FIRST LOOK

First Look: Matt Damon as CIA Agent Roy Miller in Green Zone

by Alex Billington
July 2, 2008
Source: Empire

I'm admittedly a big fan of Matt Damon - he always does a fantastic job in every movie. We already showed you a few photos previously of Damon in Paul Greengrass' thriller Green Zone, but they weren't too exciting. Now courtesy of Empire, we've got the first official photo and Damon looks different enough to warrant a mention. As a reminder, the film, being directed by The Bourne Ultimatum's Paul Greengrass, is a thriller about a pair of CIA agents on the trailer of certain Weapons of Mass Destruction and a foreign correspondent following their mission. Although most people are getting tired of Middle East and Iraq War films, I think Green Zone will be a refreshingly entertaining journey into that part of the world.

Greg Kinnear stars as the other CIA agent and is accompanied by Amy Ryan. Additionally, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, and Yigal Naor also star. Check out the latest issue of Empire for more details on Green Zone.

For those unaware, the Green Zone is the nickname of a 4 square mile area in central Baghdad that is the international presence in the city. The contrasting Red Zone refers to parts of Baghdad immediately outside the perimeter, but is also loosely applied to all unsecured areas outside the off-site military posts. Damon explains why he thinks Green Zone will be different than the other politically fueled Middle Eastern set films. "[We're] not trying to make a statement... Particularly with a movie that costs $80 or $90 million. Hopefully this will feel like an accurate portrayal of what things were like for these guys. You can't do a polemic – you should be blogging if that's what you want to do."

Green Zone is directed by Paul Greengass of Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum as well as Bloody Sunday and United 93. The script was written by Brian Helgeland, of L.A. Confidential, Conspiracy Theory, Mystic River, and Man on Fire previously. The film is rather loosely based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran's non-fiction book The Imperial Life in Emerald City. Universal Pictures is releasing Green Zone sometime in 2009, but hasn't set an official release date yet.

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Related categories: First Look, Hype