Before Angelina Jolie made “Unbroken,” Louis Zamperini’s dramatic World War II survival story had been looking for a filmmaker since 1957. But it took Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling book and the interest of second-time director Jolie to nudge the project back into action, leading to the film that opens on Christmas Day on the heels of four Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Jolie said she was obsessed with the story of Zamperini, an Olympic runner who survived 45 days adrift on a raft in the Pacific and two years in a series of brutal Japanese prison camps.