December 2005 (Back to Index)
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Bana's Dream Was Better in Reality
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December 31, 2005 Written By: Angela Dawson Source: NorthJersey.com
There are some calls you dream of getting in Hollywood. When Australian actor Eric Bana got word that Steven Spielberg wanted to talk with him, he couldn't get to the meeting fast enough. Bana had no idea what Spielberg wanted, but the actor was prepared to agree to just about anything when he showed up on the set of "The Terminal," the Tom Hanks movie that Spielberg was shooting at the time.
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| Eric at 'Munich' premiere in LA
Photo Provided By Raev |
Sitting outside his trailer on lunch break, the Oscar-winning director of "Schindler's List" told Bana his plans to make a film about the aftermath of the Palestinian terrorist attack on 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He asked Bana to star as the young leader of a secret Israeli hit squad, whose mission was to track down and kill the masterminds of the attack.
Spielberg had seen Bana in Ang Lee's adaptation of "Hulk" and said that he recognized in him "a warmth, strength and trickle of fear behind his eyes." Those qualities were similar to what he envisioned for his drama's main character, Avner, a young Israeli patriot and intelligence officer assigned to head a five-man hit squad.
Bana, who said he had admired Spielberg from the time he was a boy in Melbourne, Australia, watching "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," signed on even before seeing Tony Kushner's completed script.
Having wrapped "Munich" a couple of months ago, Bana discussed the process of making the film.
Q. What was your experience in making "Munich"?
It was exciting, tough, rewarding and brutal. It also was fun, believe it or not.
Q. What most appealed to you about the project?
It was the director, the material and the character. I couldn't believe my luck when I read the script. I already was hooked on what the story was about and the fact that Steven was directing it. Then, when I read the script and it was so great, I couldn't have been more excited. I realized what a complex character I was going to play. Before shooting I talked to Steven about my plans and his plans for the character. We discussed this notion of how it was going to be a reverse direction [from the typical assassin character]. He was going to start out innocent and questioning and then become a cold, hard killer. Then we see him questioning things at the very end.
Q. Did you meet anyone from the Mossad (Israel's CIA equivalent) or anyone that worked for the Israeli government at that time?
I did. I was able to meet with the gentleman on whom my character is based.
Q. Has he seen the movie?
I believe he has.
Q. What was his reaction?
I can't go into it. I can't speak on his behalf.
Q. How aware were you of the historic events before you got the role?
I knew a little bit about it. I love sports, so I would always watch the Olympics. I was brought up to speed with what happened in Munich every time the Olympics were on and people would talk about it. Then I learned quite a bit about the Mossad when I was researching "Black Hawk Down." I was [at the] Telluride [Film Festival] with an earlier film of mine, "Chopper," when "One Day in September" [a documentary about the attack] was there. I didn't know about the retribution side of it until after that documentary. When I knew I was going to be doing this, I read as much as I could about it.
Q. How open was Spielberg to your suggestions?
Ridiculously open. Obviously, the script was the script, but in terms of ideas I had for my character, I was constantly in shock about how interested he was in what I had to say. He's open to the moment and what's in front of you, and has so many brilliant ideas of his own. It's the best of both worlds. As a result of that environment, you're prepared to do anything [for him]. You get an extra spring in your step, there's no doubt about it. He genuinely loves people. After a few weeks of shooting, I remember thinking, that's why he's "that" filmmaker. It's no coincidence he's made all those amazing films or that his films speak to so many people. You can't do that without being interested in people in a real sense. I remember really being excited by that.
Q. What do you think this film is about?
This may sound simplistic, but it's about what happened. What happened was a terrible set of circumstances and a lot of controversial actions. I don't think the film seeks to resolve centuries of conflict or anything like that. It can't, and it doesn't. The movie is about what it's about.
Q. What's your next film?
It's called "Romulus, My Father." We start filming in April in Australia.
Q. After "Hulk," would you consider doing another superhero role?
No. One's enough. One superhero in a lifetime is enough. My good friend Hugh Jackman's done a couple, so between the two of us, we're done.
Eric Bana's Killer Role
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December 30, 2005
Written By: John Anderson
Source: NYNewsday.com
Following a typically intense round of shooting on the new Steven Spielberg movie, "Munich," Eric Bana retired to his hotel room, intending to take off the day's makeup. He got a washcloth, stood in front of the bathroom mirror and started scrubbing.
"I was washing my face, wiping under my eyes, trying to get the black and red stuff off. But there was no difference in the mirror, no markings on the towel," Bana recalled. "And I was like, 'The makeup artist used something he hasn't used before ...'
And it slowly sunk in," the actor said, "that I'd taken my makeup off an hour earlier. I was looking at myself completely as I appear at the end of the film. And that was pretty spooky."
The physical deterioration of Bana's character, Avner - a conflicted Israeli assassin - might have been less pronounced, had the pace of the filmmaking been a little slower, the globe-trotting grind a little less severe. Isn't shooting a Spielberg film supposed to put an actor in the relative lap of luxury?
"That's what makes it the lap of luxury, in all honesty," Bana said of the breakneck production. "There was such a concerted effort that nothing else really mattered. And it was great, really great. We were moving around to all these places, no big trailer, nothing lavish, nowhere to hang out. I think it serves the film."
A Mossad squad leader
In "Munich" - Spielberg's thriller about Israel's revenge for the massacre of 11 of its Olympians at the 1972 Munich games - Bana's character leads a select band of Mossad agents as they scour the world, assassinating the Black September terrorists held responsible. The hostage-taking briefly paralyzed the world, and provoked Israel into making a years-long statement in blood. But the movie's ostensible point - the controversial one concerning the futility of terrorism, vengeance and violence - was hardly discussed during the moviemaking, Bana said.
"We might have been doing one, two, sometimes three different pieces of film on a given day, and [Spielberg] was so into each particular moment, each particular sequence, that that's where all the energy was focused."
Bana, dressed in what at first appeared to be a slacker's flannel shirt - until one took notice of the richness of both the lavender color and the fabric - had his watch set to Australian time, so he wouldn't call the wife and kids at home in Sydney in the middle of the night, and because he wasn't going to be in town long enough to adjust to Pacific Standard Time.
"I was boogie-boarding with my son on Manly Beach in Sydney," he said, "and 15 hours later, I was in my hotel room in Los Angeles." Mere days before the movie's opening, Bana had flown in for two days of 11th-hour press appearances, an odd promotional strategy for a film whose subject and style, while fascinating, seemed to warrant a bit more of a bump onto the public radar.
