LONDON-August 16: Actress Angelina Jolie attends the ‘Salt’ Premiere at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square on August 16, 2010 in London. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)
ANGELINA JOLIE is reportedly in talks to star in a film version of Agatha Christie’s mystery novel MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
Bosses at Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox want the 41-year-old actress to take on the role of wealthy American Harriet Hubbard in the film, according to a report in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
The new thriller is to be directed by Kenneth Branagh, who is also a producer on the project, and is scheduled for release next year.
The paper reports Kenneth has met up with the “Unbroken” star and the pair are keen to work together, but may face difficulties in fitting the project into Angelina’s hectic schedule.
Despite her only upcoming role being in the sequel to re-imagined Disney fairytale “Maleficent,” the actress is kept busy by her humanitarian work.
Last month it was announced she would teach a course on sexual violence in conflict to students at the London School of Economics, a role she will perform in addition to her job as a Special Envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The star is also rumored to be looking to increase her involvement in politics, building on an initiative aiming to prevent sexual violence in war zones she launched alongside then U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2012.
The original book, published in 1934, follows the investigation of a murder on board the luxury long distance train, which runs on routes from London to Istanbul, Turkey, by the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Its plot sees a number of passengers on board fall under suspicion as the murder’s possible perpetrators, including Harriet.
The new film will not be the first time Christie’s iconic murder mystery will have been adapted for the cinema, as the book was turned into a 1974 film, featuring movie legends Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman.
Directed by Sidney Lumet and featuring British actor Albert Finney as Poirot, the 1974 version was nominated for six Academy Awards, with Ingrid Bergman winning the Best Supporting Actress prize.
Murder on the Orient Express has also been adapted for U.K. and U.S. television, with Alfred Molina taking on the role of Poirot in the American version, and David Suchet playing the detective on British television.