Angelina Jolie in talks to play famed Italian femme fatale & murderess

It's pretty much a sure thing that Angelina Jolie's next film will be The Tourist, where she will be playing yet another gun-toting badass. She's been in talks' for the film for a few weeks, ever since Charlize officially dropped out. This week, it was announced that Angelina would sign onto the role if and when German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck signed on. Von Donnersmarck directed The Lives of Others, which earned him the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. It's a great movie too - I would highly recommend it to anyone, it's one of my favorite films of the last decade.

Anyway, The Tourist will likely start filming maybe January or February of next year. Lately it seems like that would be enough work for Angelina for a whole year, considering everyone freaked out when she did Salt earlier this year, her first film in 14 months. But Angelina is in talks to sign on for yet another role, which would probably start filming immediately after The Tourist. The film is called Gucci, based on the true story of the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci. Angelina would be playing Patrizia Reggiano, the murderess femme fatale ex-wife of the Gucci heir. Oscar winner Ridley Scott is attached to direct and produce, and he wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play Maurizio:

Ridley Scott is in discussions with Angelina Jolie for a femme fatale role in 'Gucci,' a drama about murder and decadence in the Gucci fashion dynasty.

Fox 2000 is fashioning a 2010 start date for the film, and Scott is talking with Jolie to play Patrizia Reggiano, who was sentenced to 29 years in jail for plotting the murder of her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci.

Pic is a priority for Fox 2000's Elizabeth Gabler and Carla Hacken, with Scott Free and Giannina Facio producing.

The studio is about to hire a scribe to rewrite the drama that recaptures the glamorous days of the Gucci family dynasty in the 1970s and '80s, when the family was selling $500 million in product annually. Squabbles hobbled the clan until Maurizio, the grandson of founder Guccio Gucci, came out on top of a power struggle to run the family business.

Just when he was about to reestablish the brand name by debuting a line designed by newcomer — and now film director — Tom Ford, Maurizio was gunned down in front of his Milan apartment in 1995.

There are moving pieces in the film, as the script is still being developed and Scott needs to lock down an actor to play Maurizio. The director has approached his 'Body of Lies' star Leonardo DiCaprio, but he is not attached at this point.

'Gucci' becomes the second big project at Fox 2000 for Jolie. The studio is developing the Patricia Cornwell novel series about medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta for Jolie to play the lead role in a film produced by Mark Gordon and Geyer Kosinski.

As for Jolie, she is likely to next star with Sam Worthington in 'The Tourist,' the Spyglass thriller that has Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in line to direct. Pending a deal with the director, the hope is to begin production early next year.

Scott is in post-production with the Russell Crowe-Cate Blanchett starrer 'Robin Hood' for Universal Pictures and Imagine.

[From Variety]

I've always wondered if Leonardo and Angelina would ever get the chance to work together. They seem like an interesting pairing, and my guess is that they would get along well. That being said, if both of them choose to do the film, I hope Ridley decides to do the movie as an accent-free zone. Considering he wants to hire two Americans to play two Italians, it might simply be easier. Though I have affection for both Angelina and Leo as actors, neither one of them is amazing at accents. Leo did do a decent job with some kind of vague South African accent (that can and went) in Blood Diamond, and an okay job with the Boston accent in The Departed. But if both of them attempt Italian accents, it's going to sound like auditions to replace Chef Boyardee.

Brad and Angelina are shown at the Inglourious Basterds premiere on 8/11/09. Credit: WENN.com