Coen Brothers board Angelina Jolie's 'Unbroken' as writers

The Coen brothers, behind award-winning movies like 'Fargo', 'No Country For Old Men' and 'True Grit', have been roped in to rewriter 'Unbroken', the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's 2010 book for Universal studio, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Angelina Jolie. Pic/AFP

Universal picked up the rights to the book in January 2011, initially for Francis Lawrence to direct. Jolie joined as director in December. She has spent weeks searching for top-flight writers to tackle the project, with sources saying the director was extremely choosy.

William Nicholson and Richard LaGravenese worked on previous drafts before Jolie became a part of the project. Zamperini participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In 1943, his Air Force plane crashed in the Pacific.

He survived without food and water for 47 days, enduring shark attacks, aerial attacks and hunger before washing ashore on a Japanese island behind enemy lines, where he was held as a prisoner of war for two years and tortured by his captors.

Jolie is producing with Matthew Baer and Erwin Stoff. Walden Media will co-finance. The Coens are counted among the top scriptwriters in Hollywood. They usually direct from their scripts, taking up writing assignment in rare cases.