%%STORYIMAGE_RIGHT%%Jeep is roughing it once again, signing on a new spokesbabe who

is clearly off the beaten track.

The venerable Chrysler Group brand is in

close-hold, final negotiations with Paramount Studios to use Angelina

Jolie, star of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider series, to hawk the Jeep

Liberty.

Execs close to the situation say that a broadcast commercial

featuring Jolie as the Lara Croft character driving a Jeep Liberty

is expected

to be produced by the film crew of the sequel to the original Tomb

Raider movie, now being lensed in the UK. The ad will feature clips

from the new feature film mixed with original footage featuring Jolie

in a Jeep. The manufacturer also is considering putting out a Tomb

Raider version of the Jeep, which is featured prominently in the new

film.

The first Tomb Raider movie, which opened in 2001, featured a Ford

Land Rover Freelander, which Jolie drove through the jungles of Cambodia.

The Land Rover was outfitted with a Sony Vaio personal computer and

an Ericsson mobile phone.%%PULLQUOTE_LEFT%%

WPP's Young & Rubicam London created a Freelander broadcast

spot that appeared only on U.S. television and promoted the movie tie-in.

Jolie did not appear in the Freelander ad.

The Tomb Raider series was inspired by the best-selling Sony PlayStation

interactive video game of the same name, featuring an animated Lara

Croft character who travels the world, like a female version of Indiana

Jones, searching for treasure.

Neither Chrysler execs nor Paramount execs were available for comment.