Patrick Swayze is planning to write a memoir with his wife Lisa, according to a source close to the actor. Despite reports, the source says that Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, will not write an inspirational book. Instead, The Beast star will focus on his life's journey, including his current fight against cancer. No word yet on when the book will be published. Swayze, 56, and Lisa, 52, have an incredibly strong bond and a are "each other's rocks," Beast co-creator Bill Rotko, told People last week.
- 1/22/2009
- by Julie Jordan
- PEOPLE.com
Patrick Swayze will reportedly be leaving hospital soon following his recent pneumonia scare. The actor checked himself into a Los Angeles hospital on January 9 after he developed a persistent cough. According to The Beast producer Bill Rotko, Swayze is recovering well and should be released soon. "It is not that serious," he told website These Boots Are Made For Stalking. "It was more of a precautionary move. "He's doing good, and (more)...
- 1/16/2009
- by By Lara Martin
- Digital Spy
Patrick Swayze's new cop drama, The Beast, made its television debut Thursday night on A&E, and according to the show's producers and co-creators, Bill Rotko and Vincent Angell, there's a good chance the cancer-stricken actor may back for a second season.
"He's doing good, and he'll be getting out of the hospital soon," Rotko told gossip site These Boots Are Made for Stalking while attending a private screening of the show in Chicago Wednesday. "He has pneumonia. It is not that serious. It was more of a precautionary move. He missed ...
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"He's doing good, and he'll be getting out of the hospital soon," Rotko told gossip site These Boots Are Made for Stalking while attending a private screening of the show in Chicago Wednesday. "He has pneumonia. It is not that serious. It was more of a precautionary move. He missed ...
Read More >...
- 1/16/2009
- by Gina DiNunno
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Bosses of Patrick Swayze's new TV show The Beast are hopeful the star will be well enough to film a second series, despite battling pancreatic cancer.
The actor has been bravely fighting the deadly disease for a year, and continued filming the cop show while he was undergoing chemotherapy.
He was hospitalised with pneumonia last week but bosses on the show are sure Swayze will make a quick recovery - and are keen to sign the star up for a second run of the show, which premiered in America on Thursday.
Producer Bill Rotko tells gossip site These Boots Are Made for Stalking, "It is not that serious. It was more of a precautionary move.
"He's doing good, and he'll be getting out of the hospital soon. He's a tough son of a b**ch. We're hoping he'll be back for a second season!"
Rotko was impressed by the star's positive work ethic - he only missed two days of filming during the five-month long shoot and did all of his own stunts.
And the producer insists Swayze worked harder on the show than anyone else: "I was tired before him."
The Dirty Dancing star has been in constant contact with the show's bosses - and even told producer Vincent Angell he was proud of his achievements in filming the show.
Angell adds: "I spoke to him right before I came to Chicago last night. He's great. He sounds great. He is proud of what he's done."...
The actor has been bravely fighting the deadly disease for a year, and continued filming the cop show while he was undergoing chemotherapy.
He was hospitalised with pneumonia last week but bosses on the show are sure Swayze will make a quick recovery - and are keen to sign the star up for a second run of the show, which premiered in America on Thursday.
Producer Bill Rotko tells gossip site These Boots Are Made for Stalking, "It is not that serious. It was more of a precautionary move.
"He's doing good, and he'll be getting out of the hospital soon. He's a tough son of a b**ch. We're hoping he'll be back for a second season!"
Rotko was impressed by the star's positive work ethic - he only missed two days of filming during the five-month long shoot and did all of his own stunts.
And the producer insists Swayze worked harder on the show than anyone else: "I was tired before him."
The Dirty Dancing star has been in constant contact with the show's bosses - and even told producer Vincent Angell he was proud of his achievements in filming the show.
Angell adds: "I spoke to him right before I came to Chicago last night. He's great. He sounds great. He is proud of what he's done."...
