Jolie, Pitt partner for film about slain reporter Daniel Pearl

Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are teaming up once again, this time to film a movie about slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Jolie will star as widow Mariane Pearl in the film A Mighty Heart, based on Pearl's memoir of the same name, the Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety reported Thursday.

"The film will focus on the deep collaboration between people around the world in search of Daniel in 2002," Pitt, who will produce the project,told People magazine. "We hope the film can increase understanding between people of all faiths."

British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, whose credits include The Road to Guantanamo, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, 24 Hour Party People and Welcome to Sarajevo, has been tapped to direct A Mighty Heart.

Published in 2003, A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl shares stories about the abducted reporter and details of the author's search for her husband after he disappeared in early 2002, while reporting on Islamic militant groups in Pakistan. His beheaded body was later discovered in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Karachi.

"I am delighted that Angelina Jolie will be playing my role in the adaptation of the book," Pearl, also a journalist, said in a statement.

No other casting information, start date for filming or the estimated release date were revealed.

A Mighty Heart is the first announced on-screen role for Jolie since the birth of Shiloh Nouvel, her daughter with Pitt. Earlier this week,producers said she would beamong the cast of the animated feature Kung Fu Panda. Joliewill also be seen in the upcoming Robert De Niro film The Good Shepherd.

In addition to producing a number ofupcoming films, Pitt will be seen on-screen in Babel and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.