Trailer and Poster for Doug Liman's Iran-Contra Movie AMERICAN MADE

Universal has released the first trailer for the Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Fair Game)/Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Knight and Day) reunion (following their successful sci-fi collaboration Edge of Tomorrow), the Iran-Contra story American Made. This is the one that we first heard about two years ago, when it was called Mena, in which Cruise plays the infamous CIA pilot Barry Seale. Seale ended up at the epicenter of an intricate conspiracy involving the Agency, the White House, the Medellin Cartel, the Nicaraguan factions the Sandinistas (the government) and the Contras, Manuel Noriega, Pablo Escobar, Vice President George Bush, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and Oliver North, to name-check just a few strands of the web. Liman has a very personal connection to the material, as his father, Arthur Liman, was Chief Counsel in the Senate's investigation of the Iran-Contra Scandal and conducted the televised hearings that fascinated the nation in the summer of 1987 and made household names out of people like North and CIA Director William Casey. It's clear from the trailer that he has chosen to take a somewhat light-hearted approach to the subject matter (which makes sense when you focuse on someone involved at a ground-level, as opposed to North or Casey), possibly focusing more on the criminal aspects of Seale's career than the espionage aspects (not that there was any clear delineation between the two!). I can't wait to see the results!

Cruise will next be on screens in Universal's Mummy reboot, and is currently filming the next Mission: Impossible movie with returning director Christopher McQuarrie. American Made hits theaters September 29, coming in the same a spy-saturated month that also sees the releases of Kingsman: The Golden Circle and American Assassin.

Tradecraft: Doug Liman and Tom Cruise Plot CIA Drug Flight

Doug Liman loves directing spy movies. Tom Cruise loves starring in spy movies. Doug Liman directed Tom Cruise in last year's surprisingly excellent sci-fi war movie Edge of Tomorrow. Was it inevitable that the director and star would re-team to work in the genre they both seem to love? Perhaps. Deadline reports that Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Fair Game) will direct Cruise (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Knight and Day) in Mena, which follows what the trade describes as the "outrageous exploits of Barry Seal, a hustler and pilot unexpectedly recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history." In the early 1980s, Seal flew drug smuggling runs out of the Mena, Arkansas airport, allegedly in part at the behest of the CIA. With Agency surveillance equipment, he photographed members of the infamous Medellin Cartel loading drug shipments onto his plane in Nicaragua, supposedly with the cooperation of the Sandinista government. The Reagan administration used one of his photographs to bolster support for rebel guerrillas known as the Contras, who the CIA was funding in contravention of the U.S. Congress's Boland Amendment as part of an elaborate operation that became known as the Iran-Contra Scandal. Liman's father, Arthur Liman, was Chief Counsel in the Senate's investigation of the Iran-Contra Scandal and conducted the televised hearings that fascinated the nation in the summer of 1987 and made household names out of people like Oliver North and William Casey. (I still remember that summer as one interminably boring evenings for a 9-year-old, when the TV aired night after night of old guys talking instead of baseball or Bond movies on ABC. Now, of course, I find the subject fascinating.) Liman has previously cited his father's involvement as giving him his fascination with spies and espionage, so no doubt this is a story he's itching to tell.

"I love stories of improbable heroes working against the system," Liman told the trade, "and Barry Seal took the government, and our country, for an unbelievable ride. Interpreting his story has the makings for an entertaining film that is equal parts satire, suspense and comedy—and always surprising." Mena will be at least the third movie in production this year to tell an aspect of the Iran-Contra Affair. We learned about two more last fall.

Universal has staked out a January 6, 2017 release date for Mena, evidently encouraged by the huge box office that particular berth garnered for another true story boasting a big star, American Sniper. Besides Cruise, the film stars Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, About Time), Sarah Wright (Parks and Rec), Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights, The Missionary) , Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class), Jayma Mays (Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of CONTROL), Benito Martinez (The Shield, 24), E. Roger Mitchell (Kill the Messenger), Lola Kirke (Free the Nipple) and Alejandro Edda (The Bridge), with Robert Farrior (Stop-Loss) as Oliver North.

