Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #31. Matthew Heineman’s A Private War

A Private War

Having built a solid resume so far as a filmmaker on the front lines, it’s perhaps not unfathomable that he was taped to bring Marie Colvin’s story to the big screen. As we mentioned before, it takes one to know one. Matthew Heineman‘s award winning Cartel Land (read review) was quickly followed that with City of Ghosts (2017). Between docu features, trade news broke out that Heineman was indeed working on the biopic (there are competing projects in the works with Tobias Lindholm tapped to as well) and this past October Jamie Dornan was confirmed to co-star alongside Rosamund Pike. Filming took place in London and Jordan.

Based on the screenplay by Arash Amel and article by Marie Brenner, Colvin became the most celebrated war correspondent of her era. She was known as a woman as comfortable downing Martinis with the posh elite of high-society as she was staring down warlords and fleeing from gunfire. Driven by an enduring desire to bear witness and give voice to the voiceless, Colvin’s conflict zone coverage included Chechnya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, where she lost her left eye in 2001. She wore a distinctive eye patch after that, and died in early 2012 during a rocket attack covering the civil war in Syria for the UK’s Sunday Times. With Cinematographer Robert Richardson being was added to the mix, this should look good, and feel right.

Release Date/Prediction: This could be dropped in 2019, but TIFF could be an ideal landing spot. Look for more trade news around Cannes time in terms of which distributor picks this up.