A bump from Time
"Universal's publicity team was just following Spielberg's tune," said Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood columnist and Oscar watcher. "'Let the movie speak for itself,' etc." That is, until Time magazine ran its cover story on Spielberg, calling "Munich" his "Secret Masterpiece" and raising the level of anticipation on a film that probably would have benefited from a slightly lower set of expectations. Box office has been considered disappointing (although Bana's performance has garnered respectful reviews even from critics who disliked the movie). The lack of a Golden Globes nomination for best picture doesn't bode well, either. And as far as winning best picture at the Oscars, Wells said, "'Munich' is dead, dead ... deader than dead."
Which, if true, won't do much for Bana's career: in rewinding order his roles include his brawny Hector, in the less-than-rapturously received "Troy"; the title role in "Hulk"; the voice of Anchor in "Finding Nemo"; and the role of Delta Sgt. First Class Norm "Hoot" Gibson in "Black Hawk Down." Curtis Hanson's upcoming "Lucky You" may prove a winning bid to put the actor over on worldwide audiences, which shouldn't take much effort for the handsome actor. (Fans who call themselves "Bana-tics" have their own Web sites). Even under a two- day growth of beard and what must have been considerable sleep deprivation - a condition he got used to during "Munich" - Bana, who is 37, exuded relaxed charm.
"Eric's like a regular Aussie boy," said Margaret Pomeranz, the longtime co-host (with Variety critic David Stratton) of "The Movie Show," a staple of Australian TV. "They've got something real about them on screen." What most Americans don't know is that Bana first became famous via television comedy, on the Aussie shows "Full Frontal" and later, "Eric." "That's where I first met him," Pomeranz said. "They asked me on the show to do a comedy turn with him where he pretended to be David Stratton. Incredibly funny. He's a standup comedian, you know, and he's enormously nice and down-to-earth. You always wonder whether Hollywood is going to turn these kids into monsters, and it doesn't seem to have happened with Eric. I think both he and Guy Pearce maintain their roots and their lives here, in a sort of sensible way."
Bana made an enormous career leap, she said, with his 2000 film "Chopper," about the murderer, bestselling prison author and fabulist Matt "Chopper" Read. "Then, it was take-off time."
Asked about his trajectory - going from sketch comedy to a Spielberg production in five years - Bana laughed. "You'd be insane, either insane or a genius," he said of the likelihood of planning such a path. "It's ridiculous in a way. It's what you dream, but you certainly don't think it's going to happen." He conceded that some projects have been less successful than others - "Hulk," for instance ("Nobody's talking about any sequel," he said). But he said he was just "trying to find great work."
"And I was lucky," he said, "that an early film [like 'Chopper'] enabled me to showcase a lot of stuff and a really amazing character, and it opened a lot of doors. Obviously, you have to try to keep the door open after that."
The Comic Who Turned Into an Assassin
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December 29, 2005
Written By: Laura M. Holson
Source: NewYorkTimes.com
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 28 - At a pivotal moment in Steven Spielberg's "Munich," Avner - an assassin hired to kill those responsible for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics - shreds his mattress in a paranoid rage, looking for enemy explosives, before climbing into a closet to hide. The hunter has become the hunted.
Thus Eric Bana, who plays the role, once more realizes the character for which Hollywood knows him best: a conflicted warrior trapped by the moral ambiguities around him.
Mr. Bana has been there as Hector in "Troy," as Bruce Banner in "Hulk" and as an American soldier trapped in a futile gun battle with Somali warlords in "Black Hawk Down." Even in his Australian breakthrough role in 2000 as the real-life convict Mark (Chopper) Read, Mr. Bana's somewhat sociopathic character, as he sees it, kills to avoid being killed first.
"I am attracted to characters who think they are in control, but their situation is uncontrollable," Mr. Bana said, reflecting on both "Munich" and his career precedents in an interview last week at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills. "It is deeper, more interesting. The more troubled they are, the more interesting the part."
Playing a murderous assassin or battle-worn soldier might seem an odd choice, given that Mr. Bana, 37, spent nearly a decade as a stand-up comedian and television comedy actor in his native Australia. But, like his colleagues from down under, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, he has consistently been drawn to challenging directors, among them Ridley Scott, Ang Lee and Wolfgang Petersen.
"The movies people don't talk about or remember after six months' time don't really matter," Mr. Bana said.
If "Munich" and its uncertain hero have provoked public debate, they have only enhanced Mr. Bana's professional reputation as a sure-footed actor.
"He is an amazing mimic," said Jeff Robinov, president of production at Warner Brothers Pictures, which produced "Troy," as well as the forthcoming "Lucky You," in which Mr. Bana stars. "He comes prepared and is committed. He gave the role of Hector weight and humanity. That is very challenging for an actor."
Eric Banadinovich was born in 1968, the younger of two sons who grew up in a suburb not far from the Melbourne airport. Like many performers, Mr. Bana says that his show business career got started, in part, because he wasn't very good at math.
"I was distracted," he said, noting that he was forced to repeat 11th grade because his marks were so dismal. "I wasn't going to be a college kid. The only subject I was interested in was English. I think I had a subconscious interest in analyzing story."
Instead Mr. Bana was more interested in car racing, still a passion, and riding his BMX bicycle around the fields near his house. "We watched a lot of news, but we didn't have a lot of political arguments," he said of growing up. "We'd argue more over sports or car racing."
After high school, Mr. Bana spent six months driving around the United States in a used car he bought in New York City, then traveled to Europe before heading back home to Melbourne, where he still lives. There he worked odd jobs until 1990, when, on a dare from a friend, he decided to try out as a comedian at a stand-up comedy club and liked it.
"I was never a joke teller or jumped onstage at a party," Mr. Bana said. "But this was a kick in the pants."
Indeed, Mr. Bana does not exhibit the manic energy of other comics turned actors, like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. (He is a fan of Richard Pryor and named his 13-year-old husky Jo Jo Dancer after a character Mr. Pryor played in 1986.) He conceded that becoming a comedian was something of an act of desperation, as he had no other career options then.
He spent much of his early 20's traveling with friends and performing in clubs. He recalled one night onstage in a rowdy country bar outside Melbourne where 400 people had gathered to hear a fellow performer. "They were not prepared for me," he said. They heckled and booed him.
"I was watching myself die," Mr. Bana said. "I got through a quarter of the act and I just walked off, went backstage and drank a cold beer."