- 1/16/2009
- WENN
Patrick Swayze's colleagues on his new TV series "The Beast" say the actor had a secret weapon during filming while he was also undergoing chemotherapy treatments -- his wife Lisa. "They're a creative partnership," the show's co-creator Vincent Angell tells People magazine about Lisa's constant support on the set. "After takes, he would go talk to the director, and then go talk to his wife, and say, 'What do you think?' And she would lean in his ear," adds co-creator Bill Rotko, "They're each other's rocks." "I think we were all very moved by the closeness and humor of their relationship," "The Beast" producer John Romano tells People. The producers said that Lisa, 52, accompanied Patrick, 56, to work every day during filming and while he was undergoing regular chemotherapy sessions for pancreatic cancer. "The Beast" tells the story of an unorthodox FBI vet (Swayze) training his new partner --...
- 1/15/2009
- by TheInsider
- TheInsider.com
The bosses of Patrick Swayze's TV show have credited the star's wife Lisa with giving him the strength to continue work as he battles pancreatic cancer.
The actor has been bravely battling the deadly disease for a year, and continued filming cop series The Beast while he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
His wife of 34 years, Lisa, remained a constant presence beside her husband on set - and it was her love that helped rally the ill actor, according to producer John Romano.
He tells People.com, "I think we were all very moved by the closeness and humour of their relationship."
And the producer reveals that Lisa's support for her sick husband even helped shape the character Swayze was playing: "He has said she's half responsible for the creation of (Charles) Barker."
Romano wasn't the only one who noticed the affection between the doting couple - the show's co-creator, Bill Rotko, also noticed the couple's closeness, and is sure it had a hand in the evolution of the show, which premieres in America on Thursday.
Rotko says, "They're a creative partnership. After takes, he would go talk to the director, and then go talk to his wife, and say, 'What do you think?' And she would lean in his ear. They're each other's rocks. (Lisa) has a quality about her. When you're around her, you feel a warmth coming from her. In a cold Chicago winter, that was helpful."...
The actor has been bravely battling the deadly disease for a year, and continued filming cop series The Beast while he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
His wife of 34 years, Lisa, remained a constant presence beside her husband on set - and it was her love that helped rally the ill actor, according to producer John Romano.
He tells People.com, "I think we were all very moved by the closeness and humour of their relationship."
And the producer reveals that Lisa's support for her sick husband even helped shape the character Swayze was playing: "He has said she's half responsible for the creation of (Charles) Barker."
Romano wasn't the only one who noticed the affection between the doting couple - the show's co-creator, Bill Rotko, also noticed the couple's closeness, and is sure it had a hand in the evolution of the show, which premieres in America on Thursday.
Rotko says, "They're a creative partnership. After takes, he would go talk to the director, and then go talk to his wife, and say, 'What do you think?' And she would lean in his ear. They're each other's rocks. (Lisa) has a quality about her. When you're around her, you feel a warmth coming from her. In a cold Chicago winter, that was helpful."...
- 1/15/2009
- WENN
Adamant about filming his new series The Beast while undergoing chemotherapy, Patrick Swayze had a secret weapon on the Chicago set to help him through: his wife Lisa. "I think we were all very moved by the closeness and humor of their relationship," Beast producer John Romano tells People in its latest cover story, on sale Friday. Accompanying her husband, 56, to work every day during the workweek while he was undergoing regular chemotherapy sessions for pancreatic cancer, Lisa, 52, had a tremendous influence on Swayze's work. "He has said she's half responsible for the creation of [Charles] Barker," says Beast co-creator Vincent Angell...
- 1/15/2009
- by Lisa Ingrassia
- PEOPLE.com
A&E's plans to promote its drama "The Beast" were disrupted when its star Patrick Swayze checked into a hospital hours before he was scheduled to appear at the TCA press tour.
Swayze is battling stage-four pancreatic cancer.
"Patrick has asked that I tell you that this morning he checked himself into the hospital for observation for pneumonia," A&E president and Gm Robert DeBitetto said Friday. "Chemotherapy can take its toll on the immune system, and illnesses are a part of that."
On "Beast," which premieres Thursday, Swayze plays a tough FBI veteran named Charles Barker. The show's panel session went on without him, with producers telling stories of working with the actor and detailing how his cancer has impacted -- and, more often, not impacted -- the production.
