You're just about the famous woman in the world with cast-iron A-list status, a loving family and an army of devoted fans. So what do you next? Build a house made entirely of gold and bezel it with rubies and sapphires? Hire Slider from Top Gun to fly your private jet? Reoccupy the Rhineland?

If you're Angelina Jolie, the answer would be none of those things. Instead you'd probably turn your hand at writing and directing your own film. Something nice and light to start with. The Balkan War, for instance.

Take that with a scoop of salt, of course. Judging by its new trailer, Jolie's directorial debut - hatched and written while she was recuperating from the flu - is shaping up to be anything but lightweight. In The Land Of Blood And Honey tells the story of the forbidden love between a Muslim woman and a Serbian man during the Balkan conflict. Between them lie vicious ethnic divides, the bonds of family, and, on this evidence, about six million snipers.

The story looks like it'll test Jolie's directorial skills to the limit. Action beats sit cheek-by-jowl with more tender moments, and the subject matter obviously comes freighted with plenty of its own baggage. Jolie turned to a local cast for the film, including Zana Marjanović, Rade Šerbedija and Taken's Goran Kostic.

In The Land Of Blood And Honey makes its US bow at the end of the year. In the meantime, prepare to chalk another one in the 'Angelina Jolie is the new Clint Eastwood' column.