In 1993, Mr. Bana joined the Australian sketch comedy series "Full Frontal" (where he met his future wife, Rebecca) as a writer and performer, staying for four years. Among his creations was a character named Peter ("Pronounced Poida," he explained), whom he described as a redneck who would ask actual politicians and other notables unseemly questions. Mr. Bana laughed when he recalled a sketch in which he asked John Wayne Bobbitt whether he wanted to "chuck a spaz" after his wife, Lorena, severed his penis with a kitchen knife in their Virginia apartment. ("Chuck a spaz" is Australian slang for "throw a fit.")
In 1997 Mr. Bana starred in six solo one-hour comedy television specials. But by then, "I was getting negative and bored," he said. "I decided it was time to mix things up. So I tried out for 'Chopper.' "
To prepare for the role of Mr. Read, a convict turned crime novelist whose antics captivated the Australian press, Mr. Bana gained 35 pounds, shaved his curly hair and, some days, spent five hours in makeup having fake tattoos painted on his body. He perused Mr. Read's prison records and studied the lives of his enemies and victims, too. He even spent a weekend with Mr. Read, a visit that is recorded on the DVD version of the film.
"I let it completely control my subconscious," he said of the role. "I just always felt like him. The more I love the character, the harder it is to get it wrong. I have to get to a point that I can speak for them."
When it comes to "Munich" and the reluctant assassin Avner, Mr. Bana professes still to have unsettled emotions. "I'm still confused by it, how to feel about what is happening," he said. "Are they good guys? Have they gone too far? I wonder about the bloodlust. It makes me feel confused and uncomfortable. Perhaps the zone of uncomfortability is the message."
But hasn't warfare always been so, back to Troy and beyond? "I don't know," he said somberly. "It's obviously quite depressing."
'Munich' Soundtrack Will Be Released December 27th
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December 25, 2005
Press Release
MUNICH
DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG
WITH MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY
FIVE-TIME ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNER
JOHN WILLIAMS
**ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK IN STORES
DECEMBER 27TH ON DECCA/ UMG SOUNDTRACKS**
(December 15, 2006- New York, NY)- Steven Spielberg directs an international cast in Munich, a suspense thriller set in the aftermath of the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.. The film stars Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down), Daniel Craig (Layer Cake), Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Mathieu Kassovitz (Birthday Girl), Hanns Zischler (Walk On Water) and Ciarán Hinds (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera). Five-time Academy Award®-winner, John Williams lends his musical talents to the film by composing and conducting the magnificent soundtrack to be released on Decca/UMG Soundtracks December 27th.
Williams has created some of the most powerful and enduring film music of our time. With this sweeping score, he puts forth a feeling of intense emotion that takes the listener on thought-provoking journey. The overall theme of the soundtrack seems to be one of desperation and despair- a plea for world peace. “The Tarmac at Munich” showcases Lisbeth Scott’s beautiful vocals which drip of desolation and loneliness. Many of the tracks feature authentic Palestinian sounds for which Williams employed the oud- a Middle Eastern lute, the cimbalom- a Hungarian zither, as well as clarinet and strings for the feel of the Orient.
With a career spanning over four decades, Williams has received 46 Oscar® nominations (more than any living person), and has won 5 Oscars®, 18 Grammy® Awards, 4 Golden Globes, 4 Emmy® Awards and 6 BAFTA Awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. His first Oscar® was for 1971’s Fiddler on the Roof. He reached a turning point in his career when Steven Spielberg approached him to score his early movies. In quick succession, this led to Williams’ second Oscar®, for Jaws, and his introduction to George Lucas, who then hired him to score the Star Wars saga, bringing him his third Oscar®. He later went on to compose music for a host of blockbusters, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. (winning Oscar® number 4), and the Indiana Jones movies. After his 5th Oscar® win (for Schindler’s List), John maintained an extraordinary creative pace composing with scores for nine films in just four years including Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot. On June 23, 2000, he became the first inductee into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Williams also served as musical director for the 74th annual Academy Awards® in March of 2002, where he received his 40th and 41st nominations for his scores for the films Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Williams received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in December of 2004 and most recently received 2 Grammy nominations for his Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith score and 1 nomination for War of the Worlds in the Best Instrumental Composition category.
Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures present an Amblin Entertainment-Kennedy/Marshall-Barry Mendel Production, a Steven Spielberg film, Munich. This dramatic exploration inspired by true events follows a secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and kill the eleven Palestinians suspected to have planned the Munich attack -and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it. The film opens in limited release on December 23rd and goes wide on January 6th.
'Munich' - Movie Review A+
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December 24, 2005
Written By: Brian Tallerico
Source: Ugo.com
What price are we willing to pay for revenge? If you punch me, can I punch you back? And then, where do we go from there? As the President of the United States interrupts primetime television to defend the war in Iraq and himself against charges of spying on Americans, Steven Spielberg unleashes a film that couldn't be more timely. 'Munich', the tale of the Israelis who killed the men who orchestrated the assassinations of the Olympic athletes in 1972, may be directly about what happened three decades ago but the parallel to today couldn't be more direct. In fact, both of Spielberg's films this year have been veiled comments on the current state of America in a post-9/11 world. War of the Worlds represented the attack and the panic that it caused while Munich is about what happened when we chose to turn around and fight back. Next year brings the first major films directly based on the events of 9/11 (including one by Oliver Stone), but Spielberg has already made a one-two punch statement about that fateful day and, with the final blow of Munich, he's also made one of the best films of the year.
Perhaps the biggest (and maybe only) flaw with Munich is the title. Tony Kushner and Eric Roth's Oscar-worthy script is based on the book Vengeance by George Jonas and through most of its production was titled after its source. It should have kept that title, because that's what 'Munich' is truly about - vengeance. But Kushner, Roth and Spielberg all know that the issue of vengeance is not easily resolved with a right or wrong answer. Vengeance, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is a cyclical, never-ending spiral. And yet it's hard to argue that the men who orchestrated the brutal killings (not visually spared by Spielberg, who delivers his most strikingly graphic film since Saving Private Ryan) didn't deserve a little payback. The interesting thing about Munich is the commentary that Spielberg and crew are making about what happens after you make the decision to fight back. What does it do to you?
What it does to Avner, the leader of the covert Israeli group sent around Europe to find vengeance, makes for one of the most riveting political thrillers in recent memory. As with most issues like this, it starts simply enough, with Avner working with his team to move down the list of perpetrators. However, each job gets a little more complicated, and it's hard not to read more than just the facts into Kushner and Roth's take on how it all went down. The first kill goes off without a hitch, but the second involves the target's family members and, later, innocent bystanders get into the mix. Soon enough, the violence comes home to the team and the paranoia starts to set in. Kushner, Roth, and Spielberg paint vengeance as a deep hole and, to some critics' dismay, don't take a predictable stance, failing to tell their audience "don't go down there" as much as they say "if you do, be prepared to never come back."
