If you’ve seen theBest Actress episode of Collider FYC, you know that there are many excellent performances in 2018 deserving of awards season recognition, but after watching directorMatthew Heineman’s narrative feature debut,A PrivateWar, I’m having a tough time shaking the feeling thatRosamund Pike’s performance in this movie - and the movie overall for that matter - are being grossly undervalued.
Heineman scored an Oscar nomination himself for the documentaryCartel Landand an Emmy nomination for his follow-up filmCity of Ghosts, and now he makes the move to narrative filmmaking withA Private War. The movie covers the true story ofMarie Colvin, an American war correspondent who worked tirelessly and fearlessly to tell the stories of those devastated by violent conflicts in Sri Lanka, Syria and more. It’s a devastating yet inspiring true story all on its own, and then Heineman and screenwriterArash Amelturn it into an almost overwhelming feature film by incorporating both the risk Colvin takes by entering these war zones and then also the scars - physical and emotional - that those experiences leave her with. Pike’s performance here is truly not to be missed.
WithA Private Warexpanding to select locations on November 16th, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down with Heineman in hopes of spreading the word about this movie. We discussed his transition from documentary to narrative storytelling, staying truthful to Colvin’s story, working with Pike, using non-actors as extras, and much more. you may catch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article and a breakdown of that interview below.
Matthew Heineman:
Here’s the official synopsis forA Private War:
In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London’s elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she’s witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her — along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) — to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs. Based on the extraordinary life of Marie Colvin, A PRIVATE WAR is brought to the screen by Academy Award nominee and critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman in his pulse-pounding narrative feature debut.
