Fans of Kay Scarpetta—the sleuthing medical examiner at the heart of 17 best-sellers by Patricia Cornwell—will finally get to see their heroine on the big screen. And she'll be played by Angelina Jolie, no less. Shooting is expected to begin in the fall, with two twists: the story will be based on an original screenplay (not written by Cornwell) and the movie version of Scarpetta will be younger than her bookish counterpart.
"When Angelina came out of left field last year, I was floored," Cornwell tells the Los Angeles Times. She's been trying to work out the right movie deal for 20 years and recalls personally lobbying Jodie Foster. "Poor Jodie. I campaigned heavily for that in 1992, but she didn't think it was a good idea because of Silence of the Lambs."
(More Angelina Jolie stories.)