Mission Blacklist Gets New Director & Is Set To Film In The Fall

Jesper Ganslandt has been tapped to direct Robert Pattinson in the psychological thriller Mission: Blacklist, about a brilliant young military interrogator who spearheads the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Pic is based on the life of soldier-turned-intelligence agent Eric Maddox, who funneled his experiences into the 2008 nonfic book Mission: Black List #1 – The Inside Story Of The Search For Saddam Hussein – As Told By The Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.

The Code Entertainment project was announced at Cannes last year, back when Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire was set to direct. Following Sauvaire’s departure, Ganslandt stepped in and will make his English-language debut after directing three features — Blondie, The Ape, and Falkenberg Farewell — in his native Sweden.

Filming is scheduled for the fall.



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Interview With Mission: Blacklist Screenwriter, Dylan Kussman

@MBL_France scored an Exclusive interview with Dylan Kussman. He talked extensively about Rob's upcoming movie, Mission: Blacklist.

1. For those who do not know you, could you introduce yourself and tell us what do you do for a living?

"My name is Dylan Kussman. I've been a professional actor for over 30 years, known best for my roles in such films as Dead Poets Society, The Way of the Gun, X2, and most recently, Flight, and Jack Reacher. I have been a professional writer for about half that time. I wrote the feature film Burn, co-wrote the screenplays Booth and The Mayor of Castro Street, and was writer and director of the hit Web series The Steps. (www.youtube.com/thestepswebseries)"

2. How did you become a screenwriter and what does it entail in the process of film making?

"Refer to question 1"

3. Tell us about your work for Mission: Blacklist and how you ended up being a part of this project?

"I became involved with Mission: Blacklist when head writer and Executive Producer Erik Jendresen contacted me about contributing to the project. At the time, he and his co-writer Trace Sheehan were deeply immersed in adapting Staff Sergeant Maddox's book, Mission: Black List #1, and were looking for an additional voice to help flesh out the main character and structure his remarkable story as a movie. It was an honor to be asked to collaborate with two such accomplished and well-respected writers, on a story with such an incredible pedigree, and I accepted without a moment's hesitation."

4. Was it complicated for you to work on this book and, particularly, on this subject?

"The most challenging part about working on the project for me personally was absorbing the vast amount of research Erik and Trace had compiled before I came onboard. On top of the book itself, there were hundreds of pages of interviews they'd conducted with the Staff Sergeant, firsthand accounts of the Iraq War and of the American presence in Baghdad and Tikrit after Saddam's fall -- I had to get up to speed in a hurry. Once I'd gotten on top of the material, however, I was fortunately able to see a strong and clear contribution I could make towards rendering this soldier's mind-bending ordeal into a piece of dramatic cinema. Incredible human beings don't always make compelling onscreen protagonists, but between the work we've done as writers, Jean Stephane Sauvaire's guiding hand as director, and Robert Pattinson's committment to playing this inspiring figure with the fearless honesty for which he's known, I don't think that will be the case here."

5. Did you work directly with Eric Maddox to sort out what to take or not take from the book?

"Both Erik Jendresen and Trace Sheehan worked more directly with Eric Maddox than I did, and Mr. Pattinson has spent an extended amount of time with him at this point. They will be able to speak to your question better than me."6. In the story, the blue shirt is very important and during a lecture in Oklahoma University, Eric Maddox said that Robert Pattinson will probably wear it, did you include it in your work?

"Eric Maddox wore the same blue oxford shirt throughout his intelligence effort to help locate Saddam Hussein, and we included that costume choice as part of Maddox's character in the screenplay. Whether Robert will be wearing the actual shirt during the shoot is a question for the director, actor, and Staff Sergeant Maddox to answer."

7. Did you have a word in the castings? And in the choice for the place where it will be filmed?

"No, and no"

8. What do you think of Robert Pattinson's choice as the lead man?

"Robert Pattinson is a phenomenal choice. We were all thrilled when he came onboard. More importantly, after spending lengthy one-on-one time with Staff Sergeant Maddox, and getting Maddox's personal blessing to portray him in the movie ... he is the only choice."

9. What can you tell us (that nobody knows yet) about the movie or the project?

"All I can say is, you've never seen a story like this one, or experienced an intelligence, military or otherwise, like you will Staff Sergeant Maddox's in this film. His is truly a remarkable mind; I remain as much in awe of it now as I was after I first read the book, and I remain very proud to have been a small part of the process of bringing the man and his story to the screen"

10. Do you speak French (even for a little bit)?

"Non, je ne parle pas francais, sauf ... Commet Tu t'appeles? Je m'appelle Dylan. Ca va? Comme si Comme sa"

Follow Dylan Kussman on Twitter: @DylanKussman

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Eric Maddox Talks Mission: Blacklist

Eric Maddox, the author of Mission Blacklist #1, spoke to an audience of about 300 people this past Wednesday at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, about the process of finding and capturing Saddam Hussein. He shares what Rob might wear in the movie: the blue shirt we gave you a preview of almost a year ago :)

Maddox shared the story of the steps leading to the capture of Hussein in chronological order, only leaving out “little bitty elements” he was asked not to discuss due to the classified nature of these elements.  

