Latest Big Names in Human Trafficking Fight: Liu, Streep & Jolie

Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, and Meryl Streep won’t be starring together in the next edition of Charlie’s Angels, but they will be pooling their crime-fighting, super-heroine talents in a new film project that addresses human trafficking.

While the project is still in its beginning phase, it seems the film will be titled Half the Sky: The Six Stories, based on the nonfiction book of the same name. Authored by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide examines several women’s issues, including sex trafficking, and their intrinsic effects on culture and economy. The 2009 release received attention from Jolie, who narrated a brief clip on The Oprah Winfrey Show focusing on the book’s coverage of Cambodian child brothels.

Conjectured locations for shooting the film version of Half the Sky include India, Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Mumbai. Purportedly, a single vignette will be assigned to each continent and act as a piece of the larger picture. These shorts will notably feature Liu, Jolie, and Streep behind the camera, making it a directorial debut for both Liu and Streep. And Jolie will once again don her Lycra spandex bodysuit and flowing cape with “Angelina to the Rescue” emblazoned on the back.

Regardless of how the blanks of this project will be filled in -- two additional star names circulating are Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson -- we can all but assume Half the Sky will trump Lindsay’s Half a Brain. For one thing, Liu, Jolie, and Streep have a tiny bit more clout in Hollywood and abroad, and bring additional qualities to the table, such as poise, artistry, and worldliness. (And, in Streep’s case, awesomeness. Seriously, is there anything that woman can’t do? She is magic.)

At bare minimum, this latest celebrity effort to raise awareness of human trafficking will tag the names Jolie, Liu, and Streep to the cause, inspiring activists to donate their talent, time, and money long after the movie hype has evaporated. And at best, we will have a critically-acclaimed film on our hands whose name and subject everyone knows and identifies with after being blown away by a provocative, but sensitive, rendering of a trafficking victim’s plight. Imagine, for a moment, the power in that scenario. I, for one, am rooting for this film’s success.

Photo credit: crowt59