The 'Tron: Legacy' star will be portraying a fellow prisoner of war to former Olympic athlete Lou Zamperini played by Jack O'Connell.
- Sep 19, 2013
AceShowbiz - Garrett Hedlund has just officially been added to the cast ensemble of "Unbroken", a film directed by Angelina Jolie about real-life World War II hero Lou Zamperini. He is cast to play Commander John Fitzgerald, a fellow prisoner of war in the Japanese camp where Zamperini was held hostage.
Jolie, fresh off her critically-acclaimed directing debut in 2011's romantic drama set against the background of the Bosnian War "In the Land of Blood and Honey", will direct the biopic using the script finalized by the Coen brothers. The original draft was written by William Nicholson and Richard LaGravenese.
Based on Laura Hillenbrand's 2010 best-selling book "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption", the movie follows the true story of a former Olympic track star who survived a plane crash. After days of hunger and shark & aerial attacks, he ended up on a Japanese island behind enemy lines.
British actor Jack O'Connell, 23, is tapped to take on the main role of the high school track star Zamperini. Production is expected to begin in October in Australia, where Jolie was repeatedly spotted in the past few weeks, for a planned December 2014 release.
