24 Feb – After nearly two years of onscreen absence, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie is taking off her director's hat and getting back into the spotlight as an actor. The 41-year-old is currently working on two new acting projects with Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first is a World War II espionage drama "The Spy Who Loved", based on Clare Mulley's 2013 book of the same name. The second is also a book to movie adaptation, this time from Simon Sebag Montefiore's "Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair". Her involvement in the aforementioned two movies is already confirmed, but apart from these, the actress is also looking at Disney's "Maleficent 2", for which she is expected to reprise the eponymous witch role.
This doesn't mean she is taking a break from directing, however. The actress is currently working on another war movie based on Alessandro Baricco's 2004 novel "Without Blood". She is also putting on her 'producer' hat as she has been tapped to produce Disney's kid movie, "The One and Only Ivan". Discounting her voice role as Tigress in 2016's "Kung Fu Panda 3", the 41-year-old last appeared on the silver screen in 2015's "By the Sea", her own directorial effort which she stars in alongside her then-husband Brad Pitt. Most recently, Jolie was in Cambodia for the premiere of "First They Killed My Father", her Khmer directorial effort based on the written memoir of Khmer Rouge survivor, Loung Ung. The premiere near Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, was also attended by Cambodian royalty as well as all six of her children. She later also made an appearance at the screening of the movie in Phnom Penh on 21 February. Before fans get to see Jolie back on the big screen, they can catch a 2017 movie produced by her called "The Breadwinner", a Canadian-Irish-Luxembourgian animated movie adapted from Canadian activist Deborah Ellis' best-selling novel. (Photo source: Omar Havana | Getty Images)