Spielberg wisely avoids the typical big faces that he associates with (like Hanks or Cruise) and casts a very strong ensemble headed by an Oscar-worthy performance by Eric Bana. As Avner, who's in almost every scene in the film, Bana has to carry the entire project on his shoulders and nails every emotional cue without overplaying a scene. Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush and Ciaran Hinds also do strong supporting work, but this isn't an acting piece. There are no showy monologues about the nature of revenge. In fact, this is Spielberg at his most restrained, making a film that feels more like a '70s political thriller than the family magic he's known for. Even his serious work (Ryan, 'Schindler's List') had big emotional currents to ride to Oscar glory but you won't find such tears in 'Munich'. Spielberg stands back and, through the brilliant eye of his cinematographer Janusz Kaminksi and the words of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kushner, lets the story work for itself, getting under your skin and haunting you for days.
And we'd be ignorant to not think that the story of Munich would have some resonance in today's world. Some have already jumped on 'Munich' for not taking a strong enough stance, and yet, others have decried the film for being anti-Semitic. Neither point really gets the film - Spielberg merely wants you to think about the world we live in and what we, as a culture, are willing to do to "make things right." We live in a new century defined by vengeance, where the man behind 9/11 still runs free and we watch Saddam Hussein on trial every night on the evening news. Where do we go from here? With 'Munich', Steven Spielberg doesn't answer that question, but makes a film that sticks with you by forcing you to ask.
'Munich' Opens in the USA Today
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December 23, 2005
Munich' opens in the USA today. I hope all the USA Eric Bana fans have gotten a ticket and able to see the movie today.
Yeah Eric !!
Yeah Eric !!
I can't wait to see it !!
Christy:)
Webmaster
'Munich' LA Movie Premiere
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December 21, 2005
Provided By: Jewels
Source: Hello Magazine.com
When filming on Steven Spielberg's latest oeuvre 'Munich' began last June, the movie was surrounded by so many rumors and such a lot of criticism that details about the film were kept quiet. Its Malta, Budapest, New York and Paris sets were closed to journalists, while only a handful of the cast actually got to see a complete script.
All was finally revealed this week, however, as stars Eric Bana and Daniel Craig - who presumably were among those privy to the whole picture – turned out for a screening in Los Angeles. The pair joined director Steven on the red carpet for the showing of his long-awaited period piece.
Australian Eric plays Avner Kauffman, the anguished head of one of the hit teams sent out to revenge his slain countrymen, while British actor Daniel, who was recently cast as the new 007, takes on the role of a South African hit man.
Other members of the cast also came from far flung corners of the world. "It was like going to the UN every day," says Eric. "There was always plenty of rich social and political discussion, no doubt about it."
Bana Promotes His Favorite Australian Bands
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December 20, 2005
Source: Contact Music.com
Actor ERIC BANA is helping to spread the popularity of bands from his native Australia, by taking their music to his movie sets.
The 37-year-old 'Troy' star is convinced star is convinced his efforts have started to pay off - he even introduced director Steven Spielberg onto one of his favorite rock bands when they filmed 'Munich' together.
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He says, "I make it a mission to take Australian music with me when I'm on films. I'm the official Hollywood ambassador for POWDERFINGER. Spielberg love them now."
All About 'Romulus My Father'
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December 18, 2005
Written & Provided By: Stardust
Eric is playing the role of Romulus, himself.
"The lead is Eric Bana. We asked Rob what look or type of actors he was after. He mentioned that he needs a child actor to play Eric Bana's characters son." (QuietOnSet.com.au)
"Although we won't see it on the screen until 2007, one of the most talked-about projects is an adaptation of Raimond Gaita's bestselling 1998 memoir, Romulus, My Father. The film, the first to be directed by Richard Roxburgh, will star Eric Bana." (Entertainment.New.com.au)
Eric says, "I'm delighted to have the opportunity to work on this production," Bana says. "I found the book very moving and was thrilled to read the screenplay adaptation. "The opportunity to team together with Richard on his first feature is one that I'm very excited about, having always had immense respect for him as an artist. I'm also obviously very much looking forward to working at home and being able to go to the football on the weekends." (PerthFilms.com)
For information about the book, itself: Maldon.org.au
Some pictures of Maldon, Australia, where the movie will be shot.
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'Munich' Interview Screen Captures
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December 18, 2005
Source: Hollywood.com
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Celeb Spotlight: Eric Bana
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December 18, 2005
Written By: KC Baker & Serena Kappes
Provided By: Jewels
Source: People.com
Age: 37
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Current gig: Playing an Israeli secret agent in the Steven Spielberg directed drama 'Munich'
Spielberg anointed him
Upon meeting Bana, director Steven Spielberg knew he was the right actor for the emotionally complex role of conflicted Israeli secret-service operative Avner Kauffman. "There is something about killing people at close range that is excruciating," Spielberg told Time. "It's bound to try a man's soul, so it was very important to me to show Avner struggling to keep his soul intact." In the film based on a true story, Bana leads a team assigned to kill the Palestinian terrorists held responsible for assassinating 11 Israel athletes at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.
Bana's name had actually been bandied about to play another secret-agent man - James Bond - before the role ultimately went to his Munich costar, Daniel Craig.
He knows funny
Though he's best known for his dramatic roles - a serial killer in his 2000 Aussie breakout film Chopper; a military man in 2001's Black Hawk Down; and Brad Pitt's nemesis Hector in 2004's Troy - Bana was first known as a funnyman in his homeland. In 1992, after trying his hand at stand-up, he joined the cast of the Australian sketch-comedy TV show Full Frontal before getting his own comedy series, Eric, four years later.
Bana displayed his gift for mimicry early on. As a high-school senior at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School, Bana – the son of Ivan, a Croatian-born logistics manager at a construction-equipment company, and Eleonare, a German-born former hairdresser – won the annual talent show by impersonating his teachers. "He had the mannerisms, the voices," says former teacher Tony Larkin. "All this talent was there with Eric."
He gets his motor running
When he's not working (upcoming roles include a professional poker player in the drama Lucky You, alongside Drew Barrymore), Bana likes to hit the road. "I've always been a bit of a car freak," he admits. At home in Melbourne, he'll spend weekends with childhood pal Tony Romano tuning up his vehicles - including his 1974 Ford XB Coupe, which he's owned since he was 15. "We get in the garage and tinker away," says Romano. "He's not one to pay someone to do something for him - he does it himself."
