Angelina Jolie Pitt’s next directing project is obviously a personal one.
The 40-year-old star is directing an adaptation of Cambodian author and human rights activist Luong Ung’s book, First They Killed My Father
A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, which is about surviving the deadly Khmer regime.
The Khmer Rouge assumed power over Cambodia in 1975, and began a four-year reign in which nearly two million Cambodians died.
Angelina adopted her eldest child, 13-year-old Maddox Jolie Pitt, from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002.
Fittingly, Maddox is actually also going to be involved in the production of the film, which she’s both directing and producing for Netflix.
“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” the By the Sea director said in a statement. “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.”
Much like her film “Unbroken” about war hero Louis Zamperini, the film will definitely revolve around the theme of survival. Forced from her family’s home, Ung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans while her six siblings were sent to labor camps. Angelina actually contacted Ung over a decade ago after her book was first published in 2000, and the two became close friends.
“Angelina and I met in 2001 in Cambodia, and immediately, I trusted Angelina’s heart,” Ung said in a statement. “It is with great honor that I entrust my family’s story to Angelina to adapt into a film.”
Angelina says Netflix’s global reach was a big reason for partnering with the streaming service.
“Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” she said. “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.”
This isn’t the first time a member of the Jolie Pitt family has teamed up with Netflix. In June, the streaming service announced it acquired War Machine, an adaptation of Michael Hasting’s bestselling book, with Pitt starring as a four-star U.S. military general. The film will hit Netflix in 2016.
Last May, Angelina dished to ET that a very mature-looking Maddox had a girlfriend!
“I won’t embarrass him,” she laughed on the Maleficent red carpet. “She’s lovely. She lives in England. She’s very cool.”
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