Considering our last update on Mission: Blacklist was over a year ago, we figured the project was more or less deserted, but that’s clearly not the case. Led by Robert Pattinson, who just kicked off production Maps to the Stars, marking his reteam with Cosmopolis‘ David Cronenberg, and has The Rover likely headed to fall festivals, the film has finally found a director.
According to Deadline, Sweden’s Jesper Ganslandt, last responsible for Blondie and The Ape, will helm the film that’s scheduled to kick off production in the fall. The psychological thriller from Band of Brothers screenwriter Erik Jendresen is based on Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein—As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture, a book by military interrogator Eric Maddox and Davin Seay.
The project takes an inside look at the hunt for Saddam Hussein from the point of view of the interrogator who led his capture, Eric Maddox, to be played by Pattinson — an actor we have to give credit to for finding challenging projects in a post-Twilight career. Check out an expanded synopsis of the novel below via Amazon, as well as a ten-minute clip from Ganslandt’s The Ape and a promo poster from the film.
Everyone has seen the footage: a heavily bearded Saddam Hussein blinking under the bright lights of infantry cameras, dazed to find himself in U.S. Army custody. Yet while the breaking news was broadcast around the world, the story of the remarkable events leading up to that moment on December 13, 2003 has never before been fully told. Mission: Black List #1 offers the full, behind-the-scenes account of the search for Saddam Hussein, as related by the Army interrogator whose individual courage and sheer determination made the capture possible. In July of 2003, Staff Sergeant Eric Maddox was deployed to Baghdad alongside intelligence analysts and fellow interrogators. Their assignment was clear: gather actionable intelligence – leads that could be used to launch raids on High Value Targets within the insurgency. But, as Maddox recounts, hunting for the hidden links in the terrorist network would require bold and untested tactics, and the ability to never lose sight of the target, often hiding in plain sight. After months of chasing down leads, following hunches and interrogating literally hundreds of detainees, Sergeant Maddox uncovered crucial details about the insurgency. In his final days in Iraq he closed in on the dictator’s inner circle and, within hours of his departure from the country, pinpointed the precise location of Saddam’s Tikrit spider hole. Maddox’s candid and compelling narrative reveals the logic behind the unique interrogation process he developed, and provides an insider’s look at his psychologically subtle, non-violent methods. The result is a gripping, moment-by-moment account of the historic mission that brought down Black List #1.
Do you think this director is a good fit?