War, Inc.
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| War, Inc. | |
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| Directed by | Joshua Seftel |
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| Produced by | John Cusack Danny Lerner Grace Loh Les Weldon |
| Written by | John Cusack Mark Leyner Jeremy Pikser |
| Starring | John Cusack Hilary Duff Marisa Tomei Joan Cusack Dan Aykroyd Ben Kingsley Luybomir Neikov |
| Release date(s) | May 23, 2008 (USA) April 28, 2008 (Tribeca Film Festival) |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5,000,000 |
War, Inc. is a 2008 political satire film starring John Cusack and Hilary Duff and directed by Joshua Seftel. Cusack also co-wrote and produced the film. A working title of the film was Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens. The story is partly inspired by Naomi Klein's article "Baghdad Year Zero".[1][2]
War, Inc. is thought to be a spiritual successor or informal sequel to the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank. Both films are black comedies with similar styles and themes, and both films star John Cusack as an assassin and Joan Cusack as his assistant, with Dan Aykroyd in a supporting role. In an interview, Joan Cusack said, "I think, in a way, [War, Inc.] was a Grosse Point Blank 2."[3]
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[edit] Production
War, Inc. was filmed in Bulgaria beginning in late October 2006. Marisa Tomei and Cusack's sister Joan co-star in the film. It was released in only two theatres in Los Angeles and Manhattan, New York in the United States on May 23, 2008 and closed August 7, 2008 after grossing $580,862 and eventually opening in only thirty theatres across the United States.[4]
[edit] Plot
War Inc. is set in the future, when the fictional desert country of Turaqistan is torn by a riot after a private corporation, Tamerlane (based on Halliburton), owned by the former Vice President of the United States (Dan Aykroyd, based on Dick Cheney), has taken over the whole country. Brand Hauser (John Cusack), a hit man who suppresses his emotions by gobbling down hot sauce, is hired by the corporation's head to kill the CEO of their competitors. To do this, he has to have a cover story which is in the form of a gala wedding by the outrageous Central Asian superstar Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff). Everything changes when the ruthless killer finds himself head-over-heels in love with reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei) and developing paternal feelings for the oversexed Yonica.
[edit] Cast
- John Cusack - Brand Hauser
- Hilary Duff - Yonica Babyyeah
- Marisa Tomei - Natalie Hegalhuzen
- Ben Kingsley - Walken
- Joan Cusack - Marsha Dillon
- Dan Aykroyd - The Vice President
- Ben Cross - Medusa Hair
- Luybomir Neikov - Omar Sharif
- Ned Bellamy - Zubleh / Ooq-Yu-Fay Taqnufmini
- Bashar Rahal -Video Guy One
- Sergej Trifunović - Ooq-Mi-Fay Taqnufmini
- Doug Dearth - Geoff
- Montel Williams - GuideStar
- John McLaughlin - Himself
[edit] Critical reception
War, Inc. received generally negative reviews from critics. As of May 24, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 30 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 34 reviews — with the consensus that the film "attempts to satirize the military industrial complex, but more often than not it misses its target."[5] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 21 reviews.[6]
[edit] Box office performance
War, Inc. opened on an extremely limited release in only two theatres across the United States on May 23, 2008. It grossed an estimated $36,600 in those two theaters during its opening weekend.[7] It was second in largest per theater gross behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film closed on August 7, 2008 after not seeing a wide release, grossing only $580,862 domestically in fewer than thirty theatres across the United States and Canada. It was then released in theatres on August 28, 2008 in Russia, October 2, 2008 in Israel, October 20, 2008 in Portugal.
[edit] Promotion
Hilary Duff (Yonica Babyyeah) was the only cast member to do active promotion for the film, including interviews on Ellen, TRL, Today, Jimmy Kimmel and Regis and Kelly throughout June 2008. John Cusack limited his promotion to "Real Time with Bill Maher" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the setting up of a MySpace page and a Facebook page, with constant bulletins to fans and friends on those sites. All of the cast attended the premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival except Cusack.[citation needed]
[edit] DVD release
Release dates on Blu-ray and DVD for the film were:[8]
- September 10, 2008 in Italy
- October 14, 2008 in the United States
- December 1, 2008 in Greece
- March 16, 2009 in the United Kingdom
- February 18, 2009 in Poland[citation needed]
- April 9, 2009 in Germany
[edit] References
- ^ 'I'm basically a brand' | Interviews | Guardian Unlimited Film
- ^ "Baghdad year zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia". Harper's Magazine. The Harper's Magazine Foundation. September 2004. http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-19.
- ^ Jen Yamato, "RT Interview: Joan Cusack on War, Inc., the Unofficial Sequel to Grosse Point Blank", Rotten Tomatoes, May 22, 2008.
- ^ Boxofficemojo.com
- ^ "War, Inc. Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_inc/. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ "War, Inc. (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/warinc. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ "War, Inc. (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=warinc.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ “War, Inc.” strikes box office nerve | Reuters.com.
