As a film and television news journalist, I have the benefit of reporting from the comfort of my very own home office. It's a rather cushy gig, and nothing like what Marie Catherine Colvin, a journalist for the British newspaper The Sunday Times, endured during her storied career as a war correspondent. Some professionals will literally put their life on the line while searching for the truth, even when that line is in enemy territory, drawn straight through a hail of gunfire.
In A PRIVATE WAR, one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time, Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless.
Here's the official log line for the upcoming film:
In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London's elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she's witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her — along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) — to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs. Based on the extraordinary life of Marie Colvin, A PRIVATE WAR is brought to the screen by Academy Award nominee and critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman in his pulse-pounding narrative feature debut.
Directed by Matthew Heineman (CITY OF GHOSTS, OUR TIME, CARTEL LAND), this biographical war drama stars Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin, who will be joined by Jamie Dornan (THE FALL, MARIE ANTOINETTE), Stanley Tucci (SPOTLIGHT, BIG NIGHT), Tom Hollander (GODSFORD PARK, IN THE LOOP), Alexandra Moen (DOCTOR WHO, FORTITUDE), Corey Johnson (JACKIE, UNITED 93), and Raad Rawi (SPY, THE KINGDOM) for an epic tale of one woman's obsession with uncovering the harsh truths behind some of histroy's most brutal conflicts.
Recently, while speaking with USA Today, Pike confessed to the outlet that she'd never thought Colvin's story would resonate so much with today's journalistic climate by saying, "I didn't realize how timely it would be, with journalists under attack and truthful reporting suddenly called into question," Pike said. "I feel that there's no better moment to be telling the story of a journalist who literally put herself on the line to give a voice to people who didn't have a voice themselves."
A PRIVATE WAR will bow on November 16th.