Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the award-winning team behind The Hurt Locker, have kicked their film project about the search for Osama Bin Laden into high gear. The black ops indie film, thanks to very recent events, may now have the perfect ending. Not only a Hollywood ending, but the first big star attached. 24 Frames reports that rising star Joel Edgerton will be playing an operative in the upcoming film, which has the fitting working title of Kill Bin Laden.
Edgerton will play a special operative in a team of male commandos. No other names have been attached yet, but the Australian actor’s participation is a good sign. Apparently, Edgerton passed on the chance to star opposite Twilight darling Kristen Stewart in the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman to take on a role in Bigelow’s project. And who wouldn’t? Edgerton’s name has been popping up more and more of late, as he’s co-starring in upcoming Warrior with Tom Hardy (talk about sudden, meteoric rises), and starring in The Thing reboot.
American operatives couldn’t have chosen a better time to find and kill terrorist icon Osama Bin Laden, as Hollywood could really use the happy ending. The Kill Bin Laden story was to surround the failed attempts and futile search for Bin Laden, but now it can have the resolution it deserves. The fact-based action thriller may have the consultation of an actual member of the black ops commando team that have been tracking, and finally brought down, Bin Laden.
Set to shoot this summer, there remain the filming logistic concerns. The filming location and security are major issues, and screenwriter Boal has postponed a trip to Afghanistan until the dust settles and everyone involved can gauge the response to Bin Laden’s death in the Arab world.
This film, especially now, is highly relevant. But I’m wondering if the subject matter is still too-sensitive, or if it won’t feel like yet another Hollywood attempt to capitalize on tragic world current events?