The official word went out today, that Mission: Blacklist will now be directed by Jesper Ganslandt: Jesper Ganslandt has been tapped to direct Robert Pattinson in the psychological thriller Mission: Blacklist, about a brilliant young military interrogator who spearheads the capture of Saddam Hussein. Pic is based on the life of soldier-turned-intelligence agent Eric Maddox, who funneled his experiences into the 2008 nonfic bookMission: Black List #1 – The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein – As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.
The release goes on to say that filming is set to begin this fall. Read the rest atDeadline Hollywood.
Today we also got an update from screenwriter Dylan Kussman about changes being made to the script:
UPDATE: According to Lainey's Gossip (pretty accurate usually) Rob was in New York for meetings about Hold on to Me.
All good things must come to an end. After hanging out in LA for a few weeks, Rob was spotted flying out of LAX today. But where to? - when he was finishing up The Rover in Australia, Rob mentioned he had a few weeks off before starting his next project. Our big question is, could it be Mission: Blacklist???. nothing confirmed, but we'll keep you posted. Reader ProudPattz pointed out, it could be in preparation for the launch of his Dior campaign next month. Both options sound great to us!
Mission:Blacklist France got a chance to talk to screenwriter Dylan Kussman about his involvement in the film, and working with Rob. It's a great read. Check it out.
Tell us about your work for Mission: Blacklist and how you ended up being a part of this project?
"I became involved with Mission: Blacklist when head writer and Executive Producer Erik Jendresen contacted me about contributing to the project. At the time, he and his co-writer Trace Sheehan were deeply immersed in adapting Staff Sergeant Maddox's book, Mission: Black List #1, and were looking for an additional voice to help flesh out the main character and structure his remarkable story as a movie. It was an honor to be asked to collaborate with two such accomplished and well-respected writers, on a story with such an incredible pedigree, and I accepted without a moment's hesitation."
Was it complicated for you to work on this book and, particularly, on this subject?
"The most challenging part about working on the project for me personally was absorbing the vast amount of research Erik and Trace had compiled before I came on board. On top of the book itself, there were hundreds of pages of interviews they'd conducted with the Staff Sergeant, firsthand accounts of the Iraq War and of the American presence in Baghdad and Tikrit after Saddam's fall -- I had to get up to speed in a hurry. Once I'd gotten on top of the material, however, I was fortunately able to see a strong and clear contribution I could make towards rendering this soldier's mind-bending ordeal into a piece of dramatic cinema. Incredible human beings don't always make compelling onscreen protagonists, but between the work we've done as writers, Jean Stephane Sauvaire's guiding hand as director, and Robert Pattinson's commitment to playing this inspiring figure with the fearless honesty for which he's known, I don't think that will be the case here."
Did you work directly with Eric Maddox to sort out what to take or not take from the book?
"Both Erik Jendresen and Trace Sheehan worked more directly with Eric Maddox than I did, and Mr. Pattinson has spent an extended amount of time with him at this point. They will be able to speak to your question better than me." In the story, the blue shirt is very important and during a lecture in Oklahoma University, Eric Maddox said that Robert Pattinson will probably wear it, did you include it in your work?
"Eric Maddox wore the same blue oxford shirt throughout his intelligence effort to help locate Saddam Hussein, and we included that costume choice as part of Maddox's character in the screenplay. Whether Robert will be wearing the actual shirt during the shoot is a question for the director, actor, and Staff Sergeant Maddox to answer."
Did you have a word in the castings? And in the choice for the place where it will be filmed?
"No, and no"
What do you think of Robert Pattinson's choice as the lead man?
"Robert Pattinson is a phenomenal choice. We were all thrilled when he came on board. More importantly, after spending lengthy one-on-one time with Staff Sergeant Maddox, and getting Maddox's personal blessing to portray him in the movie ... he is the only choice."
What can you tell us (that nobody knows yet) about the movie or the project?
"All I can say is, you've never seen a story like this one, or experienced an intelligence, military or otherwise, like you will Staff Sergeant Maddox's in this film. His is truly a remarkable mind; I remain as much in awe of it now as I was after I first read the book, and I remain very proud to have been a small part of the process of bringing the man and his story to the screen"
The Oklahoma Daily shared some of the details of Eric Maddox's visit to the University of Oklahoma earlier this week. His speech included several Rob mentions, and he also talked about the shirt he may get to wear when he films Mission: Blacklist. “Somebody wants to make a movie about my story - it’s very exciting,” Maddox said.
Maddox said he has already met and gotten to know Pattinson.