This same story is encapsulated in his book, “Mission: Blacklist #1,” on which a movie will be based starring Robert Pattinson, who will play Maddox.

“Somebody wants to make a movie about my story - it’s very exciting,” Maddox said.
Maddox said he has already met and gotten to know Pattinson. 

“He’s a great guy,” Maddox said. “When they brought his name up to me, I had never heard of him before. I don’t believe in vampire movies and stories. I just didn’t know who he was.” 

Maddox said he wore a single blue shirt for months in his search for Hussein, with no other changes of clothes. The shirt has a bigmouth bass embossed on it, Velcro pockets and bloodstains. 

“I’ve still got it [the shirt.] I think Rob is gonna wear it in the movie,” Maddox said.
Maddox had to wait five years to tell his story and write the book due to the U.S. government preferring to keep it classified, he said. 

“Since then, the United States government wanted me to endorse the movie, and wanted me to say who I am and what I do,” he said. 

While having accomplished the feat of capturing Hussein, Maddox said he wanted to stay very humble about his accomplishment.

Link to full article

What Drives Robert Pattinson and Pushing Comfort Zones

Robert Pattinson has being doing press for Breaking Dawn Part 2 and talking passionately about his upcoming project, Mission: Blacklist.

What drives him
As evidenced by recent choices -- including David Cronenberg's challenging "Cosmopolis," which featured him getting a prostate exam -- he's not afraid of risk. "I signed up for a lot of stuff in the last year. I was really fixated on working with a lot of people who are kind of dangerous," he says. "The business part of show business has really just taken a big s-- on the show aspect of it, and so I think anyone who has any visibility should be trying to do something that is really, really subversive. I think it would be interesting trying to get really subversive stuff into the mainstream. You're in the cinema not just as a consumer but as a participant." 

It's that sensibility that led him to sign up for the lead in "Mission: Blacklist," a film to be made in Iraq next year. "That's probably out of anybody's comfort zone," Pattinson offers of the film, which is based on a true story. "It's about this guy call Eric Maddox who was an Army interrogator who almost single-handedly found Saddam Hussein. No one really knows the story of it, and the story's absolutely amazing and kind of hilarious in some ways and bizarre." 

Comfort zones
That project teams Pattinson with French director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, who used real Liberian child soldiers for his last film. "I think that's like his thing," says Pattinson. "I wanted him to be in his comfort zone, so we were both pushing, saying we need to shoot this in Iraq -- that's the whole point." 

You can tell where his passions lie by the fact that, during this interview, the actor talks more about "Mission: Blacklist" than "Twilight." 

His Parents Warming Up to Him Filming In Iraq
The role requires Pattinson to film in Iraq, which understandably made his family members uncomfortable at first — but the actor thinks his loved ones are beginning to warm up to the idea.

"My parents seem to be coming around to it now," he said with a laugh. "That's strange. I don't know what happened."

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Rob mentions Mission: Blacklist during Cosmopolis US promo

Rob talks about Mission: Blacklist with Josh Horowitz on MTV First:

He says the director is in Iraq right now and is sending him pictures of possible locations. Rob knows it's difficult to shoot there and confirms that filming will start next year.

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In an interview with TIME Rob says they are going to shoot Mission: Blacklist in Iraq next summer.

Here's an excerpt:

I’m going to make this movie [Mission: Blacklist] about Eric Maddox, an Army interrogator who was one of the major people responsible for finding Saddam Hussein. He was working with JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command], which isn’t supposed to exist, and they found Saddam Hussein by themselves but they couldn’t say it was them. The story is crazy, absolutely bizarre. It’s a really cool director called Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. We’re going to shoot in Iraq next summer. In January I’m doing this other movie [The Rover] with David Micôd, who did the Australian movie Animal Kingdom—a futuristic western with Guy Pearce.

Read the whole interview here.

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Rob talks haircut for Mission: Blacklist with Interview Germany

Here's the excerpt about MB:

Interview: Mr. Pattinson, your hair is long again. Last time, you had a crew cut. Did you cut your hair for Bel Ami or for Cosmopolis?
Robert Pattinson: Neither. That was for a movie where I play the soldier who found Saddam Hussein. The shooting should begin in the Spring, but was postponed to the Fall.

Read the Google Translated interview here.

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Magazine says Mission: Blacklist will be filmed entirely in Iraq starting next month

That's right. In this interview with Blackbook, "Rob's heart" says shooting starts next month and the movie will be entirely filmed in Iraq.
Here's an excerpt:

Ocasionally, I spike when something he reads intrigues me. Like his next drama by the French-Liberian director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire, who’s last film, Johnny Mad Dog, is about Congolese child soldiers. This one will be filmed entirely in Iraq. We leave next month. Perhaps there, the bullets whistling by, or at least the possibility that a bullet could whistle by, will cause me to throb.

You can read the whole article here.

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