The first trailer for Angelina Jolie’s sophomore directorial feature, a World War II drama titled Unbroken, was released on Thursday.
Jolie, whose previous directorial debut was for In the Land of Blood and Honey, will direct the feature that was co-scripted by the Coen Brothers. The film was produced by Jolie, as well as Matthew Baer (City by the Sea), Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Clayton Townsend (This Is 40).
The film is based on Laura Hillenbrand’s novel of the same title, which brings to the big screen Louis Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit. Irish actor Jack O’Connell stars in the film as the Olympian and war hero Zamperini, who recently passed away from pneumonia.
“It is a loss impossible to describe,” Jolie said in a statement last week. “We are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known [Zamperini]. We will miss him terribly.”
Zamperini survived 47 days on a raft after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, and two years as a Japanese prisoner during WWII.
“I wasn’t really looking for something of this size,” said Angelina Jolie to the LA Times earlier this year. “But the way Laura [Hillenbrand] writes about him [Zamperini] is the way I like to read about people. It was like I was witnessing the birth of a man — it was something I wanted to tell my sons about.”
Co-starring in the upcoming film are Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock, John Magaro, Alex Russell and Miyavi.
Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken will debut in theaters on December 25, 2014, Christmas Day. Check out the trailer below!
