Finn Wittrock to Star in World War II Film Unbroken, Directed by Angelina Jolie

Broadway vets Finn Wittrock and Domhnall Gleeson (Tony nominee for The Lieutenant of Inishmore) have joined Jack O’Connell in Oscar winner Angelina Jolie’s film version of Unbroken, based on the true story of Olympian-turned-POW Louis Zamperini, according to The Wrap. Wittrock had been set to play Romeo opposite Elizabeth Olsen’s Juliet in CSC's off-Broadway production of the Shakespearean classic, but dropped out to do this film.

Adapted by Oscar winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) and Oscar nominee Richard LaGravenese (The Last Five Years), Unbroken is based on Laura Hillenbrand's book of the same name and tells the story of Zamperini from the time he was a member of the USA track team that competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics to his survival of a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Wittrock and Gleeson will play Mac and Phil, fellow soldiers stranded at sea with Zamperini on a life raft after their plane was gunned down.

Wittrock made his Broadway debut as Happy Loman in Mike Nichols' 2012 revival of Death of a Salesman. and co-starred with Diane Lane in a Chicago production of Sweet Bird of Youth. His film and TV credits include Showtime's Masters of Sex, All My Children a forthcoming role in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, the fantasy epic Winter’s Tale and Ryan Murphy's HBO movie The Normal Heart.