The trailer for the Angelina Jolie-directed Unbroken, the true-life tale of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, aired Saturday night during the Olympics telecast. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, although the trailer did steal some of the USA men’s hockey team’s thunder, after their triumph over the Russian team.

Unbroken Promo Image
Jolie will make a small cameo appearance in Unbroken.

Back to Unbroken, the upcoming Universal pic tells the story of Zamperini’s survival through 47 days at sea and three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp after his plane is shot down over the Pacific.

According to the New York Daily News, 97-year-old Zamperini lent his voice to the trailer, making the film look that much more faithful to his story. Unbroken is due to hit theaters on Christmas Day. It is based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand ("Seabiscuit") and stars Jack O’Connell, best known for his role on E4’s Skins. About Time's Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund and Jai Courtney round out the cast. If you pay close attention to the trailer, you’ll notice that Jolie also has a cameo, sort of. The actress can be seen leaning on the shoulder of the real-life Zamperini in a rather touching photo, shown briefly in the clip.

Watch the Unbroken trailer below.

This is Jolie’s sophomore directorial effort, after 2011’s In The Land of Blood and Honey. Although the film never achieved commercial success, it received mostly warm reviews. Jolie was later sued by James Braddock, a Croatian journalist, who claimed that the film was based on his novel about a love affair during the Bosnian Civil War. Jolie won the case in 2013, after a judge decided that the film was not substantially similar to Braddock’s work.

Jack O'Connell
Jack O'Connell will play Zamperini in the documentary-like flick.