- Title: Arms dealing gets Hollywood treatment with 'War Dogs'
- Date: 16th August 2016
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 15, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR JONAH HILL, SAYING: "We went all around the world and that was kind of the most interesting, most insane and probably helpful because this is what these guys actually did. I was out of my comfort zone for sure and I think it helped us a l
- Embargoed: 31st August 2016 04:28
- Keywords: War Dogs Miles Teller Jonah Hill Bradley Cooper Todd Phillips true story arms dealing ISIS documentary Donald Trump
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0054VDJ6FH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:"War Dogs", a far-fetched but true story about two young arms dealers, had its US premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Monday (August 15).
Stars Jonah Hill and a newly blond Miles Teller turned out alongside their producers and director, Bradley Cooper and Todd Phillips.
"War Dogs" is a dramedy inspired by two young men, played by Hill and Miles Teller, living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War who exploit a little-known government initiative that allowed small businesses to bid on U.S. military contracts.
Starting small, they begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a $300 million deal to arm the Afghan military - a deal that puts them in business with some shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. government.
"Hangover" director Todd Phillips, who co-wrote, produced and directed "War Dogs," explained his approach to making an outlandish true story into a film, saying "A great man once said never let the facts get in the way of the truth and I think what he means is as long as you're telling the essence of the story correctly that's the key. But to be more specific, it's not a documentary, we're basing it off a six page article and turning it into a 120 page screenplay so there's a lot of floors that we might add that build it up but Guy Lawson who is here who wrote the original article and ultimately wrote a book about it said.... we did a press conference in New York and he said how journalistically accurate the film was so I thought that was a good thing."
The film was shot in Romania, Florida, Morocco, Las Vegas and California, and according to Jonah Hill who plays one of the two friends, Efraim Diveroli, the variety of locations added to his performance.
"We went all around the world and that was kind of the most interesting, most insane and probably helpful because this is what these guys actually did. I was out of my comfort zone for sure and I think it helped us a lot because that's what these guys had to do to pull this off. It's just such an insane story that I'm just shocked it actually happened."
Bradley Cooper takes a small role in the film as well as producing it. "I actually enjoy it," he said of his role as a producer. "I'm one of those crazy people who enjoy the process of making a movie so it's fun to be there for the pre-production and post-production process."
However, he remained tight-lipped about his upcoming HBO series about Islamic State, which he is producing with Todd Phillips. Phillips was able to add a few facts about the series, but when asked what he thought about Republican Donald Trump's comments that President Barack Obama and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were "co-founders" of Islamic State, he replied "It seems a little absurd but it seems in line with him."
"War Dogs" goes on release in North America on August 19. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None