Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry Starring in ‘ Maude v Maude’

Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry to Face Off in New Action Thriller ‘Maude v Maude’

Roseanne Liang is on board to direct from Scott Mosier’s script, and we’re promised a Bond vs. Bourne-style movie.

(Left) Angelina Jolie in 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.' (Right) Halle Berry in 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle.'

There have been great cinematic matchups in our time. Think ‘Kramer Vs. Kramer’. ‘Earth vs. the Flying Saucers’. ‘Joe Versus the Volcano’. ‘The People vs. Larry Flynt’. 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.' ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’. We could go on, but we won’t.

You can add to that list, ‘Maude vs. Maude’, a new action thriller that, assuming it all comes together, will boast the twin star power of Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry.

Warner Bros. is hoping it will, since the chance to pit two of the biggest actors in the world against each other is certainly an appealing prospect, one the studio thinks will get people into cinemas. It was enough that it took the project off the table after a bidding war between several possible buyers.

Halle Berry in ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’

What is ‘Maude v Maude’ all about?

That’s the big question right now. At this early stage, the company is not releasing any plot details, though Deadline has heard from insiders that it’ll be a “Bond vs. Bourne” type of global action thriller with locations to be announced. We’d expect the budget to be considerable.

So far what we do know for sure is the script comes from Scott Mosier, who cut his cinematic teeth working as Kevin Smith’s producer (and podcasting buddy) and has more recently been creating his own movies, including writing ‘Free Birds’ and directing Illumination’s ‘The Grinch’.

In the director’s chair, Roseanne Liang, who most recently made 2020’s horror/war movie ‘Shadow in the Cloud’, which starred Chloë Grace Moretz (as, coincidentally, a character called Maude).

Angelina Jolie in 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.'

Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry: Action credentials

Though they haven’t shared the screen before, both actors have plenty of action in their backgrounds. Jolie has starred in the likes of the first two ‘Lara Croft’ movies, starred in espionage film ‘Salt’ and did plenty of stuns/gunplay in ‘Wanted’.

In more recent years, she’s focused more on directing and producing, though has stayed busy in front of the camera, and did some fighting in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’.

Berry, meanwhile, cropped up in ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’, but before that had a run in the ‘X-Men’ movies and played NSA operative Giacinta ‘Jinx’ Johnson in Bond movie ‘Die Another Day’, getting to do more action than many of her female predecessors in the franchise.

And she proved she still has what it takes to fight in her 2020 directorial debut ‘Bruised’, in which she starred as an MMA fighter finding redemption.

Given their clout in Hollywood these days, both Berry and Jolie will be producers on the new movie, along with Mosier, Liang, Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Joe Roth.

Depending on the tone, this could always harken back to another Jolie back catalogue entry, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, in which she played an assassin opposite Brad Pitt.