|
| ©first look pictures |
Actor John Cusack's political satire against the US-led war in Iraq - War, Inc - which was filmed in Bulgaria, premiered earlier this week at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Cusack was involved in writing the screenplay and stars as the hitman hired to kill a Middle Eastern oil minister who plans to lay an oil pipeline through fictional Turaqistan, a country occupied by a private US company called Tamerlane and run by a former American vice-president.
Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei and Hilary Duff also appear in the film, which Cusack says is meant to offend.
"I think the movie should be kind of offensive. I'm shocked at how much good reaction we're getting," he told Reuters.
"Sometimes with a serious, somber movie, even though they're great and well intentioned, it just doesn't allow you to be outraged because you just get depressed," he said. "This allows you to actually feel like, 'Let's do something subversive.'"
In Bulgaria, the film was shot in Trimontium Hotel in the city of Plovdiv, which changed its name to Freedom Grand Hotel for the movie, and on the sets of Nu Image in Boyana, near Sofia, starting October 2006.
The movie is being marketed through myspace.com and will be released in New York and Los Angeles cinemas on May 23. Distribution could expand to other areas if those shows sell out, Cusack said on the movie's official site.
No spoilers, but I have to share that I'm impressed. This movie is written for a wide audience, considering its subject matter, and deftly remains hard-hitting without pushing its message. There are a couple of easter eggs in the script for those who have been paying attention to things. I have a new respect for John Cusack. I expected something about half as good and will definitely be taking people to see it.