Actress and director Angelina Jolie is set to direct a film about Russian Empress Catherine the Great.
According to the Daily Mail, the actress has bought the rights to the bestselling book “Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair” by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
“I am thrilled that Angelina has optioned the book because it was my first book and it was very much a labour of love,” Montefiore said in a statement. “Catherine is the ultimate feminist hero. I feel very safe with Angelina in charge of it.”
The book is based on Catherine the Great’s marriage to Russian nobleman Grigory Potemkin and chronicles the 5,000 love letters between Catherine and her husband.
Besides taking on this historic film. Jolie is also set to direct the Richard Leakey biopic “Africa,” written by Eric Roth.
In a statement last year, Jolie said, “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 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.”