Writer-director Gavin Hood with Keira Knightley during filming of Official Secretsīluemhuber had worked with Hood on his previous movie, 2015’s Eye in the Sky, which Doherty had produced through his production company Raindog Films. It’s finallyĪs luck would have it, Bluemhuber had also sent the script to director Gavin Hood, the South African-born filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning Tsotsi. “Ged came on board and said, ‘We really want to tell your Gun, meanwhile, was delighted with his interest and enthusiasm in getting her Important story that “shines a light on what actually happened around that time”. With Elizabeth Fowler and fellow producer Melissa Shiyu Zuo, Doherty saw Official Secrets as a chance to tell an My friends were on those marches, and to this day I felt guilty I never went on “I was in London at the time of those anti-war marches, most of “Theįirst time I read the story, I couldn’t believe I didn’t know anything about The script by the film’s executive producer, Claudia Bluemhuber. Happen.” But in 2015, producer Ged Doherty was sent “I really thought it wasn’t actually going to Is the slow and often difficult nature of launching an independent film, Gun This included Official Secrets, a script by husband-and-wife team Gregory and Sara Bernstein, with producer Elizabeth Fowler ( Devil’s Knot) attached. Published in 2008, The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion soon led to various attempts to turn her story into a film. None of it’s going to be scrutinized.”įor Gun, the process of bringing her story to the big screen began when Marcia and Thomas Mitchell approached her about writing a book on her experiences. Hand, I was elated because I thought ‘The whole media circus that would’veĮnsued if it had gone to a full judge and jury in court, that’s been avoided.’īut on the other hand, I thought the issues we’re going to bring up in courtĪren’t going to come up now. It was almost like pulling the rug from under your feet. The main reasons to go to war – had proved fruitless.Ī surreal moment,” remembers Gun. With many suspecting that the government did not wish to risk furtherĮmbarrassment after the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq – one of After a year of anxiety, she went to trial, defended by the Gun’s actions did not prevent the invasion of Iraq or the huge loss of life Including myself – has ever done what Gun did: tell truths at personal risk,īefore an imminent war, in time, possibly to avert it.” The whistleblower behind the infamous leak of the Pentagon Papers, called Gun’sĪctions: “the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen…no one else – Was reported by the media, word on Katharine’s actions spread. She’s someone who decided to take this stand at considerableĬost to her career and her personal life.” He points out, the “principled” Gun only ever leaked one document. She was very clear about why she’d done what she did.” As Moreover, she was arrested and – eventually – charged with a breach of the Official Secrets Act.Ĭome in all shapes and sizes, but they do tend to be unusual people,” remarksīright. A thorough investigation into the authenticity of the e-mail followed, led by Bright and his colleagues, before the story went to print on March 2, 2003, headlined: “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq War.” With her department under intense scrutiny, Gun confessed the leak and lost her job. The memo ultimately came into the possession of The Observer journalist Martin Bright. The journey to the big screen for Official Secrets began in 2003, when Katharine Gun became headline news when she leaked a classified e-mail revealing how the US government’s National Security Agency urged UK cooperation in an intelligence “surge” to gather information on UN Security Council members, with a view to securing a UN resolution to send troops to Iraq.
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