Body of Lies (incidentally the original title for The Crying Game) is the latest movie from the tireless directing muscles and mind of Ridley Scott. The movie boasts the power keg pairing of Scott regular Russell Crowe and the recently Departed (wink) Leonardo DiCaprio.
Publishers Weekly describes the novel on which the movie is based as the “story of idealistic CIA agent Roger Ferris, newly stationed in Jordan after being wounded in Iraq. After a failed initiative to flush out a terrorist mastermind known as Suleiman, Ferris, who’s dedicated to forestalling further al-Qaeda attacks, develops an intricate scheme modeled after a British plan used successfully against the Nazis. Ferris’s plot to turn the terrorists against each other by sowing seeds of suspicion that their leaders are collaborating with the Americans puts his personal life in turmoil and threatens his professional relationship with the head of Jordanian intelligence.”
DiCaprio plays the wounded Farris. And Crowe, in full on Jeffery Wigand-mode (meaning he’s wearing glasses), plays the head of Jordan’s covert ops that keeps f’n with Farris’s complicated plans. The international trailer, which you can view by clicking here (thanks, ComingSoon.net), makes it look a little Spy vs. Spy-esque. There are other people in the movie (Zwartboek cutie Carice van Houten, for one), but you really wouldn’t know it with all that Cap & Crowe flying around. It’s (maybe not that) interesting to note that DiCaprio’s hopefully-it’ll-add-age facial hair reprises its place on his face from his last few roles.
The movie was written by scripting heavyweight William Monahan, who penned both Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed. It’s a rather incestuous business, no? Look for the movie to hoodwink its way into theaters this October.