Producers said they learned Swayze had cancer only four hours after hearing that A&E picked up their show to series.
Swayze is battling stage-four pancreatic cancer.
"Patrick has asked that I tell you that this morning he checked himself into the hospital for observation for pneumonia," A&E president and Gm Robert DeBitetto said Friday. "Chemotherapy can take its toll on the immune system, and illnesses are a part of that."
On "Beast," which premieres Thursday, Swayze plays a tough FBI veteran named Charles Barker. The show's panel session went on without him, with producers telling stories of working with the actor and detailing how his cancer has impacted -- and, more often, not impacted -- the production.
Producers said they learned Swayze had cancer only four hours after hearing that A&E picked up their show to series.
- 1/9/2009
- by By James Hibberd
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Patrick Swayze has pneumonia and has checked himself into a hospital for observation, it was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles. "As we arrived here this morning we have some news," said A&E president Abbe Raven. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery." Bob DeBitetto, the president and general manager of A&E, delivered the news that Swayze had decided to check himself into the hospital after he came down with pneumonia.
- 1/9/2009
- by Ken Lee and Lisa Ingrassia
- PEOPLE.com
Chicago – Patrick Swayze shines in A&E’s down-and-dirty “The Beast,” a show about deep undercover agents that uses its Chicago setting as well as any show in recent memory. Chicago is regularly the setting for television and film productions, but rarely has it been as much a part of the overall fabric of the show as it is on “The Beast,” one of the more promising dramas of the new year.
A&E’s new drama is about going so deep undercover that not only does identity get blurry but so does motive and even sanity. The pilot script from writer William Rotko (“Breach”) and Vincent Angell occasionally stretches credulity, but Swayze and the excellent quality of the production make for an immensely watchable thriller.
Patrick Swayze in The Beast.
Photo credit: Michael Muller
Swayze plays FBI veteran Charles Barker, an expert undercover agent with some hazy boundaries, and...
A&E’s new drama is about going so deep undercover that not only does identity get blurry but so does motive and even sanity. The pilot script from writer William Rotko (“Breach”) and Vincent Angell occasionally stretches credulity, but Swayze and the excellent quality of the production make for an immensely watchable thriller.
Patrick Swayze in The Beast.
Photo credit: Michael Muller
Swayze plays FBI veteran Charles Barker, an expert undercover agent with some hazy boundaries, and...
- 1/8/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A&E Network has handed out cast-contingent pilot orders to two scripted series projects tentatively titled The Beast and The Cleaner.
The pickups follow on the heels of the recently announced cast-contingent pilot order for Danny Fricke.
Beast, from Sony Pictures Television, is executive produced by Allan Loeb and Steven Pearl for Scarlet Fire Films (New Amsterdam) and Cory Concoff (Beltway) for Fuel Filmworks. The project centers on an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran who trains a new partner in his hard-edged, psychologically clever style while being pursued by a secret Internal Affairs team.
The script was written by William Rotko (Breach, Beltway) and Vincent Angell (Stand by Love), who also will serve as co-executive producers.
Cleaner, from CBS Paramount Network Television, is written and executive produced by Robert Munic (For Life) and Jonathan Prince (Cane).
The project, based on a real-life extreme interventionist, centers on William, a man who feels that helping others is his calling. After hitting rock bottom during the birth of his twins, William strikes up a tentative deal with God, kicks his addictions and dedicates his life to helping others do the same.
The pickups follow on the heels of the recently announced cast-contingent pilot order for Danny Fricke.
Beast, from Sony Pictures Television, is executive produced by Allan Loeb and Steven Pearl for Scarlet Fire Films (New Amsterdam) and Cory Concoff (Beltway) for Fuel Filmworks. The project centers on an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran who trains a new partner in his hard-edged, psychologically clever style while being pursued by a secret Internal Affairs team.
The script was written by William Rotko (Breach, Beltway) and Vincent Angell (Stand by Love), who also will serve as co-executive producers.
