K.T Simpson
Ben Affleck is headed back to WWII, with the star set to direct and star in “Ghost Army” for Universal Pictures.
The film is based on the Rick Beyer & Elizabeth Sayles book titled “The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery”. It’s safe to say that “Ghost Army” is a more succinct title. Nic Pizzolato wrote the script, which is also based on the Netflix doco “Ghost Army”.
Per the Deadline report, “Ghost Army” tells the story of a secret force that relied on sleight of hand and illusion to trick the Nazis in 1944. A group of soldiers including future luminaries Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane and Jack Masey landed in France to conduct a secret mission. Armed with truckloads of inflatable tanks and a massive collection of sound-effects records, they created the illusion of troop strength on European battlefields to trick the Germans into deploying forces in the wrong places.
The secret force of 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops — the Ghost Army — dragged duffel bags of drawings and paintings through France and other European cities to stage phony convoys, phantom divisions and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. The campaign is credited with saving thousands of American lives.
Affleck will also produce under his banner Pearl Street Films alongside Andrew Lazar and his Mad Chance Productions banner. Pearl Street Films’ Madison Ainley will be executive producer.
