Even though they’ve got the tagline ‘Trust No One’ *coughs* X-Files *coughs*, the espionage thriller DAMASCUS COVER has started production this week in Morocco and it stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers plus Olivia Thirlby, recently knighted Sir John Hurt, Igal Naor, Jurgen Prochnow and Navid Negahban.
DAMASCUS COVER is based on best-selling 1977 novel by Howard Kaplan, with direction by Daniel Berk (PUBLIC ENEMIES), with a screenplay by Samantha Newton and Berk. It’s also been perfectly setup for Berlinale 2015, where they’ll be launching their sales pitch and spy thrillers are definitely still in-fashion at the moment. Producer, Hannah Leader had this to say:
“Damascus Cover is a great script – believable and brilliant. The characters and situations are vividly drawn and the Middle East setting really brings to life this spellbinding moment in history, which is both topical and timely. With Daniel at the helm, it’s going to be a beautiful picture.”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers added:
“I’m enormously excited about this role. This was a hugely significant time in the conflict in the Middle East, post-cold war and with the collapse of the Berlin Wall when an amount of spies were redeployed to the Middle East, where the theatre of covert operations would now take precedence. With a highly thoughtful and intelligent script by Daniel Berk and Samantha Newton I’m thrilled to be a part of this project and can’t wait to start shooting with a very gifted international cast and crew.”
Olivia Thirlby also added her thoughts:
“I’m thrilled to be a part of Damascus Cover. It’s an honour to collaborate with and work alongside such a diverse and talented group of individuals on a project that looks closely at a fascinating time in history. I am extremely excited to begin the shoot.”
Set in 1989, as the Berlin wall falls in Europe, the plot focuses on a veteran spy sent undercover in Syria to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of Damascus. Within days of his arrival he realises he’s being followed. His partner doesn’t show, his local contact disappears, and a group of men are trying to kill him. It’s not long before his routine mission unravels to reveal a string of murderous conspirators. Marked for death and caught in a maddening puzzle, he must race for survival. The events and people in the script are based on true life events.
We’ll bring you all the future news for DAMASCUS COVER as we hear it.
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