Okay all of you Patricia Cornwell fans, what do you think of this? Personally, I don't see Jolie as Scarpetta!!
Angelina Jolie, seen here in November, helped persuade writer Patricia Cornwell to adapt her Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel series to the big screen. (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
It could be deemed a kind of Hollywood marriage made in heaven — bestselling murder-mystery writer Patricia Cornwell has signed a deal to develop a film franchise based on her Dr. Kay Scarpetta books, all set to star Angelina Jolie.
Fox 2000 studio has bought the screen rights to all 16 books featuring the crime solver, according to Hollywood trade paper Variety.
It's a double coup for the studio — snagging a global star such as Jolie and then persuading the usually reluctant Cornwell to allow her book series to be adapted to screen.
Cornwell changed her mind about a film franchise after meeting with Jolie and producer Geyer Kosinki to discuss the project, according to the report. She is said to be playing a key role in the development of the first film.
The report says the film series will be modelled after the Jason Bourne films, starring Matt Daman. Plots from many Bourne stories, originally written by Robert Ludlum, were merged into the first three films.
A fourth Bourne film, with no link to the original books, has been set in motion.
Previous attempts have been made to put Scarpetta on the big screen. Demi Moore had been set to star in a 1992 film based on the novel Cruel and Unusual. It never got off the ground.
The first book was published in 1990 and the latest, Scarpetta, was published last year.
The main character is an opera-loving coroner who loves to cook. First starting off as a state coroner for Virginia, Scarpetta relocated to Florida to become a consultant. In the latest book, she has moved to Massachusetts, where she is a medical examiner.
Cornwell once worked at the office of the chief medical examiner in Virginia as a technical writer and computer analyst. She has also written several cookbooks featuring northern Italian cuisine — which is where her main character's family comes from.