Cleaner, from CBS Paramount Network Television, is written and executive produced by Robert Munic (For Life) and Jonathan Prince (Cane).
The project, based on a real-life extreme interventionist, centers on William, a man who feels that helping others is his calling. After hitting rock bottom during the birth of his twins, William strikes up a tentative deal with God, kicks his addictions and dedicates his life to helping others do the same.
- 8/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Funny how spy movies are suddenly getting better and better. "Casino Royale" is sheer nonsense, of course, but the filmmakers take James Bond back to his roots in blood and sweat rather than CGI. "The Good Shepherd" and now "Breach", based on actual CIA and FBI history, meticulously scrutinize the real world of spies to draw scary portraits of deadly, unpleasant people. "Breach" covers a tight, nerve-racking window of two months, when a low-level FBI employee -- not even an agent yet -- had to lure the most notorious traitor in bureau history from deep cover.
The FBI arrest of Robert Hanssen in February 2001 was splashed on the nightly news, but a key element remained classified and never found its way into the instant books that followed: Agent-in-training Eric O'Neill, handpicked to be Hanssen's clerk, played a large role in bringing down his boss. (One version of the story has already been told in the 2002 telefilm "Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story," written by Norman Mailer, no less.)
In this film, everything comes down to the acting. Chris Cooper, one of our finest screen actors, gets inside the mysterious traitor, whose true motives might never be known -- even to himself. Ryan Phillippe has just the right gung-ho determination tempered with a touch of naivete as O'Neill. Meanwhile, Laura Linney nails the role of a career agent who has sacrificed everything for a job whose ideals grow more vague with each passing month. With this solid cast, "Breach" should appeal strongly to male adults and possibly beyond if given strong marketing that emphasizes the true nature of these crimes and betrayals.
Writer-director Billy Ray feels handpicked for this assignment too. He co-wrote "Flightplan", a thriller aboard an airliner, and wrote and directed "Shattered Glass", a story of a different kind of real-life betrayal about a New Republic staff writer who fabricated stories. There are several sequences of high tension in "Breach", but the key is that over that two-month period the betrayals cut both ways: Hanssen is one of the worst betrayers in U.S. history, yet such is his esteem for personal loyalty that he may well kill Eric should he discover his "disloyalty."
Ray and writers Adam Mazer and William Rotko, who wrote the early drafts, apparently stick pretty close to the facts of the case. But the film starts off on an odd note when Eric, pulled from a routine surveillance assignment, is told to spy on his new boss because he is a sexual deviant who might embarrass the bureau. His handler, special agent Kate Burroughs (Linney), comes clean when Eric complains that Hanssen is too devout a Catholic, loving grandfather and gruff straight arrow to be a porn fiend. (Curiously, he actually was, certainly the least of his sins.)
The movie boils down to a character study where the stakes couldn't be higher. Eric must figure out this enigma of a man whose strongly held beliefs and sentiments seemingly run counter to his secret life. Hanssen declares his greatest ability is that he can "read" people. Will he read the spy planted in his midst? What damage will this assignment do to Eric's relatively recent marriage to his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), who is not so crazy about all this Catholic mumbo-jumbo from these two men?
Ray and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto play all this against a backdrop no fictional spy movie would ever tolerate -- drab, florescent-lit corridors and a spartan office, Eric's cramped apartment, Hanssen's larger, overstuffed home and an occasional respite on the wintry streets of Washington, D.C. It's more claustrophobic than "Flightplan", more suffocating than being in prison, and we never know if or when one "prisoner" might act against the other with deadly intent.