Tradecraft: Doug Liman to Direct Adaptation of Olen Steinhauer's Tourist Written by Covert Affairs Duo

Last time we heard about a movie version of Olen Steinhauer's The Tourist, the novel had been snapped up at the manuscript stage by George Clooney and Grant Heslov's production company with Clooney looking to star in and/or direct. That was in 2007. Now five years have passed and a whole other spy movie called The Tourist (bearing no relation whatsoever to Steinhauer's novel) has come and gone and pretty much ruined the title for this movie, while Steinhauer has penned two excellent sequels about secret agent Milo Weaver, The Nearest Exit and An American Spy. And the rights have changed hands. Today, Deadline reports that Sony has acquired the rights to all three Milo Weaver novels for Doug Liman to direct at least the first one. That's a great match! Steinhauer's novels have cemented his reputation as being the closest thing there is today to an heir to John le Carré. (The Nearest Exit is the cleverest mole hunt novel I've read in a long, long time—or is there a mole after all? The books must be read in order, though.) They've got more action than the average le Carré yarn, but they share the master's ingenious twists, rich characters, and cynical outlook on the espionage business. And Doug Liman is one of the best espionage directors working today, having helmed The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Fair Game, and produced the USA TV series Covert Affairs. This should prove a perfect match, with the material falling somewhere between Bourne and Fair Game, taking Liman into somewhat new spy territory. And he's got good help tackling it! The trade blog reports that his Covert Affairs collaborators, series creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord, will pen the script. Again, that seems like a perfect match for the material as they've proven week after week that they're capable of telling mature, exciting spy stories grounded in reality. The writers will work on the script while Liman directs the Tom Cruise sci-fi movie All You Need is Kill, and then hopefully the director will move on to Milo Weaver. Whatever this ends up being called (since it surely can't be The Tourist now, sadly), it's just shot to the top of my list of spy projects to be excited for in the next couple of years! Steinhauer's books are the real deal, and, handled correctly, should make great movies.

Tradecraft: Brian Kirk Ponders Ludlum's The Osterman Weekend

It's been a while since we've heard about any movement on Summit's new adaptation of the 1972 Robert Ludlum novel The Osterman Weekend (his second), which was previously made into a film in 1983 by Sam Peckinpah. This week, that changed. Deadline reports that Irish director Brian Kirk (Luther, My Boy Jack) is now in talks to direct the conspiracy thriller, using a script by Simon Kinberg and Jesse Wigutow. Ludlum's novel follows his most successful formula of an ordinary man thrust into international espionage. It follows a TV executive named John Tanner who's told by the CIA that one of his guests at an upcoming weekend get together is a KGB agent, and asked to help the Agency ferret out the traitor. The new movie will be updated, and according to the trade blog it will now be a reporter rather than a CIA agent who gives Tanner the news that one of his friends is not who he thinks he is. Back in 2008, Kinberg himself was aiming to make Osterman his directorial debut. By 2010, Wigutow was penning a rewrite and RED's Robert Schwentke was circling the project. Apparently Bourne Identity helmer Doug Liman (who collaborated with Kinberg on Mr. & Mrs. Smith) also flirted with it for long enough to add himself to the film's long list of producers, which also includes Kinberg, Peter Davis and Captivate Entertainment's Jeffrey Weiner and Ben Smith, cinematic keepers of the Ludlum flame.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Covert Affairs - Season Two

TV Shows On DVD reports that Universal will release Covert Affairs - Season Two, a 4-disc, 16-episode set, on DVD on May 1. This USA spy show starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett and the great Peter Gallagher (though not quite enough of him) got even better in its second season, and one impressive Berlin-set episode made my Best of 2011 list. There are even more actual foreign locations in Season 2, from Istanbul to Paris to Stockholm, and their presence really elevates this series above other spy shows that dress up Burbank as whatever locale that week's script calls for. There are no extras listed yet, but the first season had some so I'm hoping Season Two does as well. SRP is $39.98, but the set is already available to pre-order for considerably less than that on Amazon. The artwork provided by TV Shows On DVD is temporary, but probably a good indication of what we'll eventually see on the shelf.

Plame's Spy Novel Coming From Penguin in 2012

We heard last year that notoriously outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on a spy novel with mystery writer Sarah Lovett.  Today Deadline reveals that the publisher will be new Penguin imprint Blue Rider Press, and that the book will be out in 2012.  Plame previously penned a non-fiction memoir. She was also the subject of a Decemberists song, of Bourne Identity director Doug Liman's excellent 2010 spy movie Fair Game (review here), and served as a techinical advisor on the first season Liman's CIA-set TV series Covert Affairs (review here).  Covert Affairs: Season One is out today on DVD from Universal.

