Monday, May 2, 2011

A Reel Opinion: The Inevitable Bin Laden Movie

The death of (goddamn) Osama Bin Laden already has writers and directors clambering for details. The apparent high-risk drama that unfolded in the operation to capture or kill the world’s most wanted asshole is a story that begs to be told; a story that took 10 years to come together.

Clearly, such a film is many years away. But it’s fun to speculate. The most important question is who should direct it? A few names come to mind right away:

KATHRYN BIGELOW: Bigelow already has an Oscar for a war-movie set in the middle east, and she was also into development of a film about a failed-attempt to assassinate Bin Laden. Chances are she will get the first shot (no pun intended).

RIDLEY SCOTT: The director of the Oscar-winning BLACK HAWK DOWN. What more can be said? Scott would be the choice if the film focused just on the two-day mission.

STEVEN SPIELBERG: His SAVING PRIVATE RYAN has proven that he can put together a palms-up military-mission film while keeping some heart. His eye for history would make him the perfect choice if the film focused on the ten-year ordeal the country went through.

PAUL GREENGRASS: He can do action (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY), and he was also the first director with enough nerve to make the first post-9/11 film (UNITED 93). The high-tension atmosphere he creates makes him a perfect fit.

MICHAEL BAY: Go ahead and laugh, but no other director has spent more time, or received more cooperation with the U.S. military in the last ten years, and he often films scenes that look like they fell out of a Normal Rockwell painting.

A few names come to mind to NOT direct the film:

QUENTIN TARANTINO: It would be a two-and-a-half hour film featuring people sitting around a diner talking about killing Bin Laden.

CLINT EASTWOOD: At the end of the film, we would feel like nothing happened.

TIM BURTON: Only because we don’t want to see Johnny Depp playing Bin Laden.

What say you?

1 comment:

  1. Ok, the Time Burton crack is freakin' hilarious. And true.

    ReplyDelete

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