Actor-director has optioned Simon Sebag Montefiore’s historical account of the relationship between powerful Russian empress and her court favouriteAngelina Jolie is planning to make a biopic about Catherine the Great, the celebrated empress who ruled Russia for most of the second half of the 18th century.According to a statement from Weidenfeld & Nicolson, part of the Orion Publishing Group, Jolie’s production company Jolie Pas has bought an option on Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book, Catherine the Great & Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair, which was published in 2000.