George Clooney is opting for transparency when it comes to “Syriana,” opening Friday.
“It’s complicated, confusing even. And it’s political,” Clooney says. “I’m not trying to sidestep that. I’m pleased about it.”
Clooney, who plays a veteran–burned-out, worn-down, distrustful–CIA agent frustrated at the way the agency has become politicized, also is the film’s producer, along with Steven Soderbergh.
“Syriana” was inspired in part by a book by former intelligence agent Robert Baer, a Mideast specialist who is the basis for Clooney’s character, Bob Barnes. Director and writer Stephen Gaghan, however, says the movie is “pure imagination–based on fact.”
Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer of “Traffic,” went on something of an 18-month magical mystery tour–“more like Alice’s trip to Wonderland,” he says–to research “Syriana,” which tells the story of oil-industry corruption.
“It all grew out of what I read and experienced,” Gaghan says. “When I met Bob, he would tell me these stories about the interconnections, how business gets done, and I figured about half of them were true and the other half were embellished. … One day, he says, ‘Look, I’m going to this party in France. You might find it interesting. You want to tag along?’
“The next thing I know, I’m on a yacht somewhere in a sort of United Nations of political and military and business connections where everybody knows everybody. I had to explain that I was a screenwriter, not a journalist, which reassured the people I spoke with somewhat.”
Clooney and Soderbergh had been impressed with Gaghan’s script for “Traffic.” Clooney says he was not terribly concerned that Gaghan wouldn’t be up to the complicated narrative turns of “Syriana.”
“I know you probably don’t remember this, but I’ve been involved with some pretty bad movies too,” says Clooney, who once boasted of being the guy who “single-handedly killed the ‘Batman’ franchise.”
“But most things you get involved with look pretty interesting when you take them on, and you go ahead even if the script isn’t all there. With this, Steve had done so much homework, there was no doubt we had a movie. We may have had too much movie.”
Clooney knows, of course, that “Syriana” will be as much reviewed on editorial pages and talk radio as it is in entertainment sections. Instead of Leno and Letterman, he says, he’s doing sit-downs with Charlie Rose and with Cynthia McFadden on the new “Nightline.”
“I know they’re gonna come at me,” he says. “That’s why, even though this is a work of fiction, we tried to be as true as possible to the way things work. … This isn’t any attack on the Bush administration. It’s an attempt to unravel the way things work.
“If this opens some eyes and starts some debate, we’ve done our job. I mean, it’s a movie, it’s a thriller, it’s family drama, it has international intrigue, but it has purpose. That’s the kind of movies I want to make.”
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Making your way through the movie
The political thriller “Syriana” intertwines four complicated stories. Maybe this primer will help audience members follow along:
– Disillusioned CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney), put out to pasture after an assignment gone wrong and ready for retirement, is recruited to do a job that, should it go wrong, will put an end to his career anyway.
– An oil analyst (Matt Damon) becomes close to Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig), who wants to democratize his oil-rich emirate should he be named his father’s successor.
– The sole African-American (Jeffrey Wright) at a powerful Washington, D.C., law firm is assigned to run the due diligence required by the FTC in a merger between two oil companies whose bosses–a genteel power broker played by Christopher Plummer and a boot straps corner-cutter played by Chris Cooper–have very different temperaments and world views.
– Back in the emirate, two Pakistanis unable to get work or keep work permits are radicalized by a local cleric.
“Syriana” (R)
Who’s in it: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Mazhar Munir, Alexander Siddig, Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet
What it’s about: A political thriller that tries to untangle an intricate web of Middle East oil deals, deceit, terrorist activity and death that ensnare, among others, a CIA agent, a Washington lawyer, a financial analyst and an idealistic Arab prince.
Worth watching? **
” ‘Syriana’ is like a position paper, and scenes that should pull us in–a moment when Clooney realizes Big Brother is always watching him, an ought-to-be-suspenseful chase at the climax–fall flat. The result is an honorable failure.”
[ CHRIS HEWITT, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS ]
