After United 93 comes Iraq War for Paul Greengrass

Has Paul Greengrass become the new Olivier Stone? Greengrass has announced that he is set to write and direct a film about the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, based on the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone written by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Variety report that it will be produced by the same studio's who financed his 9/11 movie United 93 and the project will be his next after production ends on his current feature The Bourne Ultimatum. More info from Coming Soon... Chandrasekaran's book, drawn from his own experiences as Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post, deals with the chaotic attempts of the Americans to set up a provisional government in the area around Saddam's palace. I've been researching the book online, and I've found a couple of more tidbits for you... Chandrasekaran details Bernard Kerik€™s ludicrous attempt to train the Iraqi police and brings to light lesser known but typical travesties: the case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad€™s stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran. Wow, some of those are shocking accounts indeed. There is something about these political stories that keeps directors like Stone and Greengrass coming back for more. I'm sure the awards they receive don't harm, but there most be something else that intrigues them. I know personally I couldn't work on something like Bloody Sunday or United 93 because it would be too emotionally draining, but Greengrass can, and the finished product is usually astonishing. Filming is expected to start before the end of the year on the currently untitled project, although Imperial Life in the Emerald City sounds like a great title to me! source - variety, coming soon, borzoi reader