Director John Stockwell’s (INTO THE BLUE, ROCK STAR…or, best known as “Cougar” in TOP GUN) “Kill Bin Laden” film has just cast a bevy of stars to lead the charge into the compound. Anson Mount, Cam Gigandet, Freddy Rodriguez and William Fichtner have enlisted for the pic, which began shooting last week in New Mexico.
The pic is written by Kendall Lampkin and casts Anson Mount (AMC’s Hell on Wheels) as “an agile and assured member of SEAL Team Six,” along with fellow team members played by Robert Knepper, Xzibit and Kenneth Miller, Gigandet, and Rodriguez. William Fichtner, Kathleen Robertson and Eddie Kaye Thomas are playing CIA officers working along with the SEAL team to track down the most notorious modern-day terrorist.
Looks like the ARMAGEDDON/DEEP IMPACT and TOMBSTONE/WYATT EARP, etc. dueling projects curse continues. The only question is: Who will be the winner?
CODENAME: GERONIMO is the other half of the “Kill Bin Laden” projects, the other being Kathryn Bigelow’s now “repurposed” flick, with THE HURT LOCKER‘s Mark Boal implementing the actual death of the terrorist leader into the script. Some may view Bigelow’s pic as having the edge, but I don’t see it that way at all. In terms of accuracy, she leaves a lot to be desired, which rests heavily on screenwriter Mark Boal, whose research on THE HURT LOCKER was vastly insufficient and effectively inconsistent with reality. Some can easily dismiss this and “accept it for what it is,” while others (especially those who have been to war, like myself) cannot.
I think Bigelow is a stronger director than Stockwell, but I think the true judgment will come down to accuracy of not only the actual events, but of the military details (also, the overall entertainment value). THE HURT LOCKER is one of the greatest offenders of that (and it won an Oscar! For Best Picture!), so for me, it has no edge over Stockwell’s effort. It’s all a waiting game at this point and when the time comes, I’ll take the Pepsi challenge on both films.
There’s no set release date for CODENAME: GERONIMO yet as it’s currently filming, but look for more details as it progresses through production.