Bana isn't afraid to get down-and-dirty for his roles either: He and Troy costar Brad Pitt did all their own stunts for their deadly fight scenes in the epic film. "I got quite a few whacks," says Bana. "I've got a little Brad Pitt scar - it's tiny, but it'll be there forever. It's called a full-fledged backhand fist to the face."
He's a Down Under boy
Despite his growing presence in Hollywood films, Bana has no plans to move to Tinseltown. "It would make as much sense to move to London, really," he explains. "There's no real point in moving (to L.A.). It makes a lot of sense to stay where I am."
And though he's often a tough guy in his movie roles, with his family he's a big softy. "He's a great dad," says wife Rebecca. "The kids have a second mom with him - they really do."
Maldon Featured in Film
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December 17, 2005
Written By: James Silver
Source: The Advertiser.com
If you have seen an Eric Bana look-alike walking around Maldon this week, don't be surprised. Early filming on the adaptation of Raimond Gaita's novel Romulus, My Father, began this week. The film tells the story of Romulus Gaita, a migrant who moved to Baringhup with his family in the 1950s. Bana, the star of Troy and Chopper, will play Romulus, while Run Lola Run star Franka Potente will play his wife Christine. This week's filming focused on capturing the central Victorian landscape before the wheat harvest takes place. The major part of the filming will start in April.
Bana was not involved in this week's filming, with a double standing in for him.
In coming months, Bana will be busy promoting his latest film, 'Munich'. Bana is the early favorite to win an Oscar for the film, which was directed by Steven Spielberg.
Gaita is confident Potente, who has also appeared in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Identity, will bring with her the passion and vulnerability needed for the role of Christine.
"She has real intensity in her eyes, and that's what is needed for someone like my mother," he said. "Not a classical beauty, but in the way Cate Blanchett can look really beautiful sometimes, and sometimes not at all, she also has that marvelous intensity in her eyes."
Maldon will feature prominently in the film, and Castlemaine or Maryborough will also be featured. Poet and playwright Nick Drake has adapted the story for the screen.
"When I talked to the screenwriter, I said the big thing is that this has to happen under a big, big sky in a way the Greek tragedies happen under a big Greek sky," Gaita said. "It's the same sort of color."
On the Cover of Men's Health Magazine
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December 16, 2005
Provided By: Mindy
Source: Men's Health Magazine.com
Eric will be on the cover of USA's Men's Health Magazine in February of 2006.
Count Down for the Release of 'Munich'
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December 12, 2005
Source: IMDB.com
| Country | Release Dates for 'Munich' |
| Argentina | January 26, 2006 |
| Australia | February 9, 2006 |
| Belgium | January 25, 2006 |
| Estonia | January 20, 2006 |
| Finland | January 25, 2006 |
| France | January 25, 2006 |
| Germany | January 26, 2006 |
| Hungary | January 26, 2006 |
| Iceland | January 27, 2006 |
| Mexico | January 20, 2006 |
| Netherlands | January 26, 2006 |
| Russia | January 5, 2006 |
| Sweden | February 3, 2006 |
| Switzerland | January 25, 2006 (French) |
| Switzerland | January 26, 2006 (German) |
| Switzerland | February 3, 2006 (Italian) |
| UK | January 27, 2006 |
| USA | December 23, 2005 |
Making Sense of 'Munich'
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December 10, 2005
Written By: Los Angeles Correspondent Robert Lusetich
Source: The Weekend Australian.com
THE template for a Hollywood film with grand Academy Awards expectations usually involves securing the services of a well-known Oscar strategist. Steven Spielberg is taking a different route for Munich, his contentious recounting of the terror that rocked the 1972 Olympic Games and the subsequent campaign of bloody vengeance extracted by Israel.
He hired Bill Clinton's White House communications tsar Mike McCurry, Clinton's Middle East envoy Dennis Ross and a crisis public relations expert, Allan Mayer, to whom celebrities turn when the smelly stuff hits the fan. Instead of lavish previews for the Hollywood air-kissing crowd, Spielberg showed the film to influential members of the foreign policy establishment.
For me, as the first Australian journalist invited to see the film this week in Los Angeles, Spielberg's reasoning for turning to men such as McCurry, Ross and Mayer was obvious. He hasn't made a film, although it works well as a espionage thriller, as much as, in his own words, "a prayer for peace".
Munich is as powerful and thought-provoking as it is brutal and uncomfortable. It is a decidedly un-Spielbergian film, lacking his usual clever tugging of the heartstrings. There is no inclination on his behalf towards sentimentalism, no cinematic cue to reach for the tissue box. Munich is a story - quasi-fictional, as Spielberg concedes by saying it is only inspired by real events - told very simply and cleanly and without spin.
It is, above all, a political statement, made very clearly.
I didn't make this movie to make money," Spielberg says in his only published interview about it, in Time magazine. "And I don't know if I've made a commercial movie at all. But I certainly feel that if film-makers have the courage to talk about these issues - whether they're fictional representations of real events or are pure fiction or pure documentaries - as long as we're willing to talk about the real tough, hard subjects unsparingly, I think it's a good thing to get out in the ether."
Of course, other directors have made films that are controversial and take a stand on difficult subjects: none of them are Spielberg, though. He is not only the most famous film director - known for a string of hits for all tastes, from Schindler's List to Jurassic Park and this year's War of the Worlds - but he is also the most famous Jewish director.
Not just a Jew but a man who, after avoiding his religion for much of his early life, has grown to embrace his Jewishness, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to Jewish charities and causes. Yet Munich does not, as some pro-Palestinian observers feared, portray the Jews as heroes. It will not, one suspects, play well in Tel Aviv. Its essence is that there are no heroes in this quagmire, only victims, such as those 11 Israeli Olympians slaughtered on a German airfield in 1972; that the Middle East is not black-and-white but so many shades of gray.
The mechanism Spielberg uses is to deftly humanise the Arabs in Munich by showing them not just as religious zealots or sociopaths. "I think the thing I'm very proud of is that [screenwriter] Tony Kushner and I and the actors did not demonize anyone," Spielberg says. "We don't demonize our targets. They're individuals. They have families.
"There is a pivotal scene in which a Mossad agent and his Arab counterpart discuss why so many have had to die over this disputed land. The only thing that's going to solve this is rational minds, a lot of sitting down and talking until you're blue in the gills. [Without that scene] I would have been making a Charles Bronson movie: good guys v bad guys and Jews killing Arabs without any context. And I was never going to make that picture."
