Angelina Jolie to wear good luck charm from war hero whose story she tells in new film, Unbroken

Angelina Jolie and war hero Louie Zamperini have become friends during the development of her new film, Unbroken, and has promised to wear the necklace he gave her every day during filming in Australia. Source: Supplied

 

The Daily Telegraph reports

Actor-turned-director Angelina Jolie has been wearing a special necklace on the set of her new prisoner-of-war movie Unbroken after receiving the gift from the film's real-life subject.

The Wanted star has started work on the movie adaptation of Olympian Louis Zamperini's survival story, and she has a lucky charm to help her make all the right decisions.

Zamperini, who was captured by the Japanese during World War II, struck up a close friendship with Jolie while she was developing the project, now shooting in Australia, and he has shown his support for the Hollywood beauty by giving her a gold pendant in the shape of a running shoe - a nod to his days as an athlete at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

He tells People magazine, "Angelina is a human dynamo, and I know she will tell this story in the right way."

Jolie admits tackling Zamperini's life story has been a little daunting, but she's proud to be in charge of the project, which is based on Laura Hillenbrand's biography.

She says, "Like all readers of Laura's book and all people who love and admire Louis, I am a fan. It will be hard to make a film worthy of this great man. I am deeply honoured to have the chance."

British newcomer Jack O'Connell will portray Zamperini in the film, while Domhnall Gleeson has been cast as war hero Russell Allen Phillips.

Zamperini became a prisoner of war in 1943 when his US air force plane crashed in the Pacific and he was captured by Japanese soldiers behind enemy lines after spending over a month at sea without food or water.

Hollywood superstar Angela Jolie takes her children Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox to Taronga Zoo and Luna Park

Angelina Jolie and some of her kids take in the view from their hotel overlooking Sydney Harbour. Picture: Matrix Media Group Source: Supplied

  

Jonathon Moran, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

Angelina Jolie didn't waste a moment of her first full day in Sydney yesterday, starting with an early morning visit to the zoo.

The Hollywood superstar took her six children - Maddox, 12, Pax, 10, Zahara, 8, Shiloh, 7 and twins Vivienne and Knox, 5 - to Taronga Zoo before retiring to the Intercontinental Hotel for a rest. They then set out for some more sightseeing mid-afternoon, taking a boat across the harbour to Luna Park.

Jolie, 38, will spend the next four months based out of Sydney as she films her directorial effort, Unbroken, at Fox Studios and Village Roadshow on the Gold Coast.

She and her family will relocate over the next few days to a private home in Vaucluse.

Jolie and her brood arrived in Sydney early Friday morning on a Qantas flight from LA. Partner Brad Pitt is expected to visit during breaks in filming action drama Fury in the UK.

Unbroken is a story about Olympic track star Louis Zamperini, who crash-landed his fighter plane in the Pacific Ocean in 1943.

Australian extras are currently being cast, with British, Irish and American actors Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock in the lead roles.

Angelina Jolie to film drama Unbroken in Australia

Australia bound ... Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. (Photo by Ken Ishii/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures) Source: Getty Images

  

 
Amy Harris, The Daily Telegraph, reports

A few days after a top-secret visit to Sydney, movie star-turned-director Angelina Jolie is set to relocate here for several months to shoot her WW2 drama Unbroken.

Angelina Jolie, 39, was slated to shoot most of the flick in Hawaii however Honolulu press have confirmed a small production office at the Waikiki Marriott has been shutdown with the project now set to shoot predominantly in Australia.

And cameras could start rolling as early as September with Jolie likely to travel here with her famed celebrity hubby Brad Pitt and their six children.

It comes after The Sunday Telegraph reported Jolie toured potential film locations in Sydney and on the Gold Coast during a whistlestop visit last week, solving the riddle on her 'mystery visit'.

Unbroken, her second directorial effort following her upcoming debut The Land Of Blood And Honey, is based on the true survival story of American track star Louis Zamperini whose plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Much of the film is set on a floating life raft in the Pacific Ocean - where Zamperini spent almost two months - and it's understood Jolie could shoot much of this at the Gold Coast's Warner Bros. Studios which has the largest purpose-built film water tank in Australia with a surface area of 1200sqm.

Jolie also toured several sites in NSW last week including Fox Studios at Moore Park and parts of Sydney's surrounding hinterland.

Universal Pictures this morning confirmed Jolie was scouting locations last week but was unable to add any further information.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Screen Actor's Guild in Hawaii expressed his disappointment at the film's switch of location.

"It is disappointing that a film of that credibility and that magnitude is at least drawing back from its full involvement with Hawaii. But we'll hope that they still will be able to salvage some work for our people," local SAG president David Farmer told Hawaii News Now.