Angelina Jolie set to direct elephant poaching drama Africa

Angelina Jolie made her feature directorial debut in 2011 with the moderately lauded IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. That film was scripted by Jolie and served as a political passion project for the actress and humanitarian. It took 3 years before her second film, UNBROKEN, was completed and scheduled to hit theaters this Christmas. Now, not only is she hard at work filming her third feature, BY THE SEA, but she has now lined up her next directorial effort.

Produced by Skydance, Angelina Jolie will direct the film AFRICA. Reteaming with cinematographer Roger Deakins, AFRICA is being called an epic drama about ivory poaching in the 1980s. FORREST GUMP and MUNICH screenwriter Eric Roth penned the story inspired by paleo-archaeologist Richard Leakey’s late-’80s battle with ivory poachers in Kenya that threatened the existence of the African elephant population and the soul of Africa. There is no more details to see if this is a direct biopic of Leakey or a fictional tale inspired by him.

Angelina Jolie did issue a statement with the announcement of AFRICA.

I’ve felt a deep connection to Africa and its culture for much of my life, and was taken with Eric’s beautiful script about a man drawn into the violent conflict with elephant poachers who emerged with a deeper understanding of man’s footprint and a profound sense of responsibility for the world around him.”

UNBROKEN is looking like it will be one hell of a film and the recent images from the in production BY THE SEA look like they may make for a nice, smaller film. AFRICA sounds like it could be pretty damn epic if handled correctly. Here’s hoping it ends up that way. AFRICA currently has no release date but expect it to hit sometime in 2016.