Harrison Ford has signed up for a movie based on the taking of Fallujah based on an upcoming book No True Glory, strangely entitled No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah. Clever chaps.
The story is being carried by lot’s of sites, but The Guardian covers the topic with the following quote about the story and Fords character:
Harrison Ford is to star in what will be Hollywood’s first feature about the current Iraq war.
Producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have bought the option for No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah, a non-fiction written by Slate reporter Bing West.
The book is due to be published in May and tells the story of an assault on Iraqi insurgents in Falluja, from the perspective of US marines.Variety reports that Ford is already attached to play General Jim Mattis, in charge of the attack.
Okay, so there are comparisons being made to the other Iraq War film Three Kings, although to me that film could have been in any troubled country. This film is specifically set to tackle some of the harsher parts of the War in Iraq and the decisions made by high ranking officials showing how these actually affected the men on the ground. Actually, I should say let’s hope so, as we are all well aware, scripts change by the nanosecond, and may never actually appear to be what they first were.
The BBC provide some interesting comment:
According to Variety, the film will use “the Fallujah assault as a way to explore the dangerous intersection of war and politics, depicting the drama from the viewpoints of soldiers, military leaders and politicians” (er, what about the Iraqis?).
Interestingly the film will tell the story of the two attacks ordered by the military. The first was, in a strange echoing of past Iraq attacks, halted. A second attack was ordered some time later to complete the job. Coming Soon:
After four Americans were mutilated and hanged in Fallujah, the White House ordered an assault on the insurgent stronghold to be led by Gen. Jim Mattis (to be played by Ford). Marine forces devastated the opposition and were 48 hours away from taking control of Fallujah when the White House abruptly ordered them to stop. The Marines lost 28 soldiers the first time around and added another 50 fatalities after the White House ordered them to go back and finish the job six months later.
The book’s writer will also deal with the Screenplay duties:
Bing West, an ex-Marine and former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs who is now a foreign correspondent covering the Iraq war. West will write the script with son Owen, a longtime Marine rifleman who left the service to become a trader at Goldman Sachs but returned to fight in Iraq for a year.
To me this project could really give a true view of the street fighting war and of events of these attacks as well as the general life of a soldier in Iraq. It is a shame it might miss out the civilians view, but let’s be honest, in a movie it’s difficult to show both these viewpoints when they can be so opposed. Perhaps what we are more likely to see is another movie showing the civilians side, and I do say that we should definitely see that kind of movie.
However, that aside, this could make for a really good movie. The strange thing that hits me right away is how close this is to the actual events. It looks like it will have to contend with some outrage (perhaps they’ll just buckle as in His Dark Materials). It will also have to contend with Jarhead, although different periods of the Iraq War, they still cover similar ground.
