It has been a number of months since Matt Damon was first cast in Paul Greengrass' adaptation of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone back in June of last year. Months went by until Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear joined the feature back in January, and then Jason Isaacs earlier this month. Now, finally, Variety reports that the last leading role has been filled by another Harry Potter co-star -- Brendan Gleeson -- who you might also recognize as Harry Potter's Mad-Eye Moody, Beowulf's Wiglaf, or New York gang member Monk McGinn -- to name a few. He'll play an American soldier.

The still untitled film, written by Brian Helgeland, centers on "the dichotomy between the Green Zone, where troops are housed, and the streets of Baghdad after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein." The feature is sure to tick off those who are already sensitive to the themes of recent Iraq dramas -- it "posits that bureaucrats are making policy decisions about the country's rebuilding even though they're in a sheltered enclave without a clear view of all that is happening." Since Baghdad itself isn't the most desirable filming location out there, the project is currently in production in Spain of all places.

*Titled Edited

Last night saw the first formal party of Sundance 2008 -- the post-screening bash for In Bruges. Held in the Tent at the Lift on Main Street, it featured everything you might expect from a Sundance party: Booze sponsor you've never heard of? Check! (And thank you, Hypnotiq vodka.) Meat on a stick? Check! A cross-promotional tie-in that makes no sense? Check! (Guitar Hero was scattered throughout the party with playable kiosks. If you can explain to me, in a hundred words or less, what the game has to do with In Bruges in any way, shape or form, then please do so; you'll win a prize.) Celebrity guest with no reason to be there? Check! (And hello, Mary-Kate Olsen!) Farrell and Gleeson were in attendance, but attempts to take photos of the stars within the party were firmly -- and understandably -- being rebuffed. Here's a photo of the crowd, though -- just to remind you that if you're a claustrophobe, Park City's a bad, bad place to be for the next few days.

In Bruges, the opening night film at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, comes at you sideways; the opening moments and slick snap of the dialogue lull you into believing that you're in for yet another standard-issue post-Tarantino film. Hit man protagonists; punchy, poppy, profane digressions about everything but the matter at hand that lead to punchy, poppy, profane digressions about the matter at hand; characters whose capacity with vocabulary is matched by their capacity for violence. But then, Martin McDonagh's script moves in unexpected directions - and, more importantly, in unexpected directions which are the kind of unexpected that you do not actually expect. In Bruges, with two killers exiled to Belgium after a badly botched London hit until the heat comes off, turns into something different from the standard-issue post-Tarantino film; it becomes the post-post Tarantino film, one where the talk talk bang bang is actually, just as it was in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, about something.

In Bruges, in fact, reminded me of nothing less than an earlier excellent example of the post-post-Tarantino film, Christopher McQuarrie's excellent, underrated and under-seen The Way of the Gun. Both are about a group of tough guys who, through extraordinary variations on their normally extraordinary lives, find out precisely how tough they really are, the hard way. Ken (Brendan Gleeson) and Ray (Colin Farrell) are in Bruges, and all of their quibbling about Bruges's scenic destinations and charm is a way for them to talk constantly without actually talking about what they need to talk about -- which is how off-the-charts wrong one of their jobs has gone. They're not on their familiar London turf; they're in, as Ken relates from the guidebook, "The most well-preserved medieval city in Belgium, apparently." Ken is enjoying the trip; Ray is not. "I hated history, didn't you?" Ray asks. "It's all just a load of stuff that's already happened." As McDonagh's script carefully, firmly lays out why Ken and Ray are in exile amid the cobblestone streets and Gothic cathedrals, Ray's desire to avoid thinking about what's already happened becomes completely understandable.

I have to be honest, I have always had a soft-spot for Colin Farrell and was convinced he could be great in the right role. After watching the trailer for In Bruges, I think this could be the one. Just last week, Peter gave us the heads up that the black comedy had been chosen as the opening night selection for Sundance 2008. Now, a trailer has surfaced and unless you have some headphones at your desk there's no way you're going to be able to watch this one at work ... sorry. Bruges stars Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hit-men who are awaiting their contact in a hotel room in Bruges, Belgium. Also starring is Ralph Fiennes, playing very against type as a gangster, and Elizabeth Barrington.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the film is a black comedy with a capital B. Original reports had our two hapless hit-men knocking off a kiddie by mistake and then having to go on the run. By the looks of the trailer though, it seems like there might have been some minor changes. Now, there is no mention of a kid and it looks like the target is a man of the cloth -- which I guess is funnier depending on your sense of humor. So even with my aforementioned bias, I still think this looks like a pretty funny flick. I don't even know all that much about Bruges, but there is one joke that had me almost snorting coffee on the keyboard. Not to mention there are some pretty creative uses of the "F-word" -- and that's just for the trailer. In Bruges will premier at Sundance this January and then a limited release will follow in February. Hopefully the movie will get a wide release sometime in '08.

[via The Movie Blog]

*Update: You can now catch the trailer at the Alliance Films website.

I think I can safely say that Martin McDonagh is well on his way to long-term success in both the theatrical and cinematic worlds. On the one hand, he's the film world's answer to Anderson Cooper, with ashen hair and bright blue eyes, having the goods to give Clooney a run for his money. On the other hand, he's also immensely talented and increasingly successful. He's gone from being nominated for a Best Play Tony Award for both The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lonesome West to having his first foray into film, a short called Six Shooter, land him an Academy Award.

As Martha Fischer reported in March, hot off his Oscar win, Focus Features signed on to produce and distribute McDonagh's first feature effort -- In Bruges. The film follows two hitmen, who will be played by the interesting pair of lust bunny Colin Farrell and Professor Alastor 'MadEye' Moody, aka, Brendan Gleeson, who also starred in Six Shooter. After a hard job in London, the pair hide away in the town of Bruges, getting wrapped up in their own ideals, the people who surround them and a film shoot. Casting must have scoured the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's cast list as both Ralph Fiennes and Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour) join Gleeson. The only other non-alum listed is Belgian actor Jérémie Renier. James Schamus, Focus CEO, claims that the script is "both killingly funny and dramatically affecting." Somehow, I'm feeling inclined to believe him.

John Boorman (whose page at the IMDB includes the helpful information that he's sometimes credited at "himself"), who single-handedly destroyed the idea of a quiet wilderness getaway for whole generation of American men when he unleashed Deliverance upon the world in 1972, hasn't spent much cinematical time in the US since then. Instead, most of his work has been based in Ireland and the UK, locations to which he'll be returning when A Tiger's Tale begins shooting in Dublin next month.

The movie, which Boorman also wrote, sounds freaking awesome. It's about an Irishman who, after a "chance encounter," is "pursued by a murderous replica of himself." WHOA. It's like Borges wrote a movie, or something - what an incredibly cool concept (this is where you tell it's been done brilliantly six times already, and provide titles in the comments so I can go see for myself). Also encouraging is the news that the outrageously talented Brendan Gleeson is set to star. Though kids these days tend to know Gleeson only from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he's a longtime Boorman collaborator whose performance in the title role of The General is great enough to make you never want to see another movie again. There is, however, some bad news: Kim Cattrall is in it. In, like, a major role. Actually, I'm dealing with this information by pretending that I never had it. A Tiger's Tale is going to rock, dammit.

[via Dark Horizons]