Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear Join Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon in the Green Zone
Quartet attempting to buck box-office trend for Iraq-themed films.
"Making a movie about the war in Iraq" is quickly turning into just another way of saying "losing tons of money at the box office," but director Paul Greengrass isn't letting that stop him.
Variety reports that the as-yet-untitled thriller that Greengrass is filming with Matt Damon -- inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone -- started shooting in Spain yesterday. Joining Damon are Amy Ryan, currently riding high on critics' year-end best-of lists for her supporting turn in Gone Baby Gone, and Greg Kinnear. From the article:
Damon plays an officer who teams with a senior CIA officer to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Ryan will play a New York Times foreign correspondent sent to Iraq to investigate the U.S. government's WMD claims. Kinnear plays another CIA officer. Antoni Corone has been cast as a colonel.
Much has been made of the failure of Iraq-themed films to gain any traction at the box office; whether they're framed as thoughtful character studies (In the Valley of Elah, $6.5 million box office) or popcorn action flicks (The Kingdom, $47 million), audiences seem to tune them out with equal enthusiasm. Still, Greengrass has experience turning headlines into movies -- he directed United 93, after all -- and his last project with Damon was a little picture called The Bourne Ultimatum.
Source: Variety
Variety reports that the as-yet-untitled thriller that Greengrass is filming with Matt Damon -- inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone -- started shooting in Spain yesterday. Joining Damon are Amy Ryan, currently riding high on critics' year-end best-of lists for her supporting turn in Gone Baby Gone, and Greg Kinnear. From the article:
Damon plays an officer who teams with a senior CIA officer to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Ryan will play a New York Times foreign correspondent sent to Iraq to investigate the U.S. government's WMD claims. Kinnear plays another CIA officer. Antoni Corone has been cast as a colonel.
Much has been made of the failure of Iraq-themed films to gain any traction at the box office; whether they're framed as thoughtful character studies (In the Valley of Elah, $6.5 million box office) or popcorn action flicks (The Kingdom, $47 million), audiences seem to tune them out with equal enthusiasm. Still, Greengrass has experience turning headlines into movies -- he directed United 93, after all -- and his last project with Damon was a little picture called The Bourne Ultimatum.
Source: Variety
Related Items
| Movie: | United 93 |
| The Kingdom | |
| Gone Baby Gone | |
| In the Valley of Elah | |
| Celeb: | Matt Damon |
| Antoni Corone | |
| Greg Kinnear | |
| Paul Greengrass | |
| Amy Ryan |
(1-15 of 15 posts) | Reply
 on Jan 10 2008 06:20 AM the ingrediants are all there, but here's the real question: can i sit through another movie shot in palsy-vision or is greengrass willing to ditch the reality TV aesthetic and frame up his shots? The novelty has officially worn off, so how bout we hire an actual cinematographer this time... and use him. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 09:18 AM Greengrass is the man, Don't doubt him. (Reply to this) |
 on Jan 10 2008 10:35 AM I wouldnt doubt him is his movies didn't get me so dizzy. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 11:08 AM yeah, i can't watch his movies in a theater without getting rounded but the man still owns (Reply to this) |
 on Jan 10 2008 11:16 AM I swear I'm the only person in the world who doesn't complain about shaky cam. Either I have a really strong ability to avoid getting dizzy or everyone else is being a *****. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 11:22 AM In reply to this comment (#1450581) Nope, you're not. I don't see what the big deal is either.... Seconded. (Reply to this) |
 on Jan 10 2008 01:14 PM Yeah, I don't mind the shaky cam. I do, however, dislike it when the camera angle switches to fast and you miss some of the action, like in The Bourne Ultimatum. I think that this movie is either going to be really good or just good. Hoping that it's not going to bomb. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 01:58 PM i also dont mind the "shaky cam" feels like you are in the fight..lol...Greengrass owns (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 01:59 PM i also dont mind the "shaky cam" feels like you are in the fight..lol...Greengrass owns (Reply to this) |
 on Jan 10 2008 04:06 PM At least it's not the shaky cam from 28 weeks later. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 04:28 PM The reason these types of films keep bombing is because suspension of disbelief goes out the window when big-name celebrities are in the leading roles. Maybe wait ten or twelve years to make films about it like they did with Vietnam, otherwise people are going to look back at this era of "wartime" film-making and laugh dryly. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 04:56 PM These war movies aren't hits because people don't understand them and it's not something they want to deal with. My wife has had two people she's known die in iraq, so sitting through a movie about it, isn't number one on her list. (Reply to this) |
 on Jan 10 2008 10:11 PM Greengrass and Damon equals my *** in the theater seat. (Reply to this) |
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on Jan 10 2008 11:55 PM honestly... i'm addicted to shaky cam. it feels realer. steady shot just doesn't have the adrenaline factor. but, didn't the kingdom open top of the box office? (i know it bombed critically, and aftewards it sank... but it opened well (i remember?).... maybe nobody wanted to see it again.) (Reply to this) |
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on Feb 05 2008 07:06 PM I really don't mind the shaky cam. "The Blair Witch Project" got me sick...both from the shaky cam and the stupid a$$ script... Cloverfield looks to be the same... But since Greengrass and Damon are on board...count me in... (Reply to this) |
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