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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>February 22, 2008 | <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/world/middleeast/22beirut.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/world/middleeast/22beirut.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Another
Round of Explosions, but This Time It’s Fake <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></nyt_headline></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "></nyt_byline>By ROBERT F. WORTH<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><nyt_text></nyt_text><img border=0 width=600 height=310
id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C8759F.CC3563C0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
7.0pt'>Bryan Denton for The New York Times | A film about Western contractors
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>
uses not only locations from its civil war but also veterans from the conflict.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
7.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><img border=0 width=650 height=433 id="_x0000_i1027"
src="cid:image002.jpg@01C8759F.CC3563C0"><img border=0 width=20 height=1
id="_x0000_i1028" src="cid:image003.gif@01C8759F.CC3563C0"><img border=0
width=20 height=1 id="_x0000_i1029" src="cid:image003.gif@01C8759F.CC3563C0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
7.0pt'>Bryan Denton for The New York Times | Max Ryan, an actor, works with a
sniper rifle on loan from the Lebanese Army.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>BEIRUT</span></font></st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region> — <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a country on edge, with
every side warning about foreign interference and the spark that could lead to
factional war. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>So when
explosions and gunfire broke out in an abandoned building east of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City> the other day, two
Lebanese Army platoons quickly surrounded the site, guns drawn. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Cut!”
yelled a frightened American voice. The sounds of gunfire stopped abruptly.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It was a
foreign film crew, not a militia. And if life sometimes imitates art, this was
something stranger: The crew was making a movie about a group of armed
foreigners who come to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>
and almost set off a factional war by mistake. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
actors put their guns down. The director, Christian Johnston — who was
dressed like a guerrilla fighter in a kaffiyeh and fatigues — nervously
circled his hand to mime a movie camera. “Film, film!” he said.
Eventually, the soldiers got the idea and withdrew. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
Borgesian little episode was an accident, but in a sense it was a natural
consequence of American film’s obsessive effort to catch up with reality.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
movie, based (naturally) on a real incident, revolves around three private
contractors who are sent to present-day <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>
to rescue a hostage. Although Mr. Johnston conceived it a year ago, he added
details based on last summer’s battle between the Lebanese Army and the
radical Islamist group Fatah al Islam in northern <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“What
filmmakers should do is get as much authenticity as possible,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As it
turned out, the soldiers who stumbled onto the movie location this week told
cast members that they had initially mistaken them for Fatah al Islam fighters.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There
were plenty of other echoes of Lebanese reality. The film was being shot in a
burned, shell-scarred hospital building that was an important demarcation line
during <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
civil war from 1975 to 1990. Several of the extras had fought in the war, and
two of them had fought in and around that very building — on opposite
sides. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“It
brings back the memories,” said Emil Zir, 38, who fought near the
building in the 1980s as a member of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia,
and was twice wounded.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Another
cast member, Abbas Sayed, returned to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> for the first time since
1985 to work on the film. He remembers seeing the hospital, which also housed a
school, in 1974, before the war started. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“It’s
terrible to see it like this,” he said, gazing around at the blackened,
graffiti-scrawled concrete structure, where water from recent rains dripped
from huge gaps in the ceiling. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Nearby,
shivering in the cold, stood Grant Masters, a chiseled 43-year-old British
actor who plays the leader of the three-man private security team. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“When
you’re standing next to someone who’s actually been on the front
line, that’s a reality check,” he said. “We’re working
with a guy who was shot nine times.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Crew
members moved back and forth around him, carrying black M-16 rifles and
rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The bleating of sheep could be heard on the
grassy hillside outside, where the winter sun glittered on the <st1:place
w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place> far below. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There is
an active minefield next to the building, another relic of the civil war. Cast
members were surprised to see sheep wandering freely through it. But a local
shepherd told them not to worry: the mines were set to explode under an
80-kilogram weight, or 176 pounds. The sheep weigh no more than 90 pounds. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It was
the final day of shooting, Mr. Masters explained. “We enter the building
where the hostage is being held, then our sniper gets overpowered,” and
then everything goes haywire, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Minutes
later, loud explosions rang out, simulating the rocket-propelled grenades of
the bad guys, and shouting filled the air.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>All the
weapons in the film came from the Lebanese Army, which had to stamp each page
of the script before allowing the crew to proceed with filming, Mr. Johnston
said. The Army also provided two soldiers to stay on the set throughout
production and prevent mishaps. (Apparently the two platoons that mistook the
crew for terrorists had not been informed about the film.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Making
films in conflict zones is something of a habit for Mr. Johnston, who grew up
in Evergreen, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colo.</st1:place></st1:State>
He shot his first feature, “The September Tapes,” in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region> in 2002, using members of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Northern Alliance</st1:place> in the cast. It was mistaken for a
documentary, both during the filming and at the Sundance Film Festival. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The new
movie, shot for about $5 million, draws heavily on Mr. Johnston’s
conversations with private security contractors over the past few years, he
said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But it
evolved further over the past few months as he and cast members witnessed some
of the bombings and assassinations that have threatened to push <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> into a
new civil conflict. In September, when the Parliament member Antoine Ghanem was
killed in a car bombing along with six other people, Mr. Johnston was only a
few blocks away. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last
month cast members heard the shots when the Lebanese Army fired on protesters
in southern Beirut, in an episode that left seven people dead and sharpened
political tensions. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At times,
the producers worried that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
crisis might overwhelm them. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“This
movie echoes everything we’re going through: Westerner comes into
conflict zone to do a job with not enough time, not enough money, and things
get complicated,” Mr. Johnston said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>He would
not reveal the ending of his film. But he offered a hint. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“There’s
a very large twist that echoes everything that’s happening here
politically,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0pt 0pt 1.0pt 0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-weight:bold;
font-style:italic'>Blackline: The Beirut Contract</span></font></i></b><i><font
size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy;font-style:italic'> will be the first film in a trilogy. It revolves
around Blackline International, a fictional private military company. Three of
the company's soldiers go on a mission to rescue a man taken hostage in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City>. The film will be
released on the same day as a videogame based on the trilogy, as well as an
interactive DVD that lets the user explore the main characters bios and
alternate versions of the storyline.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-style:italic'>Part of
three film series entitled Blackline International Trilogy, it is being written
and directed by Christian Johnson. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the
project was inspired by the recent Blackwater incidents resulting in the death
of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-style:italic'>Shooting
begins this month in <st1:City w:st="on">Beirut</st1:City>, with additional
production in <st1:City w:st="on">Paris</st1:City> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Morocco</st1:place></st1:country-region> to
follow. The following two films in the trilogy will shoot in the first-half of 2008
in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
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