Special Features Revealed For Covert Affairs DVD

We already heard that USA's excellent freshman spy series Covert Affairs is coming to DVD on May 17th from Universal.  Now DVD Active has the list of special features. "Extras will include feature commentaries on 3 episodes featuring stars Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham; executive producers Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and David Bartis; and show creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord, deleted scenes, a gag reel, an exclusive tour of the Covert Affairs set, featurettes ("Welcome to The Farm", "Blind Insight"), and a descriptive narration of the visual elements of the series for visually impaired viewers." Sadly no commentary with technical advisor Valerie Plame Wilson or featurettes on the real CIA as a workplace like I'd hoped for, but still a good assortment of extras! I'm glad, as I loved this series.

Read my review of the Covert Affairs pilot here.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Covert Affairs

TV Shows On DVD reports that USA's summer hit Covert Affairs (which made my own list of the best new spy TV shows of 2010) will hit DVD on May 17.  Covert Affairs stars Piper Perabo as freshman CIA officer Annie Walker. While there are some of the soap opera elements that have haunted the genre since Alias, it's mainly a spy show as workplace dramady.  I've always been a fan of the "desk" side of the spy drama, and I think Covert Affairs handles the office politics better than any other US spy series I can think of.  Certainly better than the histrionics of CTU!  Of course, this is still a USA show, which means it's also got its share of in-the-field excitement as well.  It's a solid, fairly believable character-driven espionage series. 

No extras have been announced for this release, but I hope that changes.  With a show like this that goes out of its way more than most to depict a fairly realistic CIA, I'd love to see some featurettes about that attention to detail and attempts at realism.  I'd also like to see an interview or hear a commentary with the show's technical advisor (and obvious inspiration for Kari Matchett's character), Valerie Plame-Wilson, who has already recorded a commentary track for the DVD release of Doug Liman's movie about her, Fair Game (review here). Liman also produces Covert Affairs.

Covert Affairs: Season 1, a 3-disc set, will retail for $59.98, but obviously it will be findable cheaper than that.  This artwork is a mock-up, subject (and likely) to change. 

Read my review of the Covert Affairs pilot here.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Fair Game (2010)

DVD Active reports that Summit Entertainment will release Bourne Identity director Doug Liman's latest spy movie, Fair Game, on DVD and Blu-ray on March 29. Liman finds the Le Carré-esque spy story at the heart of the infamous Valerie Plame affair, and makes the most of it, bringing the same "in the moment" sort of hand-held, real-time camera work that captured the action in Bourne to the conference rooms of CIA headquarters in Langley–and making intense debates just as exciting as a car chase! (Read my full review here.) The only extra seems to be a commentary with the real Valerie Plame Wilson (played marvelously by Naomi Watts in the film) and Joe Wilson (played by Sean Penn), which is a bit disappointing.  I would have like to hear from Liman. Still, Fair Game is a fantastic spy movie (among my favorites of the year), and well worth checking out at home if you missed its limited theatrical run. Retail is $22.99 for the DVD and $30.49 for the Blu-ray, but both will inevitably be available online and in stores for less than that.

Movie Review: Fair Game (2010)

Movie Review: Fair Game (2010)

It’s interesting that both Bourne directors decided to make movies about the search for Iraqi WMD that was going on at about the time that the first Bourne movie hit theaters–and that both, though featuring very different approaches to the subject matter–turned out to be excellent spy movies. Whereas Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone (reviewed here) focused on thrilling, Bourne-like action, Doug Liman delivers an equally thrilling entry in the more realistic, serious side of the spy genre sometimes referred to as the “Desk Spy” sub-genre. (In this case, that moniker is a bit of a misnomer, though, as the protagonist does indeed go into the field. But the film’s most exciting moments are those in Langley conference rooms.) And refreshingly, in stark contrast to the Bourne series, neither of these films vilify the CIA!

