Clint and Angelina

Angelina Jolie will star in Clint Eastwood’s next directorial effort, the Universal thriller THE CHANGELING. The film was originally set up at Universal and Imagine for Ron Howard to direct but it was becoming clear that Howard’s schedule would preclude filming any time in the next three years. Instead of waiting, Howard and producing partner Brian Grazer approached Eastwood about his interest in directing. He sparked to the script by J. Michael Straczynski (“Babylon 5”) and Jolie came aboard shortly thereafter. Universal has put the project – about a woman who believes the boy that was returned to her after his kidnapping isn’t really her son – on the fast-track, partly because of Jolie’s tight schedule. She’s got ATLAS SHRUGGED on her schedule this year and Universal would like to get filming started on CHANGELING before she shifts focus to that project.