Paul Greengrass has been quiet for the last few months about his as yet untitled adaptation of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, which focuses on the Green Zone at the center of occupied Baghdad. The film began production yesterday in Spain, with Matt Damon starring as a military officer who teams with a senior CIA officer to ferret out evidence of WMDs.
Now Greengrass has added Gone Baby Gone standout Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear to the cast. According to Variety, "Ryan will play a New York Times foreign correspondent sent to Iraq to investigate the U.S. government’s WMD claims. Kinnear plays [a] CIA officer."
Ryan’s presence makes the project even more tantalizing. The simple fact of Greengrass’ involvement makes this more than just another Iraq thriller, and I’m eager to see what he and Damon bring to the screen when they’re working with something more substantial than the (admittedly excellent) Bourne films.