BREACH
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present an Outlaw/Intermedia production
Credits:
Director: Billy Ray
Screenwriters: Adam Mazer, William Rotko, Billy Ray
Story by: Adam Mazer, William Rotko
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Scott Strauss, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Sidney Kimmel, William Horberg
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Wynn Thomas
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Jeff Silver
Costume designer: Luis Sequeira
Editor: Jeffrey Ford
Cast:
Robert Hanssen: Chris Cooper
Eric O'Neill: Ryan Phillippe
Kate Burroughs: Laura Linney
Juliana O'Neill: Caroline Dhavernas
Rich Garces: Gary Cole
Dean Plesac: Dennis Haysbert
Bonnie Hanssen: Kathleen Quinlan
John O'Neill: Bruce Davison
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
The FBI arrest of Robert Hanssen in February 2001 was splashed on the nightly news, but a key element remained classified and never found its way into the instant books that followed: Agent-in-training Eric O'Neill, handpicked to be Hanssen's clerk, played a large role in bringing down his boss. (One version of the story has already been told in the 2002 telefilm "Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story," written by Norman Mailer, no less.)
In this film, everything comes down to the acting. Chris Cooper, one of our finest screen actors, gets inside the mysterious traitor, whose true motives might never be known -- even to himself. Ryan Phillippe has just the right gung-ho determination tempered with a touch of naivete as O'Neill. Meanwhile, Laura Linney nails the role of a career agent who has sacrificed everything for a job whose ideals grow more vague with each passing month. With this solid cast, "Breach" should appeal strongly to male adults and possibly beyond if given strong marketing that emphasizes the true nature of these crimes and betrayals.
Writer-director Billy Ray feels handpicked for this assignment too. He co-wrote "Flightplan", a thriller aboard an airliner, and wrote and directed "Shattered Glass", a story of a different kind of real-life betrayal about a New Republic staff writer who fabricated stories. There are several sequences of high tension in "Breach", but the key is that over that two-month period the betrayals cut both ways: Hanssen is one of the worst betrayers in U.S. history, yet such is his esteem for personal loyalty that he may well kill Eric should he discover his "disloyalty."
Ray and writers Adam Mazer and William Rotko, who wrote the early drafts, apparently stick pretty close to the facts of the case. But the film starts off on an odd note when Eric, pulled from a routine surveillance assignment, is told to spy on his new boss because he is a sexual deviant who might embarrass the bureau. His handler, special agent Kate Burroughs (Linney), comes clean when Eric complains that Hanssen is too devout a Catholic, loving grandfather and gruff straight arrow to be a porn fiend. (Curiously, he actually was, certainly the least of his sins.)
The movie boils down to a character study where the stakes couldn't be higher. Eric must figure out this enigma of a man whose strongly held beliefs and sentiments seemingly run counter to his secret life. Hanssen declares his greatest ability is that he can "read" people. Will he read the spy planted in his midst? What damage will this assignment do to Eric's relatively recent marriage to his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), who is not so crazy about all this Catholic mumbo-jumbo from these two men?
Ray and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto play all this against a backdrop no fictional spy movie would ever tolerate -- drab, florescent-lit corridors and a spartan office, Eric's cramped apartment, Hanssen's larger, overstuffed home and an occasional respite on the wintry streets of Washington, D.C. It's more claustrophobic than "Flightplan", more suffocating than being in prison, and we never know if or when one "prisoner" might act against the other with deadly intent.
BREACH
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present an Outlaw/Intermedia production
Credits:
Director: Billy Ray
Screenwriters: Adam Mazer, William Rotko, Billy Ray
Story by: Adam Mazer, William Rotko
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Scott Strauss, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Sidney Kimmel, William Horberg
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Wynn Thomas
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Jeff Silver
Costume designer: Luis Sequeira
Editor: Jeffrey Ford
Cast:
Robert Hanssen: Chris Cooper
Eric O'Neill: Ryan Phillippe
Kate Burroughs: Laura Linney
Juliana O'Neill: Caroline Dhavernas
Rich Garces: Gary Cole
Dean Plesac: Dennis Haysbert
Bonnie Hanssen: Kathleen Quinlan
John O'Neill: Bruce Davison
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
Funny how spy movies are suddenly getting better and better. "Casino Royale" is sheer nonsense, of course, but the filmmakers take James Bond back to his roots in blood and sweat rather than CGI. "The Good Shepherd" and now "Breach", based on actual CIA and FBI history, meticulously scrutinize the real world of spies to draw scary portraits of deadly, unpleasant people. "Breach" covers a tight, nerve-racking window of two months, when a low-level FBI employee -- not even an agent yet -- had to lure the most notorious traitor in bureau history from deep cover.
