Academy Award® winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces UNBROKEN, the epic drama of the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s enormously popular book.
The project has a long history at Universal Pictures, which first acquired the rights to tell Zamperini’s life story in 1957. Jolie and Zamperini, neighbors in the Hollywood Hills, have become close friends over the development of the film, as the filmmaker has listened to the war hero recount the incredible incidents of his life over many months of preparation. Zamperini gave Jolie a golden running shoe pendant, a prize from one of his earliest races, which she will wear every day as she helms the film in Australia over the coming months. Jack O’Connell earned the starring role and will appear as Louis Zamperini. O’Connell recently spent several afternoons meeting with Zamperini at his home to hear the man he’ll be portraying recount his incredible tale firsthand. Zamperini retains many keepsakes from his adventures in his home. Seeing his WWII bomber jacket, O’Connell asked permission to put it on, which Zamperini gladly gave. The jacket fit O’Connell perfectly and became one of the first moments of him inhabiting the life of this legendary hero. The film is based on Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, who also wrote Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Since being published in 2010, Unbroken has spent more than 145 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list, 14 of those in the top position, and has sold almost 3.5 million copies worldwide. Unbroken was named Best Nonfiction Book of the Year by Time magazine and won the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award for Nonfiction. ANGELINA JOLIE said: “It will be hard to make a film worthy of this great man. I am deeply honored to have the chance and will do all I can to bring Louie’s inspiring story to life. Everyone involved in the film shares this deep responsibility. Like all readers of Laura’s book and all people who love and admire Louie, I am a fan who has learned so much. He has made me a better person.” LOUIS ZAMPERINI adds: “Angelina is a human dynamo, and I know she will tell this story in the right way. I’ve received so many letters and talked to so many people who say that Laura’s book has helped them when they were going through hard times. I believe the movie will reach even more people with that message.” http://latino-review.com/2013/10/first-look-angelina-jolie-louis-louie-zamperini-unbroken/ Short Documentary about Louis Zamperini and Unbroken on Fox News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9O5yVzc0vQ |
WWII VETERANS STATISTICS:
The passing of the Greatest Generation Approximately every two minutes a memory of World War II – its sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphs – disappears. Yielding to the inalterable process of aging, the men and women who fought and won the great conflict are now in their 80s and 90s. They are dying quickly – at the rate of just over 600 a day, according to recent US Veterans Administration figures. Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the critically acclaimed Seabiscuit: An American Legend, which spent 42 weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, in hardcover and paperback. Seabiscuit was finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, won the Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year Award and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, landed on more than fifteen best-of-the-year lists, and inspired the film Seabiscuit, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. According to Newsweek, Seabiscuit is the best-selling sports book in history.
Hillenbrand’s New Yorker article, “A Sudden Illness,” won the 2004 National Magazine Award, and Laura is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award, the highest journalistic honor in thoroughbred racing. She and actor Gary Sinise are the co-founders of Operation International Children (www.operationinternationalchildren.org), a charity that provides school supplies to needy children through American troops. She lives in Washington, D.C. Copyright © 2010 Laura Hillenbrand. Website by Jefferson Rabb. Interview with Laura Hillenbrand by NPR Staff. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=131452279&m=131465606 Meet the survivor and hero...
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