Body of Lies (2008) on Netflix
CIA officer Roger Ferris hunts Al-Saleem, the cleric whose group plants bombs across Europe. In Amman he works with Hani Salaam of Jordanian intelligence, while Ed Hoffman directs from Langley.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.0/10252,354 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes55%
Trailer
Plot summary
Roger Ferris is a CIA officer working the Middle East, hunting Al-Saleem, the cleric whose group plants bombs across Europe. Ferris answers to Ed Hoffman, his control at Langley, who follows the operation through satellite imagery. In Amman, Ferris works with Hani Salaam, head of Jordanian intelligence, whose one rule is that no one lies to him. The terrorists have given up phones and computers for face-to-face contact and coded messages, which makes the CIA's technology less useful and human sources more valuable. Hoffman and Salaam differ over how to run the hunt, and the disagreement strains relations between the two services. Ferris also meets Aisha, a nurse from Iran.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Body of Lies (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ridley Scott wanted to shoot in Dubai, but the United Arab Emirates' National Media Council refused permission because of the script's politically sensitive subject. Everything set in Jordan was moved to Morocco, which ended up standing in for ten different countries.
- Russell Crowe put on 63 pounds to play CIA chief Ed Hoffman, and said of the film's take on American foreign policy: "I don't think it will be very popular, but that's never been part of my project choice process".
- Mark Strong's spy chief Hani Salaam was modeled on Sa'ad Khair, who ran Jordan's intelligence service from 2000 to 2005. Novelist David Ignatius said the film got him close to right, down to the nickname the "fingernail boss" and interrogations run without torture.
- Part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington was dressed up as a wintry Amsterdam for a car bomb blast that lasts ten to fifteen seconds on screen, and the National Geographic offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland doubled for CIA headquarters at Langley.
- The torture scene was shot in a windowless ancient prison cell outside Rabat with no film lighting at all: the only light came from the two torches held by the actors playing the torturers, bounced back onto faces with cards, plus a wisp of smoke.
- The drone's-eye images, and the closing shot pulling away from Leonardo DiCaprio in a marketplace, were shot from a helicopter carrying a nose-mounted Wescam 35 and a Cineflex V14 surveillance rig whose 1-40 zoom let aerial photographer John Marzano fly very high and still hold him.
- Appearing in the film brought Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani trouble at home: the Iranian government accused her of being shown without a hijab.
