Body of Lies
Short description
Body of Lies follows Roger Ferris, a CIA officer working in the field across the Middle East. He is hunting the man behind a series of terrorist bombings, moving between countries as the situation shifts around him. Back in the United States, the veteran CIA operative Ed Hoffman directs the operation from a distance, watching Ferris through satellite surveillance and a secure phone line. Ferris has to work with Jordanian intelligence as well, and as he gets closer to his target he finds that knowing whom to trust is as risky as it is necessary. The screenplay by William Monahan adapts the novel by David Ignatius.
Ridley Scott directed the film, which came after American Gangster and before Robin Hood in his filmography; it is the twentieth of the thirty-four features he has directed. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ferris, with Russell Crowe as Hoffman, and Golshifteh Farahani, Mark Strong, Ali Suliman and Oscar Isaac among the cast. Made for about 70 million dollars, it took roughly 116 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 250,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.6 from a few thousand votes. A critics' rating of 6.1 from 210 reviews places it below the IMDb audience figure and close to the TMDB score.
What's left behind the scenes
- Carice van Houten played Leonardo DiCaprio's character's wife. However, her role was cut from the film.
- The film was shot in the United States, and during the filming of scenes that were supposed to take place in Manchester, distinctly American elements of the surroundings (such as fire hydrant covers) were covered with bottomless trash cans filled with fake 'British' litter. Neither the actors nor the crew knew about this and freely used the trash cans, throwing in numerous plastic water bottles and other garbage, so breaks were needed between takes to clear away all this 'American' trash.
- The film takes place in the United Kingdom, Iraq, a US military base in Qatar, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Austria, and Syria. Filming only took place in Morocco and the United States.
- Russell Crowe gained over 22 kilograms for his role in the film.
- Leonardo DiCaprio wore brown contact lenses and dyed his hair black for filming.
- The actors playing police officers wore everything due to them according to their rank and position, including a tie, uniform belt, insignia of the relevant unit, and a bulletproof vest, although all of this was hidden under yellow raincoats prescribed for the police. Furthermore, they were often filmed with their backs to the camera and from a distance of several hundred meters.
- The scene in Amsterdam was filmed at a market in Washington. This happened on a hot September day, although the plot called for a cool autumn day, so the actors were dressed accordingly (and therefore suffered from the heat). The car explosions were staged practically on set and were real, not added to the footage later with special effects.
- According to the plot, one of the cars is thrown a certain distance by the force of the blast. During filming, they did not rely solely on the blast wave, but used a special device.
- After filming in this movie, the Iranian authorities banned actress Golshifteh Farahani from leaving the country for six months.
- When Roger Ferris arrives at the hospital with his new partner, it is evening on the street, but when the nurse gives an injection, it is light outside.
- When Ferris arrives at Garland's, and the latter offers him coffee – Ferris is holding one mug, but when they enter the workspace a moment later, he is holding a different mug, both in shape and color.
- Filming took place from September 5th to December 2007.
- The film is based on David Ignatius' novel "Body of Lies" (2007).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
