Earlier today, we got a discussion post from Gene Novikov about Hollywood's obsession with Iraq war movies. They're coming out by the droves, yet they've been a crapshoot at the box office. But lo and behold, there's a bunch more on the way. Variety reports that there are three more deals in the works for films on the war.Phoenix Pictures is looking to develop a movie based on The Long Road Home -- a book by ABC New's chief White House correspondent Martha Raddatz that should appease some complaints about the liberal slant in Iraq war movies. The book is about an Army platoon that was ambushed by insurgents in 2004 while patrolling Sadr City in Baghdad. Eight soldiers were killed and more than 70 others were injured in the attack. Phoenix exec says this is a great story that should make you cry, and he wants to "get it right and make sure that enough time has elapsed so that people will be receptive." I'm not so sure he's got the time angle down pat.
Meanwhile, Silver Hill Pictures and Paul Pompian Productions have teamed up to tell the life story of Janet Leigh Jones -- a story that is pretty much devoid of pride and heroism. She's a woman who went to the Green Zone to work for Halliburton defense contractor KBR, and she claims: "she was drugged and gang-raped by six KBR employees, then locked in a shipping container without water or food after she reported the crime. Jones has a lawsuit in the works and described her ordeal on Capitol Hill." Patricia K. Meyer will write the script.
Lastly, in the wake of these piles of death and rape, there's studio interest in The Hero, an upcoming book about football star-turned-soldier Pat Tillman. He left sports to enlist, was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, and "his family later discovered that the Army covered up evidence that he was killed by friendly fire."
Something tells me that these projects won't fare much better than the others.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-26-2008 @ 6:13PM
Philip said...
"some complaints about the liberal slant in Iraq war movies"
I believe, by measuring the amount of money these movies are making, that you could correctly change "some complaints" to plain old "complaints". It appears that more than a few people take exception to the liberal slant not just in these movies, but in their news reporting as well.
Hollywood continually makes a leap of faith jump to the conclusions that their beliefs are beholden to the majority of moviegoers, and the numbers just do not bear that out.
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3-27-2008 @ 4:19PM
AJ Wiley said...
I couldn't care less about how money these movies make as long as any of them turn out good. In the Valley of Elah didn't even make a dent in the public consciousness last year, but I loved it, and so to me that is the mark of success.
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