Fair Game (not to be confused with the 1995 Cindy Crawford vehicle!) tells the story of a woman who, against her wishes, became the most famous American spy of the last decade: Valerie Plame Wilson. The story became a hot-button political issue sparking fierce debate on both sides of the aisles, but at its core it always seemed to me a classic spy yarn that could be torn straight out of Le Carré: a covert operative running dangerous missions in the field is exposed and hung out to dry by her bureaucratic masters for political reasons. That’s a log-line that with little tweaking could easily be applied to at least three Le Carré books (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Looking Glass War and The Honourable Schoolboy) and probably more. It’s the stuff of classic spy stories! And that’s exactly the approach that Liman takes to this material: he tells the spy story. In doing so (as with the best spy fiction), he tells many other stories too, and a film that begins as a flat-out spy movie very naturally morphs into a political thriller and a family drama by its denouement. In a genre landscape rife with popcorn explorations of spy marriages (Undercovers, True Lies and particularly Liman’s own Mr. and Mrs. Smith), it’s very interesting to see a fact-based tale of a marriage rocked by one spouse’s secret life. In Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Liman used conventions of the spy genre to humorously explore relationship issues. In Fair Game, he achieves a blistering combination of spy movie and family drama. The former had a gunfight at the kitchen table; the latter has a disagreement that leads to raised voices in the same setting... and the stakes feel much higher in the latter.

Naomi Watts is excellent as Plame, as is Sean Penn as her former ambassador husband, Joe Wilson. Even before Valerie’s exposure, her career inflicts constant trauma on their marriage. Valerie’s ceaseless business trips to Kuala Lumpur or Amman, Jordan take their toll on her home life. Her young children ask when their mom will be back, and their father can’t give them an answer. Even he doesn’t know where she is or how long she’ll be gone, though he is one of the few people who knows her true profession.

Besides the intense portrait of a possibly decaying marriage, Fair Game shines as a spy thriller. The movie opens with Valerie undercover in Kuala Lumpur. These scenes may be familiar ones, but that familiarity is essential to establishing the genre before shaking up its formula. That genre familiarity is aided immeasurably by an excellent score by John Powell of the percussion-heavy, pounding variety with which he has redefined the sound of the spy movie in the last decade. It occurred to me watching this film that Powell is really the first person to do that since John Barry defined it to begin with in the Sixties. Both composers have worked within a wide spectrum of sub-genres, from outlandish fantasy (You Only Live Twice in Barry’s case; Knight and Day for Powell) to grounded, serious action (From Russia With Love; the Bourne films) to gritty drama full of bureaucratic hurdles (The Ipcress File; Fair Game), applying their signature motifs across the board. While many great composers have worked in the spy genre over the last several decades (and some have experimented with totally different sorts of scores), no one has so exhaustively overhauled the sound of spy movies as Powell. Barry’s jazz-infused style remained the expected and accepted soundtrack of the genre up until the 2000s (when it may have been partially done in by Austin Powers). Now it’s propulsive percussion–which offers somewhat less room for variation, but perfectly compliments the high-energy spy movies being made today–and Powell brings that in spades to Fair Game, signaling spy to the audience as loudly as Barry-like trumpet flourishes did in the past. Granted, the visuals and the settings do that as well, but in the case of real-life subject matter that could have been handled a number of different ways, it’s important to establish the territory as early as possible.

The scenes of Valerie recruiting assets overseas and eventually sending them into harm’s way deliver exactly what fans of the serious spy genre want, but as with many of the best examples of that side of the genre, the scenes back in the office are even more rewarding. Liman operates the camera himself, and brings the same handheld craziness for which the Bourne movies are famous not to running-through-Baghdad action scenes, but to meetings in Langley conference rooms! The constantly shifting, cinema verite-style camera work combined with naturalistic lighting really makes you feel like you’re there–and it’s harrowing! Fans of the Le Carré school of spy novels know how harrowing and suspenseful a good author can make the bureaucratic side of spying, but I’ve never seen the day-to-day business of CIA officers conveyed with such a sense of urgency on film before. You really get the sense that this is important work, and that lives and indeed the very fate of the nation depend on decisions made within these cramped walls. If the Bourne movies (particularly Greengrass’s–for better or for worse) redefined the way that action is portrayed in spy movies, Fair Game redefines the way intrigue is portrayed. If there’s ever a movie version of The Sandbaggers, it should be filmed like this.

