When I talked to Michael Winterbottom a couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he was thinking about taking on a secret project that would bring him back to Pakistan, where he filmed his shattering refugee movie, In This World. That project has now been announced, and it’s an adaptation of A Mighty Heart, Mariane Pearl’s memoir about the decapitation of her husband, Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl. Mariane Pearl is a journalist as well, and the book tells the story of her search for her husband after he was kidnapped in Pakistan.
There’s also a star attached – none other than Queen of the Third World, Angelina Jolie. "I am delighted that Angelina Jolie will be playing my role in the adaptation of my book," said Pearl. No kidding. That lady is HOT. "I deeply admire her work and what she is committed to. [Also, she is hot – editor] I am also happy that Michael Winterbottom a versatile and talented director who genuinely loves truth will be working on this project as well."
Winterbottom does love truth – his latest film, The Road to Guantanamo, is a searing look at America’s recently ruled illegal prison. That was a look at men who had been wrongly accused of being Al Qaeda – A Mighty Heart is sort of the flip side of that. The film starts shooting in five weeks, and knowing Winterbottom’s usual madcap shooting schedule, it should be done five weeks after that. Winterbottom’s quick pace gives the film a potential foot up on the OTHER Daniel Pearl movie, Who Killed Daniel Pearl, directed by Kip Williams. That film is a heavily fictionalized account of a reporter investigating ties between Pakistani secret police and the Al Qaeda who killed Pearl.