Courageously, Spielberg goes beyond just humanising the Arabs, addressing the moral ambiguity of Israel's relationship with its neighbors. Never is that made clearer than in the story of Avner Kauffman, played by Australian Eric Bana, who should expect an Oscar nomination for, above all, having the discipline to portray Kauffman and not Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible.
Bana plays a young Mossad agent given charge of a hit squad whose task it is to roam Europe and assassinate Arab figures believed to have been linked to the Black September group behind the Munich terror.
At first, Kauffman attends to the names as if they are items on a shopping list. He is assured by an unyielding belief that Israel is right to defend itself from terrorism. But as the mission continues, and death and treachery become pervasive, he starts to question whether killing a Palestinian as retribution for killing an Israeli will achieve anything. Beyond the tortured morality, as a purely practical matter he sees that the men he kills are quickly replaced and that those who succeed them are invariably more violent. Importantly, Kauffman also begins questioning his superior, played by fellow Australian Geoffrey Rush, about whether the men on the list had anything to do with Black September.
The answer is elusive. American journalist Aaron Klein, in his upcoming book, Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response, says Israel failed to get many of the terrorists behind Munich -- some are still alive -- but instead killed men with tenuous connections to Black September. In its desire to exact revenge, Israel found no shortage of targets.
"Our blood was boiling," Klein quotes a former Mossad agent as saying. "When there was information implicating someone, we didn't inspect it with a magnifying glass."
It was precisely this rush to judgment that resulted in the death of an innocent Moroccan waiter in Norway thought by Mossad to have been Ali Hassan Salameh, a Black September ringleader. This man, called the Red Prince, was eventually killed by Israeli assassins in Lebanon in 1979.
Those who wish to devalue Spielberg's message will question the historical correctness of what he has done. Although the movie's original working title was Vengeance, the name of Canadian George Jonas's book about Israel's miscues in hunting down Black September, Spielberg shied away from depending solely on that book. He retained an unnamed former hit-squad assassin as a technical adviser and argues that no one will really know what happened until the secret files are made public.
Jonas stands by his accounts even as many within Israel say his Kauffman, given as his main source, was in fact merely an El Al security official, not in Mossad.
Then there was the bizarre scenario in which Abu Daoud, the Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the attack, and Zvi Zamir, who headed Mossad at the time, both publicly complained that Spielberg did not seek their input. Or, as some cynics charged, that they were not put on the payroll.
It is little wonder that Spielberg has eschewed the traditional junket, in which stars and the director conduct hundreds of media interviews with outlets across the world to promote a film. Those around him say he did not want the film's main message - his prayer for peace - to be lost in peripheral questions. He wants the film to speak for itself.
In Israel, Munich is speaking a language few want to hear. Conservative Jews have been warning that Spielberg was going down the wrong path since he hired Kushner to rework a script that, for several years, no writer could get right.
While Spielberg's politics are left of centre, Kushner is, at least in the American political spectrum, so far left he's off the map. The gay playwright, who penned the acclaimed Angels in America about AIDS, views himself as a progressive Jew. There are those in Israel who don't see him that kindly.
"I deplore the brutal and illegal tactics of the Israeli Defence Forces in the occupied territories," Kushner said in an interview last year. Kushner also once called the founding of Israel "a historical, moral, political calamity ... I wish modern Israel hadn't been born".
The reaction from Zionists to the film has been damning. "Hitler was an individual; Hitler had a family," columnist Benjamin Shapiro wrote. "Does this make Hitler less of a demon? Does it make him more worthy of sympathy? It does not. Certain people deserve to be demonized because demonization is simply an accurate portrayal of their evil. The terrorists who slaughtered 11 Israeli Olympic athletes deserve no sympathy; they deserve the hatred of moral people the world over."
In condemning the film, former Jerusalem Post managing editor Calev Ben-David even wondered whether Spielberg was not really using Munich to comment on the US's own war on terror since September 11, 2001.
"By setting those concerns against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you will cleverly sidestep having to contend with the kind of overwhelming backlash you would face if your movie made any direct politically charged controversial statements about America's own current war on terror," he wrote.
Such a view also has been circulating throughout Hollywood, where it has escaped no one's attention that in the film's final scene the World Trade Centre's twin towers can be seen in the New York skyline.
Asked why he thought Spielberg was not promoting the film in the traditional way, a producer told Inquirer: "It's so sensitive a picture that it crosses over from the event to the current, and so becomes political. He is torn between promoting the movie and the [USA] Patriot Act."
Certainly Munich transcends merely the events surrounding those blood-soaked Olympics. But Spielberg says he supports Israel's right to respond strongly when it is threatened.
"At the same time, a response to a response doesn't really solve anything," he says. "It just creates a perpetual motion machine."
Movie Still Production Photos from 'Munich'
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December 6, 2005
Provided By: Uxia
Source: Coming Soon.net
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Spielburg Takes on Terror
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December 6, 2005
Written By: Richard Schickel
Source: Time.com
Munich adroitly blends high-pressure action and humanity in a historical story that's all about our times.
The first and most important thing to say about Munich, Steven Spielberg's new film, is that it is a very good movie--good in a particularly Spielbergian way.
By which one means that it has all the virtues we've come to expect when he is working at his highest levels.
It's narratively clean, clear and perfectly punctuated by suspenseful and expertly staged action sequences.
It's full of sympathetic (and in this case, anguished) characters, and it is, morally speaking, infinitely more complex than the action films it superficially resembles--pictures that simply pit terrorists against counterterrorists without an attempt to explore anyone's motives...
Time Magazine Issue will hit the stands on December 12, 2005.
Behind the Scenes Images from 'Munich', Courtesy of Time Magazine.
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Spielburg Avoids Hype Over 'Munich'
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December 3, 2005
Written By: Daniel Saney
Source: Digital Spy.com
Steven Spielberg is avoiding indulging in too much pre-release publicity for his upcoming Munich, insisting that audiences should be allowed to "make up their own minds".
Telling the story of the Isreali response to the slaughter of their athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by Palestinians, this week the film has been shown to leaders of Jewish and Muslim groups ahead of its release. Prior to this week, only director Spielberg, co-producer Kathleen Kennedy and co-writer Tony Kushner had seen the movie.
The director's publicist Marvin Levy told Reuters: "He didn't want to talk to anybody until people had a chance to see the film. He said, 'Let me make the movie, and then we'll show the movie, and everyone can make up their own minds."
Starring Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush and future Bond Daniel Craig, Munich will be released in the US on December 23.
