Into the Green Zone

MANILA, Philippines - Green Zone, starring Matt Damon is now showing in Metro Manila theaters. Below is an interview with director-producer Paul Greengrass (photo).

What did you set out to achieve with this film?

To make a big thriller set in Iraq. And as a filmmaker, your primal responsibility is always to tell stories that people want to hear.

How did Green Zone come together?

I made my first Bourne film as all these events were unfolding. And after that, I started talking to the screenwriter, Brian Helgeland, about this project. We had worked together in The Bourne Supremacy and were looking to doing another movie, and we pretty quickly got to the idea of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because it seemed to me like it had all the elements for a great thriller.

What were those elements?

It was a high stakes story full of secrecy, intrigue and spies. And it was also very physical.

How would you describe this movie then?

Green Zone is a fictional film set against a real backdrop. And I always wanted it to drive towards a character.