Sons of Anarchy actor Taylor Sheridan’s next directing effort, Those Who Wish Me Dead, will reportedly star Angelina Jolie.
The film is described as a tense chase thriller set in the Montana wilderness with a wildfire playing out in the background. It is based on the novel by Michael Koryta, but will reportedly veer off from Koryta’s original story.
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According to Deadline, Jolie is “finalizing a deal” to star in the movie, with Creative Wealth Media financing and BRON Studios and Film Rites producing. Filming could start as soon as May, after Sheridan finishes work on the second season of Yellowstone, which he writes, directs and executive produces for Paramount Network.
Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth (Fences, A Simple Favor) is an executive producer on the film, with Garrett Basch, Steve Zaillian and BRON’s Aaron L. Gilbert (The Mule) producing.
It was previously believed Sheridan’s next film as director would be F.A.S.T., an action movie starring Chris Pratt as a former special forces commando hired by the DEA to lead a strike team to stop drug dealers.
According to Collider, that project “hit a snag and stalled,” which inspired Sheridan to move on to another project. Variety added that Sheridan wanted Jolie to play Pratt’s wife in F.A.S.T. before he moved on to Those Who Wish Me Dead.
Jolie has not been seen on the big screen since 2015’s By The Sea, which co-starred then-husband Brad Pitt. She recently finished Maleficent 2 for Disney, but that is not scheduled to open until May 29, 2020. In 2017, she directed First They Killed My Father, which was released by Netflix.
Sheridan began his Hollywood career as an actor, playing Deputy Chief David Hale on Sons of Anarchy from 2008 to 2010. He also had roles in the movie 12 Strong and played Danny Boyd on Veronica Mars.
Recently, Sheridan has focused on screenwriting. He wrote the acclaimed Sicario and its sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado. He earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for the screenplay to 2016’s Hell or High Water, in which he had a small role. Sheridan considers the 2017 crime thriller Wind River, starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, his directing debut.
Sheridan’s first credited film as director is actually a 2011 horror film called Vile. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Sheridan said he directed the film as a favor to his friend, but does not consider it his debut.
“I kind of kept the ship pointed straight, and they went off and edited, and did what they did,” Sheridan said in 2017. “I think it’s generous to call me the director. I think he was try to say thank you, in some way. It was an excellent opportunity to point a camera and learn some lessons that actually benefited me on Wind River.”
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