The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the Coen brothers have been asked to write the story of Louis Zamperini, an American war hero, for a film to be directed by Angelina Jolie.

Joel and Ethan Coen will base their script on Laura Hillenbrand's 2010 bestseller, Unbroken. Richard LaGravenese (The Bridges of Madison County) and William Nicholson (Les Miserables) submitted a first proposal but Universal was apparently not keen on their version.

The Coen brothers will look back on Louis Zamperini's unusual life. Born in 1917, the Italian New Yorker who is now 96 took part in the 1936 Olympic Games organized in Berlin during Hitler's era. He joined the Air Force in 1941 and was captured and tortured by the Japanese army until the end of the war. No filming date has yet been set for Unbroken and no parts have yet been cast. This will be Angelina Jolie's second foray into directing.