Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was in Karachi, Pakistan, in January of 2002 when he was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists, arousing the world's revulsion and sympathy for his courageous (and pregnant) wife, Mariane, whose memoir A Mighty Heart was released the following year. "I was really impressed with how Mariane's book told the story," says director Winterbottom (In This World, The Road to Guantanamo), who happened to be in Pakistan a month after Pearl disappeared. "We portray events from the day of Daniel's kidnapping to when Mariane left Pakistan." Futterman, Oscar-nominated for his Capote screenplay, plays Daniel, and Jolie plays Mariane; Brad Pitt is a producer. The film is being shot primarily in India, with several days of location work done in semi-secrecy in Pakistan. Despite swarming local media, the production has stayed focused in part because of Jolie, says Winterbottom. "She has a lot of the same strengths that Mariane has, and the same sort of ability to draw people together."