The FBI arrest of Robert Hanssen in February 2001 was splashed on the nightly news, but a key element remained classified and never found its way into the instant books that followed: Agent-in-training Eric O'Neill, handpicked to be Hanssen's clerk, played a large role in bringing down his boss. (One version of the story has already been told in the 2002 telefilm "Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story," written by Norman Mailer, no less.)
In this film, everything comes down to the acting. Chris Cooper, one of our finest screen actors, gets inside the mysterious traitor, whose true motives might never be known -- even to himself. Ryan Phillippe has just the right gung-ho determination tempered with a touch of naivete as O'Neill. Meanwhile, Laura Linney nails the role of a career agent who has sacrificed everything for a job whose ideals grow more vague with each passing month. With this solid cast, "Breach" should appeal strongly to male adults and possibly beyond if given strong marketing that emphasizes the true nature of these crimes and betrayals.
Writer-director Billy Ray feels handpicked for this assignment too. He co-wrote "Flightplan", a thriller aboard an airliner, and wrote and directed "Shattered Glass", a story of a different kind of real-life betrayal about a New Republic staff writer who fabricated stories. There are several sequences of high tension in "Breach", but the key is that over that two-month period the betrayals cut both ways: Hanssen is one of the worst betrayers in U.S. history, yet such is his esteem for personal loyalty that he may well kill Eric should he discover his "disloyalty."
Ray and writers Adam Mazer and William Rotko, who wrote the early drafts, apparently stick pretty close to the facts of the case. But the film starts off on an odd note when Eric, pulled from a routine surveillance assignment, is told to spy on his new boss because he is a sexual deviant who might embarrass the bureau. His handler, special agent Kate Burroughs (Linney), comes clean when Eric complains that Hanssen is too devout a Catholic, loving grandfather and gruff straight arrow to be a porn fiend. (Curiously, he actually was, certainly the least of his sins.)
The movie boils down to a character study where the stakes couldn't be higher. Eric must figure out this enigma of a man whose strongly held beliefs and sentiments seemingly run counter to his secret life. Hanssen declares his greatest ability is that he can "read" people. Will he read the spy planted in his midst? What damage will this assignment do to Eric's relatively recent marriage to his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), who is not so crazy about all this Catholic mumbo-jumbo from these two men?
Ray and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto play all this against a backdrop no fictional spy movie would ever tolerate -- drab, florescent-lit corridors and a spartan office, Eric's cramped apartment, Hanssen's larger, overstuffed home and an occasional respite on the wintry streets of Washington, D.C. It's more claustrophobic than "Flightplan", more suffocating than being in prison, and we never know if or when one "prisoner" might act against the other with deadly intent.
BREACH
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present an Outlaw/Intermedia production
Credits:
Director: Billy Ray
Screenwriters: Adam Mazer, William Rotko, Billy Ray
Story by: Adam Mazer, William Rotko
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Scott Strauss, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Sidney Kimmel, William Horberg
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Wynn Thomas
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Jeff Silver
Costume designer: Luis Sequeira
Editor: Jeffrey Ford
Cast:
Robert Hanssen: Chris Cooper
Eric O'Neill: Ryan Phillippe
Kate Burroughs: Laura Linney
Juliana O'Neill: Caroline Dhavernas
Rich Garces: Gary Cole
Dean Plesac: Dennis Haysbert
Bonnie Hanssen: Kathleen Quinlan
John O'Neill: Bruce Davison
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
The FBI arrest of Robert Hanssen in February 2001 was splashed on the nightly news, but a key element remained classified and never found its way into the instant books that followed: Agent-in-training Eric O'Neill, handpicked to be Hanssen's clerk, played a large role in bringing down his boss. (One version of the story has already been told in the 2002 telefilm "Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story," written by Norman Mailer, no less.)