'Munich' - A Risky Movie for Spielburg
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December 2, 2005
Written By: Ivor Davis
Source: The Jewish Journal.com
The billboards for Steven Spielberg’s new film “Munich,” which opens Dec. 23, will soon be sprouting on buses, benches and boulevards around the nation. The image is simple and stark. A lone man sits gloomily in a dark, heavily draped hotel room, his body sparely illuminated by the light of a single window. His shoulders are hunched disconsolately and a pistol dangles from his hand. He seems very much alone.
The legend notes: “The world was watching in l972 as 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. This is the story of what happened next.”
What happened next is at the heart of what could be Spielberg’s most daring, provocative and politically charged movie. Munich presents a fictionalized account of Israel’s decision to track down and kill the perpetrators of the Olympic massacre — quietly, systematically and ruthlessly. Something very much like this happened in reality, and that’s what happens in the film, too, which is loosely based on “Vengeance,” the nonfiction book by George Jonas, first published in 1984.
Five years in the making “Munich” presents Spielberg, who has pulled off blockbuster entertainments such as “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Los Ark” as well as critically acclaimed dramas with a formidable challenge, such as “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.”
The subject matter virtually guarantees that the film will satisfy almost no one with deep feelings about the subject or the politics of the Middle East.
Dramatically, Universal Studio and DreamWorks SKG are marketing the film as “a gripping, suspense thriller,” but the work is more than that for Spielberg personally and also for his reputation. Spielberg is a hero to many Jews and Israelis for creating the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which preserved the memories of 49,000 Holocaust victims. Spielberg has taken on a tailor-made talmudic dilemma: On the one hand if he painted the Israeli assassins as avenging heroes he would invoke the wrath of not only the entire Arab world but Europeans whose leftist governments and the people they serve, hold pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli positions.
On the other, if he attempts to make the Arab killers of the Israeli Olympic team in any way understandable as human beings (as for example in “Paradise Now,” the movie about Palestinian suicide bombers), if he ascribes to them motives that could make them seem less than monsters, Israelis and Jews around the world would be outraged.
“Munich for us was comparable to America’s September 11th,” said Reuven Merhav, one-time director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, who served in Israeli intelligence during the events portrayed in the film. “It’s Steven’s ‘Passion of The Christ,’” said a studio executive who worked on the movie in Europe. “He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. But he was determined to get the picture made and perhaps only he could have pulled it off.”
Spielberg based his movie partly on the book by the Hungarian-born, Toronto-based Jonas. This much-debated, dramatically told nonfiction account relates the story of “Avner,” the young Mossad agent recruited to head a team of five assassins tasked with killing 11 Arabs implicated in the Olympic killings.
Jonas’ primary source was Avner himself, who was the créme de la créme of the Israeli military, a young man who as a crack army officer had been unafraid to kill in battle. Turning himself into an assassin, however, almost destroyed him and his family, and it led him to profound moral questioning that eventually prompted him to leave the task unfinished and reject outright the concept of personal vengeance. Since its publication, critics have challenged whether Jonas got either the story right or its implied moral. Jonas’ book was the basis of a l986 television miniseries “Sword of Gideon,” starring Rod Steiger as the Mossad boss, Steven Bauer as the reluctant liquidator and Colleen Dewhurst as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
In the movie the lead roles are played by two Australian actors: Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush (“Shine”), who plays the assassin’s Mossad handler, and Eric Bana (“The Hulk” and “Troy”) as the guilt-ridden young Israeli recruited to set up a small team of experts in skills such as using explosives and forging documents.
The movie’s production was shrouded in secrecy, partly to avoid possible disruption to on-location shoots in Malta, which doubles for Israel, and Budapest, which stands in for Munich. In Manhattan, as part of the low-profile approach, the movie was called by the benign temporary title “Kings Cross.” In Paris (where Holocaust survivor Roman Polanski visited his set) and the rest of Europe, it was “Red Wine.”
Early previews of the film have simply not been available for reviewers, forcing scribes, including this one, to speculate about the movie’s content based on the trailer and on whatever other sourcing they can pry loose. For this article, a source close to the production provided information on a not-for-attribution basis. Spielberg, for his part, has offered some carefully worded official comments, as have some others associated with the film. Universal said the trio most responsible for the film — Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy and screenwriter Tony Kushner — were unavailable for interviews.
One thing, though, seems clear: Spielberg has vied to turn the tale into a personal crisis of conscience, trying to avoid glorifying one side or the other. At the same time, he believes that the lessons of the Munich attack and Israel’s revenge have relevance to today’s climate of unending bombings and targeted reprisals in the Middle East.
“Viewing Israel’s response to Munich through the eyes of the men who were sent to avenge that tragedy adds a human dimension to a horrific episode that we usually think about only in political or military terms,” Spielberg said in a statement. “By experiencing how the implacable resolve of these men to succeed in their mission slowly gave way to troubling doubts about what they were doing, I think we can learn something important about the tragic standoff we find ourselves in today.”
Spielberg became so caught up with the film that he abandoned the idea of directing “Memoirs of a Geisha,” allowing “Chicago’s” Rob Marshall to helm that film although Spielberg retains an executive producer credit.
He hired Pulitzer prize winning playwright Kushner (“Angels in America”) to rework the original scripts of Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) and Charles Randolph (“The Interpreter”). Kushner’s assignment was reportedly to “soften” the image of the Black September terrorists.
“Nobody’s going to admit that they wanted to soften things — and maybe that’s the wrong word,” said the source who worked on the Spielberg film. “But it was very clear to many that the earlier version of the Arabs was too simplistic and negative. So Kushner’s job was to make them more articulate and maybe even allow them to express their viewpoints — however distasteful — and to try and understand their motivations.”
“Steven wanted to know who he could get to make them human,” the source added. “Someone who understood and could posit the Palestinian point of view as well as articulate that with strong dialogue. He felt the early scripts dwelt too heavily upon the action — and not enough on the raison d’etre.”
In today’s political climate, Spielberg knew he couldn’t get away with making the terrorists one-dimensional heavies. The nasty Nazis of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” wouldn’t cut it.
Kushner, who is Jewish, co-edited 2003’s “Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish American Responses to the Israeli Palestine Conflict,” a book of essays by leading liberal Jewish lights including Arthur Miller and Susan Sontag, which expressed concern about the plight of the Palestinians. It was this reputation, along with his ability to write pungent theatrical dialogue, that convinced Spielberg that he was the person for the delicate job.
Although the movie credits Jonas’ l984 book, which is being re-issued, Spielberg publicist Marvin Levy insisted in an interview, “The book is not the book of our movie.”
In a phone conversation from his home office in Canada, “Vengeance” author Jonas emphasized that he had no involvement or creative control with “Munich.” He’d previously sold his movie rights. Jonas commented that the Spielberg film comes out in a world that has changed since his book was published in the early 1980s.
