The Interpreter
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| The Interpreter | |
| |
| Directed by | Sydney Pollack |
| Written by | story by Martin Stellman Brian Ward screenplay by Charles Randolph Scott Frank Steven Zaillian |
| Starring | Nicole Kidman Sean Penn |
| Produced by | Sydney Pollack G. Mac Brown Anthony Minghella |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date | April 2005 |
| Runtime | 128 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | est. $80,000,000 |
| IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373926/) | |
The Interpreter is a 2005 drama/thriller film, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
The film has a complex plot involving a United Nations interpreter, Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman), who accidentally overhears two people planning to assassinate someone. Sean Penn plays Tobin Keller, the United States Secret Service agent tasked with investigating the alleged assassination plot (and who soon ends up becoming Silvia's protector).
The presumed target is the President of the Democratic Republic of Matobo, Edmond Zuwanie, who is scheduled to speak before the General Assembly in a desperate attempt to head off prosecution in the International Criminal Court; his regime has become notorious for a vicious policy of ethnic cleansing. Both the country and leader are fictional, but they appear to be caricatures of Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe; the fictional flag used in the film as well as the fictional history mentioned are very similar to those of Zimbabwe.
At the same time, Silvia's brother Simon is in grave danger, since he is trying to engineer an important meeting between the two leading opponents to Zuwanie's dictatorship, Kuman-Kuman and Ajene Xola.
| Contents |
Matobo and Ku
The country ("Democratic Republic of Matobo") and its corresponding constructed language ("Ku") were especially created for this film. The director of the Centre for African Language Learning, Said el-Gheithy, was commissioned in January 2004 to create Ku. Ku is based on Bantu languages spoken in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The tagline for the film:
- The truth needs no translation.
in Ku is
- Angota ho ne njumata.
Trivia
- It is the first movie ever filmed inside the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council buildings. Earlier films only used the exteriors or were filmed back when the buildings were under construction (and did not really have an "inside").
- There are three actors from the television show Oz that have roles in this movie: Robert Clohessy, David Zayas and Michael Wright.
Cast
- Nicole Kidman – Silvia Broome
- Sean Penn – Tobin Keller
- Catherine Keener – Dot Woods
- Jesper Christensen – Nils Lud
- Yvan Attal – Philippe
- Earl Cameron – Zuwanie
- George Harris – Kuman-Kuman
- Michael Wright – Marcus
- Clyde Kusatsu – Police Chief Lee Wu
- Eric Keenleyside – Rory Robb
- Hugo Speer – Simon Broome
- Maz Jobrani – Mo
- Yusuf Gatewood – Doug
- Curtiss Cook – Ajene Xola
- Byron Utley – Jean Gamba
External links
- Official site (http://www.interpretermovie.com/)
- The Interpreter (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373926/) at the Internet Movie Database
- The ‘Ku' language (http://www.cityboxoffice.co.uk/africanlanguagecentre/call/interpreter.htm)sv:Tolken
