Angelina Jolie is to team up with Netflix for her next directing project, a true-life drama about Cambodia’s deadly Khmer Rouge regime.
Titled FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER: A DAUGHTER OF CAMBODIA REMEMBERS, the project is based on the memoir by Cambodian author and human-rights activist Loung Ung, who Jolie has known for more than a decade. Jolie’s 13-year-old adopted son Maddox, who was born in Cambodia, will also have a role in the production. Oscar-nominated Cambodian film-maker Rithy Panh, best known for 2014’s THE MISSING PICTURE, will take a producer’s role.
“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” said Jolie. “It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son’s homeland. It is a dream come true to be able to adapt this book for the screen, and I’m honoured to work alongside Loung and film-maker Rithy Panh.”
Jolie, for whom the project will be her fourth movie as a director, praised Netflix for its role in broadening the movie-going experience.
“Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,” she said. “They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.”
Loung Ung, 45, escaped the “killing fields” of Pol Pot’s Cambodia at the age of 10 and has since written two books on the subject. At one point, she was forced to enlist as a child soldier, while her six siblings were sent to labour camps. The book version of First They Killed My Father was published in 2000.
“Angelina and I met in 2001 in Cambodia, and immediately, I trusted Angelina’s heart,” said the author. “Through the years, we have become close friends, and my admiration for her as a woman, a mother, a film-maker and a humanitarian has only grown. It is with great honour that I entrust my family’s story to Angelina to adapt into a film.”
Netflix’s Ted Sarandos said the company was “proud” to be working with Jolie on an “emotionally powerful and ultimately uplifting story”. He added: “Loung Ung’s incredible journey is a testament to the human spirit and its ability to transcend even the toughest circumstances.”
Two million Cambodians, a quarter of the country’s population, died during Pol Pot’s reign of terror, which began after the Khmer Rouge leader seized power in 1975 and lasted for four years until his overthrow by the Vietnamese in 1979. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, which will be released in both English and Khmer versions, is expected to debut on the streaming site in late 2016. It will also be screened at international festivals.
Jolie is currently in post-production on the romantic drama BY THE SEA, which she directs and stars in opposite her husband Brad Pitt. She also directed the wartime epic UNBROKEN (2014) and the harrowing 2011 Balkan war rape drama In the Land of Blood and Honey.
Netflix has been stepping up its first-run film content in recent times.. The streaming site bought Ricky Gervais comedy SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS, a remake of the 2009 French comedy Envoyés Très Spéciaux, in April, and has partnered with Hollywood bigwigs Leonardo DiCaprio and Adam Sandler for separate multi-film deals.
