Aussie filmmaker David Michod was the writer and/or director of two of my favorite films of 2010, Animal Kingdom (as director and writer) and Hesher (as writer), but this latest project should emboner even the most casual fan. According to Variety, Michod is attached to write and direct an adaptation of Michael Hastings’ The Operators, about military dysfunction during the Afghanistan war, with Brad Pitt attached to star in some unspecified role.
“Animal Kingdom” director David Michod will write and direct “The Operators,” with Brad Pitt attached to star. Plan B, New Regency and RatPac Entertainment will co-finance and produce. [Variety]
Yes, Brett Ratner is also helping to finance it, but he’s mostly just a silent partner these days, probably the way it always should’ve been.
Here’s the Amazon description of the book:
In the shadow of the hunt for Bin Laden and the United States’ involvement in the Middle East, General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was living large. His loyal staff liked to call him a “rock star.” During a spring 2010 trip, journalist Michael Hastings looked on as McChrystal and his staff let off steam, partying and openly bashing the Obama administration. When Hastings’s article appeared in Rolling Stone, it set off a political firestorm: McChrystal was unceremoniously fired.
In The Operators, Hastings picks up where his Rolling Stone coup ended. From patrol missions in the Afghan hinterlands to senior military advisors’ late-night bull sessions to hotel bars where spies and expensive hookers participate in nation-building, Hastings presents a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of what he fears is an unwinnable war.
There was a piece on the Afghan debacle on VICE a few weeks ago about all the money we have and continue to waste over there, as well as a pretty good documentary about the same thing from a few years ago, This is What Winning Looks Like (which I believe is on YouTube for free). I haven’t read The Operators yet, but it sounds like it’s the other side of the coin, focusing more on screwups in leadership that trickled down. I think I’d be interested in this no matter who was directing, but now that I know it’s David Michod I’m doubly embonered (Michod has The Rover coming out this summer). No word yet on what role Brad Pitt will play, but hopefully something that will break him out of the Aldo Raine accent that he even used when playing a Canadian in 12 Years A Slave.