Tag Archives: Nick Schou

Trailer Released for the Cuesta-Directed “Kill the Messenger,” Starring Jeremy Renner

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Michael Cuesta is ready to kill the messenger…

The first trailer for Jeremy Renner‘s Kill the Messenger, helmed by the 50-year-old television and film director, borrows the visual style, tone and ripped-from-the-headlines subject material of American Hustle.

Michael Cuesta

Kill the Messenger is a dramatization of journalist Gary Webb‘s investigation into a CIA conspiracy in Nicaragua that led to a series of articles titled Dark Alliance for The San Jose Mercury News that caused a firestorm of controversy.

“Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications,” the film’s synopsis reads.

The cast also features Paz Vega, Rosemarie DeWitt and Ray Liotta

The Focus Features biopic was written by Parkland scribe Peter Landesman based on Nick Schou‘s book Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb.

The film is set for U.S. release in October.

Vega Begins Filming Michael Cuesta’s “Kill the Messenger”

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Paz Vega is killing the messenger in Atlanta…

Production has gotten underway in Georgia on the true-life dramatic thriller Kill the Messenger, which stars the 37-year-old Spanish actress.

Paz Vega

Directed by Michael Cuesta, the film stars Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb, the real-life reporter for The San Jose Mercury-News. In the 1990s, Webb uncovered the Central Intelligence Agency’s role in importing cocaine into California that was sold to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras rebel army. Supported by his wife and children, Webb pursued the story and went public with his evidence. When targeted for a vicious smear campaign by the CIA and rival journalists, Webb found himself fighting for his reputation and his family.

In addition to Renner and Vega, the film’s cast includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Andy Garcia, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen and Yul Vazquez.

The film was inspired by the books Kill the Messenger by Nick Schou and Dark Alliance by Gary Webb.

Vega to Star in “Kill the Messenger”

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Don’t blame Paz Vega if she kills the messenger…

The 37-year-old Spanish actress has joined the cast of Kill the Messenger, Focus Features’ adaptation of the true-life drama book by Nick Schou.

Paz Vega

Vega, who makes a cameo appearance in Pedro Almodóvar’s highly anticipated comedy I’m So Excited, is joining Jeremy Renner in the film.

Michael Cuesta, who has helmed episodes of Homeland and Dexter, is directing.

Messenger tells the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb who through his reporting exposed the CIA’s involvement in helping Nicaragua’s Contra rebels import cocaine into California during the 1980s. The agency then tried to discredit him, which ultimately led to his “committing suicide,” though with two bullets to his head.

Vega will play the girlfriend of a wealthy dealer who is in jail and hopes that Webb can get him out.

Production is expected to start in Atlanta this August.

Vega will appear in Grace of Monaco as legendary opera singer Maria Callas opposite Nicole Kidman and recently wrapped Paul W.S. Anderson‘s historical drama Pompeii.