will begin production ahead of Jolie’s upcoming film with husband Pitt, “Africa,” which has been postponed to finalize the script.
Jolie’s Netflix film follows news of Pitt’s collaboration with the streaming company. Last month, Netflix announced plans to produce a new war satire, “War Machine,” starring Pitt. Other Netflix features on the way include the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel, Cary Fukunaga’s drama “Beasts of No Nation,” Judd Apatow’s “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” the first of four Adam Sandler films and a documentary partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio.
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