Oscar winner Brad Pitt is in negotiations to play Richard Leakey in Angelina Jolie‘s drama “Africa,” an individual familiar with the Skydance project has told TheWrap.
Skydance declined to comment, while a representative for Pitt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pitt and wife Jolie recently teamed on her third feature as a director, “By the Sea.” They first worked together on “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
Oscar winner Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) wrote “Africa,” which is a biopic of Leakey, the famed archaeologist who became a staunch defender of elephants against poachers in Kenya in the late ’80s.
Jolie will reteam with her “Unbroken” cinematographer Roger Deakins on the project, which she’s also producing with Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg, as well as Jon Peters. Production could begin as soon as this summer.
“I’ve felt a deep connection to Africa and its culture for much of my life, and was taken with Eric’s beautiful script about a man drawn into the violent conflict with elephant poachers who emerged with a deeper understanding of man’s footprint and a profound sense of responsibility for the world around him,” Jolie said in a statement last September.
Read more. This is unconfirmed.