In this film, everything comes down to the acting. Chris Cooper, one of our finest screen actors, gets inside the mysterious traitor, whose true motives might never be known -- even to himself. Ryan Phillippe has just the right gung-ho determination tempered with a touch of naivete as O'Neill. Meanwhile, Laura Linney nails the role of a career agent who has sacrificed everything for a job whose ideals grow more vague with each passing month. With this solid cast, "Breach" should appeal strongly to male adults and possibly beyond if given strong marketing that emphasizes the true nature of these crimes and betrayals.
Writer-director Billy Ray feels handpicked for this assignment too. He co-wrote "Flightplan", a thriller aboard an airliner, and wrote and directed "Shattered Glass", a story of a different kind of real-life betrayal about a New Republic staff writer who fabricated stories. There are several sequences of high tension in "Breach", but the key is that over that two-month period the betrayals cut both ways: Hanssen is one of the worst betrayers in U.S. history, yet such is his esteem for personal loyalty that he may well kill Eric should he discover his "disloyalty."
Ray and writers Adam Mazer and William Rotko, who wrote the early drafts, apparently stick pretty close to the facts of the case. But the film starts off on an odd note when Eric, pulled from a routine surveillance assignment, is told to spy on his new boss because he is a sexual deviant who might embarrass the bureau. His handler, special agent Kate Burroughs (Linney), comes clean when Eric complains that Hanssen is too devout a Catholic, loving grandfather and gruff straight arrow to be a porn fiend. (Curiously, he actually was, certainly the least of his sins.)
The movie boils down to a character study where the stakes couldn't be higher. Eric must figure out this enigma of a man whose strongly held beliefs and sentiments seemingly run counter to his secret life. Hanssen declares his greatest ability is that he can "read" people. Will he read the spy planted in his midst? What damage will this assignment do to Eric's relatively recent marriage to his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), who is not so crazy about all this Catholic mumbo-jumbo from these two men?
Ray and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto play all this against a backdrop no fictional spy movie would ever tolerate -- drab, florescent-lit corridors and a spartan office, Eric's cramped apartment, Hanssen's larger, overstuffed home and an occasional respite on the wintry streets of Washington, D.C. It's more claustrophobic than "Flightplan", more suffocating than being in prison, and we never know if or when one "prisoner" might act against the other with deadly intent.
BREACH
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present an Outlaw/Intermedia production
Credits:
Director: Billy Ray
Screenwriters: Adam Mazer, William Rotko, Billy Ray
Story by: Adam Mazer, William Rotko
Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Scott Strauss, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Sidney Kimmel, William Horberg
Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto
Production designer: Wynn Thomas
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Jeff Silver
Costume designer: Luis Sequeira
Editor: Jeffrey Ford
Cast:
Robert Hanssen: Chris Cooper
Eric O'Neill: Ryan Phillippe
Kate Burroughs: Laura Linney
Juliana O'Neill: Caroline Dhavernas
Rich Garces: Gary Cole
Dean Plesac: Dennis Haysbert
Bonnie Hanssen: Kathleen Quinlan
John O'Neill: Bruce Davison
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
Variety reports that Terrence Malick has abruptly dropped out of Che, the Che Guevara biopic he was expected to start shooting in July, in favor of New Line's The New World, set to star Colin Farrell. Malick promises to return to Che in 2005, with Benicio Del Toro set to star as the revolutionary. The New World, a Malick-scripted drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and the British in the 17th century, will start shooting in July.... Matthew McConaughey will get behind the wheel of Hammer Down, about a disgraced NASCAR driver who becomes embroiled in a heist in order to get his career back on track. DreamWorks will produce; no director has been set yet.... Shattered Glass filmmaker Billy Ray is eyeing a film about disgraced FBI agent Robert Hanssen for Universal. Called The 11th Hour, the film will focus on Hanssen's assistant, 26 year old Eric O'Neil, who gathered evidence on his boss' traitorous activities with the Soviet Union. Ray is also expected to rewrite the script by Bill Rotko and Adam Mazer.
- 3/8/2004
- IMDbPro News
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