![]() ![]() Around his star Hood has assembled a comprehensively fine cast, with a particularly lovely turn by Ralph Fiennes as the lawyer determined to defend Gun against the odds. He’s on strong form here, with a film that’s gripping, righteous, relevant, moving – in short, a very, very good yarn that just happens to be true.Īt the heart of it is Knightley, impressively commanding as a woman who is principled and defiant, but also deeply vulnerable as the government cranks up its intimidation. Gavin Hood is an intriguing director, alternating between mainstream fare ( X-Men Wolverine, kids’ sci-fi Ender’s Game) and issues-based dramas charting government malfeasance, such as rendition ( Rendition) and the use of drone strikes ( Eye in the Sky). Hereon, the action switches urgently between the paper’s investigation of the memo’s authenticity and Katharine’s personal hell as the leak is revealed, which includes the threat of deportation for her Muslim husband Yasar (Adam Bakri). ![]() Once Smith appears on screen – quickly followed by the equally energetic (nay combustible) Rhys Ifans as fellow journalist Ed Vuillamy – there’s a sonic boom. Until now the film has been operating on something of a whisper. Katharine secretly copies the memo and smuggles it out of GCHQ to a friend who is an anti-war activist, through whom it reaches Observer journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith, pictured above right with Matthew Goode). In the UK the very idea of the war is historically unpopular with the public – and here’s evidence of its illegality. One day she and her colleagues receive a classified email from America’s National Security Agency, requesting that the Brits spy on delegates from the UN’s security council, with a view to blackmailing them to vote for the resolution in favour of war, whose chief proponents are President Bush and Tony Blair. Katharine is working as a Mandarin translator at the intelligence agency GCHQ, in Cheltenham. The film opens with Gun about to face trial for breaching the Official Secrets Act – Knightley’s face expressing the sheer terror of someone in that position – before winding back a year to explain how she got there. And the power of the film resides in the fact that the idealistic, courageous Katharine Gun would not. The current occupant of No 10 isn’t the first to be economical with the truth the real shock is that we keep on putting up with it. Official Secrets tells the true story of Katharine Gun (Knightley), a British whistleblower, who, at just 29 years old, leaked a controversial memo about an illegal NSA-sponsored operation. ![]() There’s simply no escaping the resonance. “Just because you’re the Prime Minister doesn’t mean you get to make up your own facts.” The film is slated to begin principal photography in May 2016 in the UK.Of mass destruction. UTA Independent Film Group packaged the project and represents domestic rights. With Lize Johnston, Kevin Keppy, Rupert Grint, Ben Barnes. The Solution Entertainment Group’s Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel are executive producing the feature film and are handling the financing and international sales at the upcoming European Film Market. Guillermo del Toros Cabinet of Curiosities: Created by Guillermo del Toro. Freeman will be playing Peter Edwards, the foreign affairs editor at The Observer, while Hopkins is playing a retired UK general and Ford a CIA agent. In an attempt to gain the evidence to free Katharine, Martin unearths the shocking plot which puts both Katharine and Martin’s lives in great jeopardy. Katharine’s arrest following the leak makes headlines around the world. In the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Katharine Gun (Dormer), a young British intelligence officer, reveals a secret illegal NSA spy operation against the UN Security Council designed to ensure passage of a resolution for war to Martin Bright (Bettany), a reporter at the British newspaper, The London Observer. ![]()
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