The day after Christmas will bring an unexpected gift: "My Autobiography," by Charlie Chaplin will be re-released this week as part of Melville House’s Neversink Library. Named the “The best autobiography ever written by an actor” by the Chicago Tribune, Chaplin’s memoir is as warm and funny as you’d want the Little Tramp to be -- and filled with the eccentricities, charming personality, and adventurous life moments worthy of the pioneering genius of physical comedy. [via Unculturedcritic.com]

Jon Voight, whose early (and some say best) film roles have been staunchly nonconservative, is in negotiations to play a Soviet-era villain in a $35 million Ronald Reagan biopic. The film will be based on author Paul Kengor’s “The Crusader” and “God and Ronald Reagan,” and include coverage of the KGB agents and Soviet analysts who kept a watchful eye on Reagan during the Cold War years. Producer Mark Joseph (Amazing Grace) will oversee a script written by Jonas McCord (The Young Riders), Howie Klausner (Space Cowboys), and Ralph Winter (X-Men). [via Movies.ie]

Moving on from father to daughter, Angelina Jolie is also in the news this week. She has made no secret of the secondary role acting plays in her life -- and now she’s set to direct “Unbroken,” the biographical film based on Laura Hillenbrand’s book on Louis Zamperini, a World War II pilot whose plane was downed over the Pacific Ocean, where he survived for two months before being picked up and imprisoned by the Japanese military. Hollywood has been trying to get this film off the ground for decades. With Angelina in the director’s seat, we’re betting on it to take off this time. [via The Huffington Post]

Patti Smith thinks she might have an even better story to tell than the one she shared in her memoir “Just Kids.” The writer-turned-punk-music-icon will fill her next autobiography with a quieter tale than some might expect: her days with her husband (and band guitarist) Fred and her life after his death in 1994, which was followed soon after by the loss of her beloved brother with whom she also worked. Picking up where “Just Kids” left off, Smith’s fourth memoir will detail her very un-rock-and-roll lifestyle in more grown-up terms. [via Clashmusic.com]