Only last week it was announced that both the director (Bharat Nalluri) and female star (Charlize Theron) had dropped out of the thriller, The Tourist, following in the footsteps of Tom Cruise, who was eyeing a role before passing it on to Sam Worthington. However rather than throwing the film into disarray, the company behind the movie, Spyglass, immediately started wooing Angelina Jolie to take over the role and has now put the film on the fast track to production.
Variety reports that her participation is contingent on finding the right director, and now they’ve worked out that the one that they want is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the German director of Dobermann and the Oscar-winning The Lives Of Others. However the news may be a bit premature, as they haven’t entered negotiatons with von Donnermarck yet, and there’s a possibility he won’t be interested (he does seem to be fairly picky, as he hasn’t made a film since 2006’s Lives Of Others became a breakout worldwide hit).
Assuming the deal does come together for both Jolie and von Donnersmarck, Variety also says that Spyglass is putting The Tourist on the fast track to start shooting early next year, for a 2011 release. It would push film to the head of Jolie’s queue, and may mean that her rumoured involvement in a sequel to Wanted won’t happen, as that film was also eyeing a shoot early next year.
In The Tourist, which is a remake of the 2005 French thriller, Anthony Zimmer, Jolie will play a female Interpol agent who draws an unwitting American tourist (Worthington) into her attempt to locate a criminal who was once her lover.