Despite Rumors of Her Retiring From Acting, Angelina Jolie Signs on to Star in New Movie ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’

Over the past few years, there have been rumors that Angelina Jolie would pretty much be shifting away from acting to concentrate on raising her kids and focusing much more behind-the-scenes as a film director. But now comes word that she will likely be teaming up with director Taylor Sheridan for the thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead, based on the novel by Michael Koryta.

The novel focuses on a 13-year-old boy who, after witnessing a violent murder, is hiding out within a wilderness skills program, while the killers are killing everyone they come into contact with that tries to prevent them from reaching him. The main female character in the book is a woman who runs a fire lookout tower, though according to reports, there are going to be some significant variations between the film and source material. The nature of Angelina’s character has not been revealed, though one would think she’d be in the center of the action in terms of the conflict with the killers.

In an interview with CrimeFictionLover.com, author Koryta was asked about the appeal for him, as a writer, to not only put his characters up against their enemies but nature itself. “I love writing scenarios in which the characters are confronted with as much obstacles as possible,” he explained, “and stripped down to their essential selves. Using nature and setting to heighten this is a lot of fun for me. But I’m also someone who has a real fascination with the natural world, and so that will always bleed into my books. I’m obsessed with weather, for example, and how it affects our moods. Not just the mood of a story, but our moods in real life. So I really enjoy bringing those elements into play.

“The other element of writing about nature and weather that appeals to me is that these are things that can make the powerful into the powerless very swiftly,” he added. “The most successful, ruthless tycoon is not going to be able to buy his way out of a tornado or a hurricane. The most cunning man may not be able to find his way out of a cave in the dark. I enjoy those situations, where we see characters — good or bad, for better or worse — forced to have that reckoning that their place in the world is a small one.”