Angelina Jolie is set to star in the new spy thriller “The Initiative,” reuniting with her “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” director Doug Liman.
Universal is in talks to land the hot project with F. Scott Frazier (“Collide,” “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage”) attached to write the screenplay — plot details for which are being kept under wraps — and Jeff Kirschenbaum to produce for Roth/Kirschenbaum Films. Like Liman, RK Films also has a solid relationship with Jolie as the company backed Disney’s hit “Maleficent” movies, in which she played the title role.
While plot details are being kept under wraps, “The Initiative” looks to return Jolie to the slick action thrillers that made her a box office megastar, including “Salt,” “The Tourist” and “Wanted.”
If the deal with Universal closes, executive VP of production development Jay Polidoro and director of development Tony Ducret will oversee the project for the studio.
Winner of the best supporting actress Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted,” Jolie was most recently seen in Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” where she earned rave reviews for portraying famed soprano Maria Callas. Upcoming, Jolie stars in Alice Winocour’s bilingual drama “Couture,” which she also produced, and is set for the feature adaptation of “Anxious People” from Marc Foster. Her directing résumé includes “First They Killed My Father,” which she also produced and co-wrote; the Oscar-nominated biopic “Unbroken”; and the upcoming film “Without Blood”, starring Salma Hayek Pinault and Demian Bichir, based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco. She is also a Tony winner as a producer of the Broadway musical “The Outsiders.” Jolie is repped by WME and Johnson Shapiro.
Liman — who most recently helmed “Roadhouse,” a huge hit for Amazon MGM Studios, and “The Instigations” on Apple TV+ — continues his run with Universal after he directed 2002’s “The Bourne Identity” and 2017’s “American Made,” starring Tom Cruise. Liman and Cruise are currently developing a movie for the studio, which will be shot entirely in space.
Liman, Frazier and Kirschenbaum are repped by CAA. Liman is also repped by Weintraub Tobin and Frazier by McKuin Frankel.
The Hollywood Reporter broke news of the project’s development.
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