Movie News

Damon goes to Iraq

Fri 25 May 6:20 PM

Matt Damon has signed up to a film about American involvement in Iraq.

The actor will once again be working with Paul Greengrass, who directed him in Bourne Supremacy, for the adaptation of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's non-fiction book Imperial Life In The Emerald City.

The film will be about American wrong-doings in the Middle-Eastern country. It centres on how the American authorities put together a provisional Iraqi government of people based more on their loyalty to US President George W. Bush, than their suitability for the job.

Speaking about the political situation that inspired the book and film, at the Cannes Film Festival, Damon said: "It was a disaster. They hired people who couldn't speak Arabic. They hired people to run the accounting system who couldn't add two and two, and people with no expertise in post-conflict reconstruction. It was a farce, and I think the film's approach will be to look at it like a tragic black comedy of incompetence."

The Ocean's 31 star added that filming will begin in February 2008, explaining: "Paul's still working on The Bourne Ultimatum and the script for Emerald City isn't complete."