Traitor couldn�t have been an easy movie to make.� Not only is the terrorism thriller define in 17 cities on three continents, but it required shooting the film in just now 48 days on a tight budget. Who would want to take on that to a fault ambitious endeavor? Well, Don Cheadle for one.
The complex story of a secret Muslim officer that infiltrates a world terrorism ringing only to find himself being hunted down as a double-crosser, this thriller not merely enticed Don Cheadle the actor, only also Don Cheadle the producer � who has previously made his mark getting behind such hot-button films as Crash and Darfur Now.
�It was identical interesting that one of the things we conditioned post Sep 11 is that there were something like three Arabic-speaking agents that we had in our (enforcement) agencies,� says Cheadle during an interview in New York. �How do you understand citizenry that you can�t fifty-fifty talk to?�
That was one of the primary themes that prompted Cheadle to help make Traitor � the mind that a lack in communication between cultures has only fuelled terrorism. It�s not an easy whim to sell to film studios either. As unsatisfying box federal agency revenues of other films dealing with the war on act of terrorism have mounted recently, studios are sure as shooting wary of that particular subject.
�They probably did their rounds with studios and received a series of ideas of how it should be changed and softened up,� posits co-star Guy Pearce around the fight to find backers. �(But writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff) barely didn�t compromise.�
Instead, Traitor (in theatres Friday) was golden enough to find funding and still deal direct with such serious issues as race, religion and the part of ignorance in act of terrorism. Pearce adds:� �I think (Nachmanoff did) a really good job of finding that balance betwixt an entertainment and a thought-provoking topic.�
Cheadle would sure enough agree. Although he�s first base to admit the film doesn�t provide many answers to these issues, he does hope it will create an awareness in moviegoers� minds. �It could be a cautionary tale on some level if you read it severely,� insists Cheadle. �Most human beings want calm, most human beings desire peace, most human beings want refuge. It�s the people on the extremes that can obviously pull and push us and protract that argument.�
More info
George Michael is working on a single with the Dita Von Teese.
