Body of Lies is a 2008 American action thriller film directed and produced by Ridley Scott, written by William Monahan, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Golshifteh Farahani in the lead roles. The supporting cast features Mark Strong and Oscar Isaac. Set in the Middle East, it follows the attempts of the CIA and the GID of Jordan to catch terrorist Al-Saleem. Frustrated by their target's elusiveness, differences in their approaches strain relations between a CIA operative, his superior, and the head of Jordanian Intelligence.
The screenplay, based on the 2007 novel by David Ignatius, examines contemporary tension between Western and Arab societies, and the comparative effectiveness of technological and human counter-intelligence methods. Principal photography for the film began on September 5, 2007, and concluded in December 2007. The film was shot largely on location in the United States and Morocco, after authorities in Dubai refused permission to film there because of the script's political themes.
The film was released in the United States on October 10, 2008, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Scott's direction and visual style, as well as the performances of its two leads, but criticized his formulaic handling of the story and use of conventions from the spy genre, such as surveillance shots from high-altitude spy planes. The film grossed $119 million worldwide on a budget of $67.5–70 million.
Plot After bombings in Sheffield, UK, police raid an apartment in Manchester, but the terrorists inside trigger an explosion, destroying the building. In Samarra, Iraq, CIA officer Roger Ferris is tracking Al-Saleem, the elusive leader of the terrorist cell. Ferris and fellow operative Bassam meet Nizar, a member of Al-Saleem's organization offering information in return for asylum in the US.
Despite the objections of division chief Ed Hoffman, his supervisor in Langley, Ferris plans to use Nizar to draw out the cell; instead, Nizar is captured, forcing Ferris to shoot and kill him to protect his own cover. Ferris and Bassam search for a terrorist safe house identified by Nizar in Balad, where they see documents and DVDs being burned. A shootout ensues, and Ferris and Bassam flee with disks salvaged from the fire, but their vehicle is hit by a rocket-propelled grenade; Bassam is killed, and Ferris is rescued by helicopter.
The intelligence recovered from Balad indicates another Al-Saleem safe house in Amman, Jordan, where Hoffman installs Ferris as CIA station chief. Ferris earns the respect of Hani Salaam, head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate, ignoring Hoffman's orders by sharing information. While Ferris, his subordinate Skip, and Jordanian agents surveil a suspected terrorist from the safe house, a local asset sent by Hoffman spooks the target, who flees. Ferris chases the target into an alley, stabbing him to death before he can warn the safe house. Bitten by nearby dogs, Ferris is treated by Aisha, a nurse from Iran.
Ferris lambastes Hoffman for interfering with his operation, while Salaam confirms that the terrorists believe the target was killed in a random robbery, and has Ferris watch his agents torture the local asset as a warning to Hoffman. Al-Saleem's network strikes again, carrying out a deadly bombing at an Amsterdam flower market. Recognizing petty criminal Mustaffa Karami from the safe house, Salaam brings Ferris to the desert where he coerces Karami into cooperating. Hoffman arrives in Amman, seeking access to Karami as an intelligence asset, but Salaam refuses. Unbeknownst to Ferris, Hoffman tasks Skip to abduct Karami, who escapes. Capturing Skip, Salaam shows Ferris that the terrorists have burned the safe house and disappeared; accusing Ferris of deceiving him, Salaam exiles him from Jordan.
Returning to Washington, D.C., Ferris devises a plan with Hoffman to find Al-Saleem. Assisted by Garland, a black ops technical expert, Ferris poses as a Dubai financier to incriminate Omar Sadiki, an innocent Jordanian architect, as a terrorist mastermind in hopes Al-Saleem will contact Sadiki. Invited back to Jordan by Salaam, Ferris feigns ignorance about Sadiki, successfully framing him as the instigator of a staged attack on Incirlik Air Base, and spends time with Aisha and her family. Ferris attempts to bring Sadiki in for his own safety, but Skip is nearly killed when Sadiki is captured by the real terrorists and brought to Al-Saleem. Sadiki denies any knowledge of the attack but reveals his connection to Ferris, and is killed.
Discovering Aisha has been kidnapped, Ferris admits to Salaam he fabricated Sadiki's terrorist ties, but Salaam refuses to help. Ferris offers himself to Al-Saleem in exchange, with Hoffman monitoring by drone, but the terrorists create a cloud of dust and escape with Ferris in separate vehicles. Taken across the border to Ba'athist Syria, he is interrogated by Al-Saleem, who breaks two of his fingers with a hammer and leaves him to be executed on camera. Before Ferris can be beheaded, he is rescued by Salaam’s agents, and Al-Saleem is arrested.
Salaam visits Ferris in the hospital, revealing he faked Aisha's abduction and used Karami as a double-agent, orchestrating Ferris's capture to lead him to Al-Saleem. Having lost the will to fight in this particular war, Ferris turns down a promotion from Hoffman and leaves the CIA, hoping to see Aisha again.
Cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris, a field officer working in the CIA's Near East Division and later CIA Station Chief of Amman, Jordan. Russell Crowe as Ed Hoffman, chief of the CIA's Near East Division and Ferris's boss. Mark Strong as Hani Salaam, intelligence chief and director of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate. Golshifteh Farahani as Aisha, a nurse in Amman and Ferris' love interest. Oscar Isaac as Bassam, CIA field operative in Iraq and Ferris' associate. Ali Suliman as Omar Sadiki, a Jordanian architect with very low-profile contact with Al-Qaeda and CIA's mole to catch Al-Saleem. Alon Abutbul as Al-Saleem, head of an independent terrorist group based in Jordan, aligned with Al-Qaeda. Vince Colosimo as Skip, CIA field operative in Jordan. Simon McBurney as Garland, a computer geek employed by the CIA to instrument black ops. Mehdi Nebbou as Nizar, former linguist, Al-Qaeda operative and attempted defector. Michael Gaston as Holiday, Ferris's predecessor as CIA's Jordan station chief. Kais Nashef as Mustafa Karami, former petty criminal-turned-Al-Qaeda operative under Al-Saleem who later became Hani Salaam's informer. Jameel Khoury as Marwan Se-Kia, GID operative and security officer of Hani Salaam. Lubna Azabal as Cala, Aisha's sister. Annabelle Wallis as Hani's Girlfriend in Bar. Michael Stuhlbarg as Ferris's Attorney. Giannina Facio as Hoffman's wife.
Carice van Houten was cast as Roger's wife Gretchen Ferris, but her scenes were deleted and she does not appear in the final cut.
Themes Ridley Scott has made a previous film about the conflict between the Western and Arab civilizations, Kingdom of Heaven (2005), set during the Crusades. Body of Lies resumes this theme in the context of modern intelligence operations and terrorism.
The film puts two contrasting characters on the same side. Ferris, the CIA man on the ground, is a dedicated Arabist fluent in the language; he relies on trust, local knowledge and HUMINT. Hoffman, his superior, who is detached at home in Washington, D.C., and at the CIA in Virginia, is more Machiavellian: he authorizes deceit, double-crossing, and violence by telephone and without scruple. The New Yorker interpreted him as "a greedy, American domestic animal—an advanced-media freak, always eating".
Early in the film, Hoffman explains to his superiors that the terrorists' retreat to pre-tech age communication methods renders useless the high specification tools the CIA uses, which increases the worth of Ferris's human intelligence methods. The terrorists avoid mobile telephones and computers, preferring face-to-face communication and encoded written messages. By contrast, the Americans use sophisticated communication (Hoffman and Ferris regularly speak on the phone) and surveillance technology (high altitude spy planes offer a different point of view throughout).
David Denby of The New Yorker said this was Scott's suggestion that the CIA has the technology but not the human intelligence to properly fight terrorism in the Middle East. Despite Hoffman's distance, the force and unintended consequences of his schemes are often borne by Ferris. The difference is underlined when Ferris, suffering weakened credibility, injured colleagues and personal risk, is reminded by Hoffman that "we are a results-driven organization".
Production
Development
In March 2006, Warner Bros. Pictures hired screenwriter William Monahan to adapt the novel Penetration by David Ignatius into a feature film, which would be directed by Ridley Scott. In April 2007, with the novel re-titled Body of Lies and the film similarly re-titled, actor Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in the lead role. DiCaprio chose to pursue the role because he considered it a throwback to political films in the 1970s such as The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975). DiCaprio dyed his hair brown, and wore brown contacts for the role. After DiCaprio was cast, Russell Crowe was courted for a supporting role, to which he formally committed after Monahan's script was revised by Steve Zaillian, who wrote Scott and Crowe's American Gangster.
Crowe gained 63 pounds to suit his role.Crowe:Drinking different as Dad http://extra.warnerbros.com, September 30, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2010 The actor said as a result of the film's exploration of the American government and foreign policy, "I don't think it will be very popular, but that's never been part of my project choice process".
Mark Strong, who plays Hani Salaam, the head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate (GID), ascribed his casting to his performances in the 2005 films Syriana and Oliver Twist. The character Haani Salaam was modeled after the 2000–2005 GID chief Sa'ad Khair (1953–2009), whose involvement, according to the original author David Ignatius, in sharply handled interrogations without the use of torture, an encounter with a jihadist with his mother on the phone and being called the "fingernail boss" were nearly accurate in the film. Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap revealed in an interview that Bollywood actor Nana Patekar was approached by Ridley Scott for the role of Hani Salaam after watching his performance in The Pool, but the former declined the offer, refusing to portray a terrorist.
Location and design Scott sought to film in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, but the federation's National Media Council denied the director permission due to the script's politically sensitive nature. As a result, scenes set in Jordan were filmed in Morocco. The shoot took place over sixty-five days from September to December 2007. It was filmed in the United States and Morocco, where scenes set in ten different countries were filmed.Thompson, Patricia Middle East Intrigue American Cinematographer, October 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2011.