Stephen Gaghan
Syriana
By JACK EGAN
DISTRIB/RELEASE DATE: Warner Bros., Nov. 23
CATEGORY: adapted, from the book "See No Evil," by Robert Baer
STORYLINE: Pic is an intricately plotted geopolitical thriller about the post-9/11 world. Petroleum potentates, oil barons, Islamic terrorists, intelligence operatives and oleaginous Washington lobbyists and legislators ruthlessly pursue power at each other's expense. Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig), the ruler of a Persian Gulf petro-kingdom, is switching allegiance from U.S. business interests to the Chinese, who have outbid a big Texas oil company for natural gas drilling rights. Veteran CIA operative Bob Barnes (George Clooney) gets a final assignment -- to assassinate the prince. The plot goes awry, cueing intrigue and upheaval.
ABOUT THE SCRIPT: Gaghan took two years to write the screenplay, notable for its ripped-from-the-headlines immediacy. With more than 100 speaking roles, the screenwriter tried to be punctilious in making every line pitch-perfect. "I wanted to be sure the characters talked just like their equivalents in the real world," says Gaghan, "so I ran the script by all kinds of insiders that helped me catch the proper phrasing." A squad of translators was hired to make sure the Arabic spoken by many actors (and taught to them, since a number are Americans) and, in the case of Clooney, Iranian Farsi, was impeccably idiomatic, and that the subtitles were equally accurate.
BREAKTHROUGH IDEA: The incubation for "Syriana" came when Gaghan did the screenplay for "Traffic" (2000), about the global narcotics business, which spawned the thought that oil was the world economy's crack cocaine. Subsequently reading the book by Baer, he came across an incident recounting how a businessman made a $300,000 contribution to President Clinton and got to have his picture taken with him, which he subsequently used to good advantage. "Suddenly it all fell into place for me," Gaghan recalls. "The influence peddling and the idea that anything in the world can be bought."
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Weeding out nonessentials. "Juggling multiple and separate stories stretching across so many parts of the world, I had to be brutal, excising anything unnecessary in order to keep the plot moving forward."
FAVORITE SCENE: Wily Washington powerbroker Dean Whiting (Christopher Plummer), scorned as a mere "cat's paw" in a meeting with Prince Nasir's devious younger brother (Akbar Kurtha), deftly goes for the jugular.
CHOICE LINES: "So, Prince, tell me what you want, are you a king?" (Plummer's retort to the younger prince)
WRITER'S BIO: Gaghan's script for "Traffic" landed him the 2001 Oscar for adapted screenplay and numerous other awards. He won an Emmy in 1997 for his writing for "NYPD Blue." "Syriana" is the second movie helmed by Gaghan, 40, a native of Louisville, Ky., after 2002's "Abandon."
Syriana
By JACK EGAN
DISTRIB/RELEASE DATE: Warner Bros., Nov. 23
CATEGORY: adapted, from the book "See No Evil," by Robert Baer
STORYLINE: Pic is an intricately plotted geopolitical thriller about the post-9/11 world. Petroleum potentates, oil barons, Islamic terrorists, intelligence operatives and oleaginous Washington lobbyists and legislators ruthlessly pursue power at each other's expense. Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig), the ruler of a Persian Gulf petro-kingdom, is switching allegiance from U.S. business interests to the Chinese, who have outbid a big Texas oil company for natural gas drilling rights. Veteran CIA operative Bob Barnes (George Clooney) gets a final assignment -- to assassinate the prince. The plot goes awry, cueing intrigue and upheaval.
ABOUT THE SCRIPT: Gaghan took two years to write the screenplay, notable for its ripped-from-the-headlines immediacy. With more than 100 speaking roles, the screenwriter tried to be punctilious in making every line pitch-perfect. "I wanted to be sure the characters talked just like their equivalents in the real world," says Gaghan, "so I ran the script by all kinds of insiders that helped me catch the proper phrasing." A squad of translators was hired to make sure the Arabic spoken by many actors (and taught to them, since a number are Americans) and, in the case of Clooney, Iranian Farsi, was impeccably idiomatic, and that the subtitles were equally accurate.
BREAKTHROUGH IDEA: The incubation for "Syriana" came when Gaghan did the screenplay for "Traffic" (2000), about the global narcotics business, which spawned the thought that oil was the world economy's crack cocaine. Subsequently reading the book by Baer, he came across an incident recounting how a businessman made a $300,000 contribution to President Clinton and got to have his picture taken with him, which he subsequently used to good advantage. "Suddenly it all fell into place for me," Gaghan recalls. "The influence peddling and the idea that anything in the world can be bought."
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Weeding out nonessentials. "Juggling multiple and separate stories stretching across so many parts of the world, I had to be brutal, excising anything unnecessary in order to keep the plot moving forward."
FAVORITE SCENE: Wily Washington powerbroker Dean Whiting (Christopher Plummer), scorned as a mere "cat's paw" in a meeting with Prince Nasir's devious younger brother (Akbar Kurtha), deftly goes for the jugular.
CHOICE LINES: "So, Prince, tell me what you want, are you a king?" (Plummer's retort to the younger prince)
WRITER'S BIO: Gaghan's script for "Traffic" landed him the 2001 Oscar for adapted screenplay and numerous other awards. He won an Emmy in 1997 for his writing for "NYPD Blue." "Syriana" is the second movie helmed by Gaghan, 40, a native of Louisville, Ky., after 2002's "Abandon."