Caffeinated Clint
Moviehole mate Stuart Beattie (I’d still love to see his “Without Remorse” script coming to fruition one day, let alone see him continue the “Tomorrow When The War Began” franchise – and not just because it wouldn’t take much to wrangle Caitlin Stasey into a nude scene for the sequel) is teaming up with refurbished hitmakers Voltage Pictures to bring the story of private military contracting firm Blackwater and its founder Erik Prince to the big screen.
As Deadline remind us, and as Wikipedia can expands on, it’ll tell the tale of “how the ex-Navy SEAL and heir to an auto parts fortune bought thousands of acres of North Carolina swampland and built a training facility for elite special forces mercenaries. Terror acts from the USS Cole bombing to 9/11 led to high demand for his for-hire services, and Prince’s Blackwater became a major supplier of security in war-torn Iraq, with classified contracts worth billions and a relationship with the CIA so cozy that the agency operated out of a secret annex in Blackwater’s North Carolina facility.”
Prince also, allegedly, moonlighted as a C.I.A. contractor.
“At the same time, Prince reportedly lived a double life as a CIA asset who assembled hit teams to take out al-Qaeda members. His lucrative business was ruined seven years ago when a carload of Blackwater employees opened fire on a crowd and shot 30 Iraqis, killing 17 of them. Four of those employees were convicted for the shooting, one of first-degree murder. In the scrutiny, Prince was outed as a CIA asset and placed on al-Qaeda’s hit list. He sold his company in 2010.”
Though Voltage are known for producing many of Steven Seagal’s films, it’s unlikely the big guy will be playing Erik Prince.
Beattie’s written enough solid films – including “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Collateral”, “30 Days of Night”, and “Tomorrow When The War Begam” – to suggest this will turn out to be a ‘gotta see that’.
