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Syriana
''Syriana'' is a 2005 American political thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, loosely based on Robert Baer's 2003 memoir '' See No Evil''. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, and Mazhar Munir. ''Syriana'' was shot in 200 locations in five continents, with large parts shot in the Middle East, Washington, D.C., and Africa. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Gaghan described incidents (including planned regime changes in Venezuela) from personal meetings and interviews with the most powerful oil owners, owners of media houses, lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians which were included in the film. As with Gaghan's screenplay for ''Traffic'', ''Syriana'' uses multiple, parallel storylines, jumping between locations in Iran, Texas, Washington, D.C., Switzerland, Spain, and Lebanon. Clooney's performance was cri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Participant Media
Participant Media, LLC is an American Film industry, film production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as digital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016. The company was originally named Participant Productions and went on to become a well-known independent financier. The company's name descriptively politicizes its basis on currently topical subjects presented to induce awareness of problematic social aspects.Solomon, Lewis (2008). "Participant Productions"''Tech Billionaires: Reshaping Philanthropy in a Quest for a Better World'' New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2008. p. 76-81. .Pinsker, Beth (September 7, 2004). "Millionaire Report Cards". ''Variety (magazine), Variety''.Graser, Marc (September 22, 2004). "eBay Guru in Bidness on WB Pix". ''Variety (magazine), Variety''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards, one for his acting and the other as a producer. In 2018, he was the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, and in 2022, he was felicitated at the Kennedy Center Honors for a "lifetime of contributions to American culture." Clooney started his career in television, gaining wide recognition in his role as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama '' ER'' from 1994 to 1999, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He expanded to leading roles in films, with his breakthrough role in ''From Dusk till Dawn'' (1996). This led to starring roles in the superhero film '' Batman & Robin'' (1997), Steven Soderbergh's '' Out of Sight'' (1998), David O. Russell's ''Three Kings'', and the Coen brothers' '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000). Greater star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North American box office, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Damon began his acting career in the film ''Mystic Pizza'' (1988). He continued acting in ''Courage Under Fire'' (1996) and '' The Rainmaker'' (1997). He gained prominence in 1997 when he and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in '' Good Will Hunting'', which won them the Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Screenplay. He established himself as a leading man by starring as Tom Ripley in '' The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999), Jason Bourne in the ''Bourne'' franchise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Elswit
Robert Christopher Elswit, (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson on six of his films and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for ''There Will Be Blood''. Elswit has also collaborated with directors and screenwriters Tony and Dan Gilroy on all of the six films that either brother directed. Biography Elswit was born in Los Angeles. An early short film he worked on was the 1982 television adaptation for Ray Bradbury's short story ''All Summer in a Day''. Elswit worked as a visual effects camera operator at John Dykstra's Apogee Productions Inc. on each films, including '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', before shooting made-for-television films and shows. Elswit has been a fierce defender of shooting on film, and whenever possible avoids using digital cameras. Images shot digitally, he said, have "no texture, no grain." He started shooting digital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Siddig
Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi (born 21 November 1965) is a Sudanese-born English actor and director known professionally as Siddig El Fadil and subsequently as Alexander Siddig. Siddig is best known for his roles as Dr. Julian Bashir in the television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad in the sixth season of the series '' 24'', Doran Martell in ''Game of Thrones'', and Ra's al Ghul in '' Gotham''. He also starred in the films '' Syriana'' (2005), ''Hannibal'' (2006), ''A Lost Man'' (2007), ''Cairo Time'' (2009) and '' Inescapable'' (2012). Early life Siddig was born in Omdurman, Sudan. His father, Tahir El Mahdi, was Sudanese; his mother, Gloria (née Taylor; d. 2001) was English. She was the older sister of actor Malcolm McDowell. Siddig's parents met in the 1960s when his mother travelled to Sudan with a friend who introduced her to Siddig's father. Siddig's father was a student ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Baer
Robert Booker Baer (born July 11, 1952) is an American author and a former CIA case officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East.Robert Bae"Don't Assume Ahmadinejad Really Lost" ''Time'' website, June 16, 2009 He is ''Time'''s intelligence columnist and has contributed to ''Vanity Fair'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''The Washington Post''. Baer speaks eight languages, won the CIA Career Intelligence Medal and is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, espionage, and U.S. foreign policy. He hosted the History reality television series ''Hunting Hitler''. He is an Intelligence and Security Analyst for CNN. His book ''See No Evil'' was adapted by the director Stephen Gaghan and used as the basis for the film ''Syriana'', with George Clooney playing Baer's character. Early life Baer was born in Los Angeles. At the age of 9, his parents divorced and he moved to Aspen, Colorado where he aspired to become a professional ski ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeffrey Wright
Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Belize in the Broadway production of ''Angels in America'', for which he would win a Tony Award, and its HBO miniseries adaptation, for which he would win an Emmy and Golden Globe. He has also starred as Jean-Michel Basquiat in '' Basquiat;'' Felix Leiter in the ''James Bond'' films '' Casino Royale'', ''Quantum of Solace'' and ''No Time to Die;'' Valentin Narcisse in the HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire;'' Beetee Latier in ''The Hunger Games'' films; Isaac Dixon in the video game ''The Last Of Us Part II;'' and the Watcher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) animated series '' What If...?'' Since 2016, he has starred as Bernard Lowe in the HBO series ''Westworld''. He portrayed James Gordon in the superhero film '' The Batman'' (2022) by Matt Reeves. Early life Wright was born on December 7, 1965 in Washington, D.C., the son of Barbara Evon (Whiting), a customs lawyer, and James C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mazhar Munir
Mazhar Munir is a television and film actor. Before co-starring in the 2005 movie ''Syriana'', he appeared in three British television shows: ''The Bill'', ''Mile High'', and '' Doctors''. Life and career Munir was born in London to Azad Kashmiri immigrant parents, a carpenter and a seamstress. He began his career by attending weekly drama workshops at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. He was then contacted by Hampstead Theatre in London, who offered them a stage role in ''Local Boy''. After that, Munir appeared in several TV series before making his film debut in ''Syriana''. Munir was well received in ''Syriana'', where he played Wasim Khan, an unemployed Pakistani immigrant living in the Middle East; the ''New York Times'' praised his "delicate, watchful sensitivity". Munir also earned his marketing degree from Middlesex Business School. He speaks several languages including Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. Filmography External links * Mazhar Muniron Moviefone Moviefon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Section Eight Productions
Section Eight Productions, or just Section Eight, was an American film production company founded in 2000 by film director Steven Soderbergh and actor/director George Clooney. It produced the critical hits '' Far from Heaven'', ''Insomnia'', '' Syriana'', '' A Scanner Darkly'' and ''Michael Clayton'', as well as Clooney-directed films '' Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'' and '' Good Night, and Good Luck''. In 2005, ''Syriana'' and ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' picked up eight Oscars nominations between them. With Soderbergh citing a desire to focus on directing, and Clooney forming production company Smokehouse Pictures with Grant Heslov Grant Heslov (born May 15, 1963) is an American actor and filmmaker known for his producing and writing collaborations with George Clooney, which have earned him four Oscar nominations. As a co-producer of ''Argo'' (2012), he received the Academ ..., the two decided to shut down Section Eight at the end of 2006. Films Notes and referenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and '' The Shape of Water'', and has received nine additional Academy Award nominations, ten César nominations (winning three), eleven BAFTA nominations (winning three), twelve Golden Globe Award nominations (winning two) and ten Grammy nominations (winning two). Desplat has composed scores for a wide range of films, including low-budget independent productions and large-scale blockbusters, such as '' The Queen'', '' The Golden Compass'', ''Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'', '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', '' The Twilight Saga: New Moon'', '' Fantastic Mr. Fox'', '' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1'' '' & Part 2'', ''Little Women'', ''The King's Speech'', ''The Danish Girl'', '' The Imitation Game'', ''Moonrise Kingdom'', ''Argo'', '' Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan (; born May 6, 1965) is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film '' Traffic'', based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as '' Syriana'' which he wrote and directed. He also wrote and directed the thriller '' Abandon'' and the family film '' Dolittle'', and directed the drama '' Gold''. Childhood and education Gaghan was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of the former Elizabeth Jane Whorton and her first husband, Stephen Gaghan (d. 1980), and a stepson of Tom Haag. Gaghan attended Kentucky Country Day School, a college preparatory school in Louisville. He was an All-State soccer player where he held the assist record at the school for nearly three decades. He is a grandson of Jerry Gaghan, a newspaper columnist and drama critic for '' Variety'' and the '' Philadelphia Daily News''. Gaghan wrote in a 2001 article in '' Newsweek'', "I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in '' Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in '' The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) brought her wider recognition, and she has since appeared in a variety of films, such as ''Saving Silverman'' (2001), '' High Crimes''; '' Changing Lanes''; ''Igby Goes Down'' (all 2002), '' Something's Gotta Give'' (2003), ''Identity'' (2003), '' Melinda and Melinda'' (2004), '' A Lot Like Love'' (2005), ''Syriana'' (2005), ''Battle for Terra'' (2007), ''Martian Child'' (2008), '' The X-Files: I Want to Believe'' (2008), '' Please Give'' (2010), ''Gulliver's Travels'' (2010), '' The Way, Way Back'' (2013), '' Identity Thief'' (2013), and '' Trust Me'' (2013). On television, Peet starred as Jacqueline Barrett on The WB's ''Jack & Jill'' (1999–2001), as Tina Morris on HBO's '' Togetherness'' (2015–2016), as Jules on IFC's '' Brockmire'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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