“Tourist” Guide: Von Donnersmarck Set to Direct Jolie

Angelina Jolie–just your average everyday Interpol agent.  

The announcement earlier this year that a remake of the 2005 French film “Anthony Zimmer” was in the works seemed routine enough: Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron were set to star, and Bharat Nalluri was going to be in the director’s chair. Then Cruise chose to do “Knight & Day” (the awful new title of the previously awfully-titled “Wichita”). Sam Worthington was brought in to take over for Cruise, but I guess Worthington-Theron wasn’t enough to get the movie made. Angelina Jolie, though, with her stature as one of the very few female action stars, is enough to get a project moving. And now with Jolie headlining, Variety reports that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is the new front runner to direct. This would be von Donnersmarck’s first film since “The Lives of Others,” which won the Oscar for best foreign language film. Jolie apparently had some role in choosing the director, with her participation depending on finding the right selection. She’s the one who’s going to bring in the money, so I guess that makes sense.

And what would they all be making a movie about? Well, Jolie would play a female Interpol agent who draws an unwitting American tourist (Worthington) into her attempt to locate a criminal who was once her lover. Poor Sam Worthington’s character. I mean, we all hope for a memorable vacation, but who wants to be dragged all over the place by an Interpol agent whose looking for her ex? Hopefully there will be some time for the beach.

Jolie is ready for “The Tourist” to be her next film, bumping it ahead of such contenders as the “Wanted” sequel, though who knows how close that is to start anyway? “The Tourist” doesn’t have a shoot date yet, but the plan is for a 2011 release.