Paramount has showcased our first look at Martin Freeman and Tina Fey in upcoming war satire, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Relaying the stills via USA Today, the studio has offered up precious few details about the adaptation, which is to be based on journalist Kim Barker’s wartime memoir, The Taliban Shuffle, though today’s first look at the darkly drama hints at Fey shipping off to the front lines.
“For me to get to do a movie where I fly in helicopters and shoot guns and run from explosions, that’s a treat,” Fey tells USA Today. “I don’t get to do any of those things on a daily basis.”
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Focus, Crazy, Stupid, Love) are behind the lens for this one, which will see Fey step into the shoes of Baker, chronicling her skirmishes as a photojournalist covering conflicts all across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Angled as a drama with comedic beats, Fey’s lead is very much the fish-out-of-water in these circumstances, though Whiskey Tango Foxtrot will still tackle the challenges of being a woman in wartime Afghanistan.
“I’m not supposed to be on SNL, I’m not supposed to be here making this movie.” Fey continued. “I should just be in suburban Pennsylvania being a high school teacher. The idea of someone having a very large life experience that no one would have expected was something very easy for me to connect with.”
Rounding out the preliminary cast list for the drama are Focus alum Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott and Billy Bob Thornton. 30 Rock scribe Robert Carlock is penning the screenplay, while Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – military speak that is interchangeable with the ol’ WTF acronym – is slated for a release on March 4, 2016.