Despite accusations from people who probably didn’t see the film, Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone managed to explore the WMD issue without becoming a political film. I can’t say the same for Doug Liman’s Fair Game, although despite the presence of outspoken activist Sean Penn (whose own extra-textual persona unfortunately distracts from what’s really a very wonderful performance during a patriotic speech at the movie’s finale), the director approaches what became a hotly politicized story about as apolitically as could be possible. Liman doesn’t engage in any of the games of speculation so popular among media pundits on both sides about how high up in the administration the decision to expose an undercover CIA operative went. Instead he sticks to the non-controversial official version of the facts, laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the only person convicted of a crime in the matter, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and self-confessed State Department source Richard Armitage.

Libby is the only key figure in the Administration portrayed with any substantial screen time by an actor. The only time we ever see the President or the Vice President, it’s done using actual TV footage from the time–not cut into the movie directly, but playing on televisions in the scenes. It’s a tricky approach that could have gone wrong, but it works. Having lived through this little bit of history so recently, I also found it neat to see Liman’s interpretation of what went on behind the scenes of those well-known soundbites. He gives the feeling of filling in the blanks, which works well. In a bold move, he solidifies that approach by ending with footage of the real Valerie Plame testifying before Congress instead of Watts. It’s a jarring move, but Liman pulls it off and it serves as a good reminder that this sort of intrigue really happens, and isn't just the realm of Le Carré and his ilk.

Fair Game is an excellent movie that doesn’t dwell on the political debate fueled by the events depicted, but instead delivers an incredibly satisfying spy story and family drama. The lead actors turn in excellent performances that should be recognized come awards season, but ultimately what this movie will be remembered for in the annals of spy film history is the way Doug Liman (aided by John Powell) brazenly redefines the backroom intrigue of the Serious side of the genre. Fair Game is to Serious spy movies what the Bourne films proved to be to Action ones.

Tradecraft: Lots Of Ludlum Developments, Including TV Series

Deadline files two reports today on Robert Ludlum adaptations.  First, the trade blog reports that writer Jesse Wigutow has signed on to do a quick rewrite on Summit's remake of The Osterman Weekend.  Presumably the draft he'll be polishing is Simon Kinberg's, since Deadline asserts that Kinberg (who at one time was set to make this his directorial debut) is still involved as a producer, along with Peter Davis, Bourne Identity director Doug Liman (who probably deserves his own blog label by now, since his name comes up here so often) and Jeffrey Weiner, who controls the rights to Ludlum's books.  As previously reported, RED director Robert Schwentke is circling the project, and apparently the purpose of this rewrite is to entice him to commit to it as his next film. Yes, please! Bring on more Ludlum movies, especially while the most promising one of the many in development, The Matarese Circle, is tied up in the hell that is MGM at the moment.

Second, and perhaps more interestingly, as though there have been several mini-series, there has never been a TV series based on the works of Robert Ludlum before, Deadline also reports that just such a series is now in development at CBS. According to the trade blog, Anthony Zuiker, the creator of CSI, is developing a spy series called Treadstone. Treadstone "centers on the workings of Treadstone 71, the black-ops arm of the CIA featured in the Ludlum novels. Yes, that's the shadowy group for which David Webb worked in Ludlum's novels, with whom he created and assumed his more famous identity as assassin Jason Bourne. Deadline doesn't indicate whether or not this Treadstone will be more closely affiliated with the organization in Ludlum's novels, or the one in Universal's recent Bourne movies. Whereas the motivation behind Treadstone in the novels is basically heroic, the Treadstone of the movies is a much more sinister organization.  It was also, I believe, officially shut down by Brian Cox's character, Abbott. If the series takes place in the movie universe (which seems likely), then it would make more sense to feature a reactivated Treadstone under new leadership than for it to be a prequel to the films set in the late 90s or early 2000s.  I think this is actually a really good way to keep the brand alive while the studio figures out how to progress with the Bourne film series without Paul Greengrass and very possibly without Matt Damon.  Depending on how closely the TV show is tied into the film universe (would Joan Allen do TV?), it could also serve as a breeding ground for new agents to carry the film franchise.  The project has a script commitment from the network, and considering Zuiker's involvement, I'd say it has a good chance to progress further quickly. John Glenn (Eagle Eye) is writing the pilot.