Angelina Jolie in Talks to Star in ‘Shoot Like a Girl’

Angelina Jolie is in talks to star in Shoot Like a Girl. The 41-year-old actress reportedly has her eye on the starring role in the Afghanistan war drama, which is based on the upcoming memoir Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front.

The book tells the true story of Major Mary Jennings Hegar, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot. She served as part of the Combat Search and Rescue team as well as Medevac in Afghanistan, and saved hundreds of lives. She also worked on Civil Search and Rescue missions on home soil in California.

In 2009, her helicopter was shot down during a Medevac mission, though her actions saved the lives of her crew and patients, earning her the Purple Heart – an award given to those wounded or killed whilst serving US military.

Mary then filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Defence in 2012, in protest of the Combat Exclusion Policy which kept female officers from serving in combat roles. The policy was successfully repealed in 2013 after it was deemed unconstitutional.

The release date for the book in marked for May 2017, and a movie adaptation is already in the works with Sony on board to develop the project alongside The Gotham Group. Frank Baldwin is set to pen the script. No director has yet been confirmed for the movie, but sources suggest they will lock in a director as soon as their main cast is confirmed.

For Angelina, the role comes after she recently dropped out of starring alongside Kenneth Branagh in Murder on the Orient.

The Maleficent star also pulled the plug on her directing role in Brad Pitt movie Africa after she filed for divorce from the 52-year-old star. A source said at the time: “[‘Africa’] has been a nightmare to get off the ground from the beginning. Until the last few weeks Angelina was resolute in her intent to get it made but now she doesn’t want to direct it at all.”