MOVIE MADNESS

So I did call Warner Bros. today, and though I didn't get all my questions answered, I did find out enough for the time being. Most importantly, the production coming to my neighborhood is not a made-for-TV morality play but rather a high-tech, big budget action thriller, "Syriana," about which Ain't It Cool News apparently has nothing but the IMDb has some. Turns out it's a Soderbergh/Clooney production starring Clooney and Matt Damon. Plus Amanda Peet, if you care. (According to Counting Down, also John Malkovich, Angelica Huston and Steve Buscemi, but it sends mixed signals on Damon and is the only site mentioning Malkovich, Huston and Buscemi, so don't get your hopes up.)

"Syriana" seems a timely Middle East terrorism flick, but in fact there's more: it's based on a memoir by ex-CIA official Robert Baer, See No Evil. Baer also wrote a gripping Atlantic cover last year on the eventual doom of the House of Saud. In the mid-90' s Baer recruited a number of Iraqis, including senior military officials, to topple Saddam Hussein. The coup was hours from execution until (I believe) Washington refused to promise back-up support. In the end it was the disloyal Baathists who were executed instead.

All right, enough. I have another blog for such discussions.

So now I know what's going on. What I do not know yet is where they are going to shoot around here. The high school is still likely, but it's possible they've rented an apartment or even a whole building. Come to think of it, the building next to mine has been under renovation for about a month now. And the street itself does look like classic DC -- arches, parapets, turrets cupolas and other nifty classical architecture words I'm probably misusing.

I'll find out this week or I'll find out next week. You will find out shortly thereafter.

P.S. This all may sound good, but let's not forget the last DC-based Soderberg/Clooney production. The horror, the horror...

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posted by WWB at 7:12 PM |