“It wasn’t until the 1990s that some governments actually began to acknowledge [that they engaged in covert counter terrorism],” he said. “Some 30 years ago the morality of counter-terrorism violence might have been questioned, and governments concealed their actions in that area.... By 2005 matters are more equivocal. Terrorists and counter terrorists came out into the open. Security forces’ assassinations are on CNN. Beheadings of hostages are shown on Al Jazeera [the Arab satellite TV news channel] and now terrorists routinely claim justifications for their acts. Political murder has started to be respectable.”
Spielberg’s retelling uses real live footage of ABC television’s spot coverage of the Black September massacre, complete with Jim McKay’s solemn wrap up: “They’re all gone.”
That is prologue, closely followed by the recruitment of the Israeli secret agent; the make up of his five-man team of experts, including British actor Daniel Craig (the screen’s new James Bond); and Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, last seen as Julius Caesar in HBO’s “Rome.” The agent’s assignment is clear: “You have 11 Palestinian names. Each had a hand in planning Munich. You are going to kill them — one by one,” his Mossad boss tells him.
In Spielberg’s movie, Prime Minister Golda Meir, who sits in her Jerusalem home, sipping tea and sharing fruit with the man chosen to lead the mission justifies the action by noting: “Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values.”
In “Munich” the revenge squad obsess about making sure only their targets are hit — and meticulous care is taken to avoid collateral damage. Yet in one shootout an innocent man is also slain.
(In reality the Israeli hit team, reportedly in pursuit of Palestinian Ali Hassen Salmeh, one of the key Munich plotters, mistakenly killed a Moroccan waiter named Ahmed Bouchiki in Lillehammer, Norway, in July l973.) The intense moral contortions the agents experience as the corpses pile up makes up the substance of the movie.
Before shooting began, Spielberg went to great lengths to vet the text, reportedly lining up a bevy of illustrious advisers, including former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross and former President Bill Clinton. Another evaluator was apparently Rabbi Levi Meier, the chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, who is close to the director and helped him when Spielberg’s actress wife Kate Capshaw converted to Judaism. Meier declined to confirm or deny his role.
The New York Times reported that Spielberg, also spoke with Clinton’s White House spokesman Mike McCurry as well as Los Angeles PR consultant Allan Mayer whose company specializes in crisis management, on how to cope with the expected firestorm.
Some critics didn’t wait for the movie’s release. Retired former Mossad chief Zvi Zamir questioned the film’s credibility — particularly if it was based on Jonas’ book.
“I am surprised that a director like Spielberg has chosen, out of all the sources, to rely on this particular book,” he told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
Spielberg has said Jonas’ book was not his compass: “The film is based on multiple sources including the recollections of some who participated in the events themselves.”
Retired Israeli diplomat David Kimche, a former Mossad agent in the aftermath of Munich, expressed similar misgivings.
“It’s very difficult to pass judgment about rumors, Kimche said. But “I find it repulsive to even try to condone the actions of the Black September terrorists. I think there’s been an effort to change the truth and the facts. You cannot whitewash murderers and, as far as I’m concerned, the people who did what they did in Munich were murderers — and no amount of painting them in a humane way can make any difference.”
Kimche called Jonas’ “Vengeance” “a negative book.” “I lived through that period,” he said, “and I know in my heart what was right and what was wrong. I say to hell with Mr. Jonas.”
An especially ironic critique was datelined Gaza, courtesy Reuters. Mohammed Daoud, believed by some to be the mastermind of the Munich massacre, was reported to be upset that Spielberg never called: “If someone really wanted to tell the truth about what happened he should talk to the people involved. Were I contacted, I would tell the truth.”
The Jonas book, he claimed, “is full of mistakes.” He added: “They carried out vengeance against people who had nothing to do with the Munich attack — people who were merely politically active or had ties with the PLO. If a film fails to make these points it will be unjust in terms of truth and history.”
Retired diplomat Kimche acknowledged that it matters that Spielberg, rather than someone else, made this film.
“Spielberg is a name one can’t ignore,” he said. “I have a vested interest in the story, of course, and when I see the film I will probably come out very angry because I know the reasoning behind the reasoning that went into what was done.”
Jonas, the author of “Vengeance,” is as curious to see the result of Spielberg’s vision as anyone.
“Spielberg is one of the most influential filmmakers in the world,” he said, “and I am naturally extremely curious on what his take on it is. I am prepared to pay my $10 to see it in my local cinema.”
Ivor Davis writes for The New York Times and Los Angeles Times syndicates.
Israeli Ire on Bana's Mossad Role
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December 1, 2005
Written By: Tony Allen-Mills
Source: The Australian.com
STEVEN Spielberg is calling in old favors as he prepares for a storm over his first filmmaking foray into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which stars Australians Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush.
A month before the scheduled release of Munich, his account of Israel's response to the massacre of its athletes at the 1972 Olympics, Spielberg has consulted Bill Clinton over likely international reaction to a film already tipped for next year's Oscars.
The former Democrat president has read the screenplay and encouraged several of his former aides to help Spielberg - who has supported Democratic causes for years - prepare for the film's political fallout.
Palestinian and Israeli officials have expressed concern at advance reports on the film's subject matter: the Israeli plan to hunt down and assassinate the Palestinians responsible for murdering 11 athletes.
Dennis Ross, Mr Clinton's former Middle East envoy, provided Spielberg with introductions to Palestinian and Israeli officials. The director is also being advised by Mike McCurry, a former Clinton White House spokesman who is now a prominent Democratic strategist. Munich will be released in the US on December 23 - just in time to meet the deadline for next year's Academy Awards - and in Australia on January 26.
Black September leader Abu Daoud, who is still living in hiding, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Poland in 1981, but more than a dozen other Palestinians were killed by Israeli hit men.
Spielberg, who is Jewish, is seen by much of the Middle East as sympathetic to Israel. Yet the loudest protests about Munich have come from Israelis concerned by reports that Bana, who plays a Mossad agent and assassin, is depicted as questioning the morality of his mission.
While few directors shy away from publicity for their films, a serious row over Munich's credibility might damage it in the eyes of Oscar voters. The academy's strong Jewish contingent may also turn against Spielberg if Israel's reaction is hostile. By enlisting the help of Mr Clinton and his aides, Spielberg appears to be taking every precaution to prevent a row.
"No one has seen it," admitted Emmanuel Levy, author of All About Oscar, a history of the Academy Awards.
"But given the subject matter and director, that's the one people are talking about."
From 'The Sunday Times', London
