Their work relationship is now just a bit closer to eternal.
The cast of Angelina Jolie’s fifth directorial feature, “Without Blood,” now boasts Oscar nominee Salma Hayek, according to The Hollywood Reporter, reuniting the “Eternals” co-stars. Academy Award nominee Demian Bichir has also joined the cast.
Adapted from Italian author Alessandro Baricco’s bestseller of the same name, the film — which Jolie, 47, will also pen and produce — centers on a girl seeking revenge and healing amid hardship, according to the outlet.
The project, which will be filmed in southern Italy, marks the first under Jolie’s deal with television company Fremantle, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m honored to be here in Italy to bring this very special material to film, and to have been entrusted by Alessandro Baricco with the adaptation of his book — with its unique poetry and emotion and way of looking at war, and the questions it poses about what we search for after trauma or loss or injustice,” said the “Girl, Interrupted” star, who’s been attached to the film since 2017.
That was also the year that Jolie’s highest rated and most recent directorial effort, “First They Killed My Father,” was released. The film centered on the traumas endured by Cambodian author and activist Loung Ung at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
With a focus on characters during times of conflict, Jolie′s 2011 feature directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” as well as 2014′s “Unbroken,” are both set during war time — the first during the Bosnian War, the latter during World War II. She also directed the 2015 film, “By the Sea,” co-starring the multihyphenate and then-husband Brad Pitt.
The casting news comes amidst Pitt, 58, suing his ex for allegedly selling her stake in their French vineyard without getting his OK first.
Bichir, whose role in 2011′s “A Better Life” earned him an Oscar nomination, told the Daily News last year that despite their best efforts, actors “rarely” find a script that offers “a powerful story, a meaningful story, and then a character that can allow you to explore different things, that has enough meat for you to sink your teeth on.”
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