Flex Those Skills

Michael Fleming of Variety has both stories for the latest 2-fer-1 post

Paramount Pictures has acquired life rights to intelligence operative Kathi Lynn Austin, whose adventures in arms trafficking and terrorism will inspire an action thriller vehicle for Angelina Jolie.

Austin, who has most recently worked on contract for the U.N. Security Council, has undertaken field missions in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and Central America. The drama will focus on a fictional arms dealer inspired by Victor Bout, the shadowy Russian who is considered one of the world's most prolific dealers in illegal munitions.

Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski will produce.

Catalyst for the package was Kosinski, who manages Jolie and has looked long and hard for a premise that's rooted in reality and has franchise potential.

Meanwhile, Austin signed with IPG's Joel Gotler to tell her story. After Austin and Gotler met with Kosinski, they developed a pitch that was similar in spirit to "The Bourne Identity."

Paramount production president Brad Weston bought it immediately.

Studio and Kosinski have put together a shortlist of scribes and aim to set one as soon as the writers strike ends.

Jolie is currently shooting "The Changeling," the Clint Eastwood-directed drama for Universal, Imagine and Malpaso.

Gotler will shop a deal for Austin to write her memoirs early next year

If the film does well--Jolie's already proven that she can headline a franchise, thanks to both Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

Her action skills were flexed again for Mr. & Mrs. Smith--The role seems right up her alley...



--Edward Norton is set to play dual roles in "Leaves of Grass," a comedic thriller to be directed in spring by Tim Blake Nelson, who wrote the script and will also act in the film.

Norton will play identical twins, one an Ivy League classics professor and the other a hedonistic pot-smoking career criminal. He'll make the film after completing the Universal drama "State of Play."

"Leaves of Grass" will be financed by Barbarian Films, which recently co-produced "Powder Blue." Bill Migliore, Norton and Nelson will produce. Norton and Migliore partner in Class 5 Films, which most recently produced "The Painted Veil" and "Down in the Valley."

Norton and Nelson recently starred together in "The Incredible Hulk," in which Norton plays the title character and wrote the script for Marvel and Universal.

Nelson had already penned "Leaves of Grass" specifically for Norton, and they've been waiting for the right opportunity to do it.

"The challenge of playing twins for an actor is very special, and I was very flattered that Tim sent 'Leaves of Grass' to me," Norton said. "I liked it so much, and felt so strongly that it was a film Tim understood to his core, that I took it to my partners and suggested we produce it. This is exactly the kind of personal filmmaking that we set out to support."

Nelson, who directed "The Grey Zone" and "O," said Norton "would have been my first choice for either of these roles." If he'd said no, "there would have been no second choice."

Norton will next be seen in the Gavin O'Connor-directed Gotham cop drama "Pride and Glory," which New Line opens in March

With this role, Norton will be able to once again, exercise his skills at playing characters with more than one personality in the same flick--Aside from the forthcoming Hulk movie, there's Primal Fear and Fight Club that first allowed him to prepare for this project.