Beirut
Short description
In 1970s Beirut, American diplomat Mason Skiles's life is shattered when a violent attack at his home kills his wife and the teenage boy they had taken into their care. A decade later, Skiles has left Lebanon behind and works as a broker in the United States, his past buried under heavy drinking. When the CIA approaches him, he is sent back to a Beirut torn apart by civil war for a dangerous mission: negotiating the release of a captured American agent held by the very group tied to the death of his family. An undercover CIA officer based at the embassy is assigned to keep him alive and make sure the operation succeeds, while Skiles struggles to work out who he can trust.
Brad Anderson directed the film, the eighth in the chronological list of his features, from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy, who also produced alongside Monica Levinson and Ted Field. Jon Hamm plays Skiles, with Rosamund Pike as Sandy Crowder, Shea Whigham, Dean Norris, Mark Pellegrino and Douglas Hodge among a credited cast of thirty-five. The film runs 109 minutes and was released in April 2018. It took about 8 million dollars worldwide against a production mounted by Radar Pictures, Good Universe, ShivHans Pictures and Bleecker Street. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.3 out of 10 from 627 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film depicts Beirut during its heyday in the 1970s, as well as the city a decade later, devastated by civil war.
- In accordance with the film's dark themes, which included corruption and betrayal, director Brad Anderson and cinematographer Björn Charpentier shot many scenes using a dark color palette.
- To pay homage to that time period, cinematographer Björn Charpentier used lenses from the 1970s and 1980s on the cameras.
- According to producer Monica Levinson, filming took only 33 days.
- With the exception of one day of filming in Rhode Island, the entire movie was filmed in Tangier, Morocco. Production took place in the summer of 2016.
- Morocco is a predominantly Muslim country, and the filming of the movie coincided with the celebration of Ramadan, during which all faithful Muslims must fast from dawn until sunset. Given the heat, this created certain difficulties for the actors hired from the local population and, consequently, for the entire film crew.
- Preparing for the role of Sandy, actress Rosamund Pike read a book by a British journalist about the Lebanese Civil War and spent time researching how women were treated at the CIA 35 years ago.
- At one point, Dolores looks out the window in Naya's apartment, and in the next instant, the window is shown shattered, and it appears that a bullet grazed Dolores's arm. The preceding scene was cut during editing, but it was included in the Blu-ray release: Skeletor is hiding in a closet in Naya's apartment; he jumps out and lunges at her, followed by a struggle with Isaiah, and finally, Skeletor is thrown through the window.
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