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Child custody case
3/8/2007 at 11:30 AM
I am so happy that these children made it home safe to their mother and it is sad, that the father felt he HAD to do this:
Calgary mom Melissa Hawach could be played on the big screen by Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie in a movie depicting her harrowing ordeal to bring back her abducted daughters from Lebanon.
An agent for the Oscar-winning actress expressed an interest in buying the film rights to the story on Wednesday, Melissa's media agent Sean Anderson said yesterday from Sydney, Australia.
"They wanted to know who had the movie rights to the story and said that his client was very interested in looking at that role," he said.
Anderson, who had yet to inform Melissa of the proposal, said he is "pretty impressed" the international custody battle stretching from Canada to Lebanon via Australia has garnered attention from the A-list celebrity.
Jolie, 31, who has three children with actor Brad Pitt and is well known off-screen for her humanitarian work as a UN Goodwill ambassador, admired Melissa's courageous pursuit to bring her daughters home to Canada, said Anderson.
"They just said it was an extraordinary story and a strong woman," he said about the agent.
Melissa's battle began in July when her estranged husband Joseph Hawach disappeared with Hannah, 6, and Cedar, 3, during a holiday to Sydney. Hawach holds dual Australian-Lebanese citizenship.
After failing to legally get her daughters back, Melissa allegedly hired mercenaries to help her take her children back Dec. 21 at a resort near Beirut.
Two of the men involved remain in a Lebanese prison.
Melissa, who was granted full custody of Cedar and Hannah by Canadian courts last summer, safely returned with the girls Feb. 17 to a secret location on the prairies.
Anderson said as many as eight production companies, including 20th Century Fox, have offered to buy the film rights to Melissa's story.
"It's still up for the taking," he said.
Days after returning to Canada, Melissa told an Australian newspaper she does not intend to deny her estranged husband a relationship with their daughters. But Chris Jurd, the lawyer for Joseph's family in Australia, has said the dad is unlikely to see his children for years because of the legal quagmire.
Although the Lebanese courts recognized Melissa as the children's legal guardian earlier this month, Australian newspapers are reporting an international arrest warrant has allegedly been issued for Melissa by Lebanese authorities.
Meanwhile, courts here have issued a warrant for child abduction against Joseph.