Fair Game director Doug Liman: more thoughts on politics, relationships, and Iraqi response

In an interview with the Georgia Straight by phone from New York City, director Doug Liman gave some thoughts on more subjects than were covered in the feature story about him. His film, Fair Game, is based on the real-life story of CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose name was leaked to the press in 2003, and put her life and others in danger.

On the grey areas of world politics, and the moment in the film when Plame tells her husband that in her world, at the CIA, there are no facts—only opinions to be collected and analyzed: “The more you travel the world, the more you come to understand how complex these sitautions are and that there are not easy answers. And I really think that was the main problem with what we did in Iraq—that George Bush thought there was an easy answer. So many spy movies are black and white but the world is so much more interesting than that.”

On the difficulty of shooting an emotional dramatic relationship for the first time in a film: “Maybe because it’s my own personal background, but I’m more comfortable blowing things up—more comfortable blowing up a building than blowing up a marriage. And this film forced me to grow up in a way. It’s personally more challenging—the more nuanced the filmmaking is, the more challenging, but also much more rewarding.”

On the reaction of people from the Middle East after watching the film in Abu Dhabi: “One Iraqi said that what’s so extraordinary about the movie is that, obviously he was really empathizing with the Iraqi family portrayed, but he empathized even more with this American couple by the end. And this is somebody who’s lived through the war, who, because of what he has been through, should hate every American. And yet he’s finding himself caring more for the American family and he didn’t think he was capable of that emotion.”