“He’s a great guy,” Maddox said. “When they brought his name up to me, I had never heard of him before. I don’t believe in vampire movies and stories. I just didn’t know who he was.”
Maddox said he wore a single blue shirt for months in his search for Hussein, with no other changes of clothes. The shirt has a bigmouth bass embossed on it, Velcro pockets and bloodstains.
“I’ve still got it [the shirt.] I think Rob is gonna wear it in the movie”.
Read the rest. Filming is reportedly set to begin next month, but no exact date has been confirmed. Keep you posted.
We still don't know exactly when Mission: Blacklist will begin production, but thanks to the book's author we have something to smile about today. He shared this picture with Rob (posted back in November) on his Facebook page. Rob will play Maddox's character in the film adaptation of his book based on real events. Embankment Films will be pitching the film to potential buyers at Asia's Filmart in Hong Kong this month.
click to enlarge
And if you're lucky enough to live in Oklahoma, you can meet Eric Maddox at an event coming up on March 27. Read all about it!
When Rob was confirmed for Mission: Blacklist last year, one of the first things that struck us as odd, was when he mentioned Iraq as a possible filming location (end of the clip).
Yes, the story is about the fall of Saddam Hussein, and filming there would have been a great asset, but the country is a very dangerous place for Westerners, let alone a movie star. So we kind of figured that was not going to happen. Sure enough, Embankment Films just shared an update on their production plans, and they don't include filming in Iraq (via). No word on what location they will use as a replacement, but that's the beauty of movie magic. According to their site, filming will get going in April, with a possible release in the Summer of 2014. As for how the news affects the Map to the Stars production supposedly set for May in L.A., we'll just have to wait and see.
You worked with Robert Pattinson? How was it to work with the star?
It seems at the same time that Rob Pattinson ... I was interested in Robert because the same, I think he has in real life, he has a great personality and that's why he's so famous today. That's why everybody likes him like this because he's so unique and I'm really interested working with this guy because... and I saw Cosmopolis for example, his last film, and I think he did a great performance, you know, he's amazing in the film, he's totally different as in real life, at the same time you believed his character. I mean he's amazing and the character he has to do in my film, in 'Mission Blacklist', it's a tough character, I mean it's not at all what we can imagine from Rob Pattinson, or what we know about this guy so it's gonna be really interesting I'm sure he's gonna be great because he's really intense and he has this ... I know that he is a great actor inside, I'm really excited in working with him on this film and we're gonna do the same, you know living in Iraq, doing some rehearsals and as it's based on a true story we're gonna work with Eric Maddox, who's the real person on which is based the story so it's gonna be interesting to mix work with as well Iraqi non (or known?) professional actors because the film is in Iraq, it () during the war, I want to, the same, you know, in being between fiction and documentary. So you go on the lines, on the borderlines? You have no problem to go borderlines? You know to do, to shoot a movie in Iraq?
I think to do a good movie, to do a movie you need to take risks, if you know before anything, if you calculate everything ... we don't know how to do good movies so I think it's important to take risks, and try to find different ways of making films actually, not doing all the same, that's maybe a punk attitude as well but not doing as everybody's doing, same number of days of shooting, same coût?(cost in french), same kind of set, of (???). No, we have to try to change, it can be like doing a film with three people, something with like a 100 people in a coût?, whatever, I mean trying to imagine some different stuff, even different way of walking with the actors and different way of shooting the film, that's what really interest me. That's why I walked so long as an A.D (Assistant Director), as well as trying to (???). That's a French film but we can, it's not the same script so we have to find a way of doing the film differently, as any film, you know. Even on the way you shoot the film so going in Iraq for me it's really important because it's gonna be like so different shooting there as shooting in LA in a studio for example for the actors, I mean being there and understand how it was and meeting the Iraqis who are like unique and intense and great people and understand this culture and everything, I think it's part of the process.
It's alright to know some different worlds and different countries and meeting different people, for example on this film with Pattinson, you know I spent like 5 weeks in Iraq, living in Saddam Hussein palaces and when I was there I say 'wow'. I mean that's why I really love making movies, you know. How could I have been sleeping in Saddam Hussein's palace if I was not director, if I wasn't working on this film. I would have never been maybe to Iraq and it was great to be there and to understand the Iraqis and to meet the Iraqis.
A Mission: Blacklist fan site got to ask Rob a question while he promoted Cosmopolis in Berlin. They uploaded his answer on YouTube (audio only). They also posted some great pictures. Thanks for sharing!
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