Some movie posters for this film featured a long text preamble that read: "At 29, Charles Heller was a mathematician without equal. At the CIA, he was a computer expert without peer. But when terrorists murdered the most important woman in his life, he became an assassin without experience. To avenge her death, the CIA trained him, briefed him, armed him, and then...they abandoned him. The first 11 minutes will absolutely shock you. The last 11 minutes will rivet you to your seat. The Amateur".
The film's writer is Robert Littell who is a journalist and novelist who specializes in espionage novels that frequently are set around the spy world of the CIA and the former Soviet Union. He wrote the screenplay for this movie then wrote the novel of the same name after-wards. The book has a slightly different title, it being "The Amateur: A Novel of Revenge (1981)". This film was his first film & TV credit.
As of January 2024, a remake of the same name starring Rami Malek is in the works, expected to release in April 2025.
This movie was nominated for 10 Genies (Canadian Academy Awards) including Best Picture but failed to win one award.
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