Spielberg’s 'Yasser Arafat' coming up movie just on time

[Serg]

_http://www.panarabiaenquirer.com/wordpress/george-clooney-to-play-yasser-arafat-in-new-3d-biopic/

George Clooney to play Yasser Arafat in new 3D biopic

LOS ANGELES: George Clooney has been signed up to play the lead in an upcoming biopic of Yasser Arafat, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Quoting insiders close to the project in Los Angeles, the publication claims that actor has agreed a deal that will see him play the title role in ‘Yasser’, a new multi-million dollar 3D feature being developed as a collaboration between Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios and the Doha Film Institute.

While nothing has yet been revealed, the film is believed to chronicle Arafat’s life, beginning with his involvement in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war as a young revolutionary, his founding of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in 1964, the Lebanese Civil War, First Intifada, Oslo Accords and ending with the siege of his compound and eventual death in 2004. Executives have apparently acknowledged that “a fair amount of artistic license” will be employed in order to “spice up the romance and give stories such as the setting up of Fatah a more edge-of-the-seat, blockbuster edge,” while an “air of mystery and whodunnit” will be used surrounding Arafat’s passing.


Yasser, to be produced by Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios and The Doha Film Institute, is set chronicle the PLO leader’s life

Anne Hathaway is tipped to play Arafat’s wife Suha, while Chris Hemsworth is already on board as a younger Yasser Arafat. On the other side, Kevin Spacey is the bookie’s favourite to take the role of Yitzhak Rabin while Alan Rickman is reportedly in final contract negotiations stages that should see him become Arafat’s devious latter-day nemesis Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sources closes to Clooney say the A-lister is “over the moon” to be playing Arafat, and has “long dreamed of donning the iconic headdress and army fatigues”. No director has yet been lined up, but many in the industry expect the task to be handed to Peter Jackson, who has previously suggested any film about Arafat should be spread over three separate films.

“Biopics are huge business these days, with movies about the lives of Margaret Thatcher, Marilyn Monroe and Danny Devito having earned millions at the box office,” claimed film expert Jethro Goldstein, speaking to The Pan-Arabia Enquirer. “Yasser Arafat is a character with all the action, drama and emotion to take biopics into the lucrative 3D market, and Clooney – who looks the part as well as being politically minded – is the perfect choice as the lead.”

Recent article on sott:
 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/248980-Yasser-Arafat-murder-case-filed-in-France
And one more article: _http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/9374010/Yasser-Arafat-poisoned-with-Polonium.html

The reason why I posted is because latetly we see a lot of media attention given to Yasser Arafat and especially his death. It makes me wonder why all this is happening right now.

Mod's note: The SOTT link has been activated since it is  the best news site.

[loreta]

The reason why I posted is because latetly we see a lot of media attention given to Yasser Arafat and especially his death. It makes me wonder why all this is happening right now.

Maybe because they are doing a movie about him? Like publicize the character, talk about him then when the movie is out, people will go to see the movie.

[Serg]

The reason why I posted is because latetly we see a lot of media attention given to Yasser Arafat and especially his death. It makes me wonder why all this is happening right now.

Maybe because they are doing a movie about him? Like publicize the character, talk about him then when the movie is out, people will go to see the movie.

There is possibility that the movie makers use media as a means of advertisement. But it is highly unlikely that the Palestinian president and Arafat's wife and his daughter file for investigation for this reason.

Here is the sott article, that I gave link to, before in my post:

Yasser Arafat's widow and daughter have formally demanded a French judicial investigation into his death after filing a complaint of "assassination" in a Paris court.

Suha and Zahwa Arafat believe that Arafat was poisoned with polonium before his death eight years ago in a French military hospital.

Pierre-Olivier Sur, the family's French lawyer, said the request was intended to "establish the truth in memory of their husband and father."

"This complaint of assassination is directed against X - Suha Arafat does not accuse anyone: neither a state, nor a group, nor an individual," he said.

"Suha and Zahwa have complete faith in the French justice system,"

Earlier this month, Palestinian authorities gave final approval for Arafat's body to be exhumed.

In recent tests of Arafat's belongings requested by his widow a Swiss Institute for Radiation Physics detected traces of Polonium-210.

The rare and highly lethal poison was used to murder Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, in London in 2006.

But the Swiss laboratory said the findings were inconclusive and that Arafat's bones would have to be tested.

The Palestinian Authority has now agreed to exhume his body for an autopsy and Tunisia has called for a ministerial meeting of the Arab League to discuss his death.

Earlier this month, Mahmoud Abbas, the current Palestinian leader, met FranCois Hollande, the French President asking him to help form an international investigative group via the United Nations Security Council..

Arafat was confined by Israel to his Ramallah compound in the wake of a Palestinian uprising and was already in poor health when he suddenly collapsed in October 2004.

Foreign doctors flocked to his bedside from Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan amid public assurances from Arafat's aides over the next two weeks that he was suffering from no more than the flu.

But looking weak and thin - and telling aides "God willing, I will be back" - he was airlifted to a military hospital in France, where he slipped into a coma and died on 11 November 2004.

Edit: spelling/grammar

[loreta]

I can see a relation between the movie by Spielberg and the story of the murder of Arafat and the story that now there is an inquest about it. The movie will not show the reality, that's for sure. So maybe the movie is made in part to contradict the true story of the murder of Mr. Arafat. I don't know if you understand me. I am curious how Hollywood and the big company of Mr. Spielberg will narrated  a story of a Palestinian! You know what I mean?

[Serg]

I can see a relation between the movie by Spielberg and the story of the murder of Arafat and the story that now there is an inquest about it. The movie will not show the reality, that's for sure. So maybe the movie is made in part to contradict the true story of the murder of Mr. Arafat. I don't know if you understand me. I am curious how Hollywood and the big company of Mr. Spielberg will narrated  a story of a Palestinian! You know what I mean?

I understand you. They can do a lot of things, also they can provoke the Palestinian people.

[loreta]

I can see a relation between the movie by Spielberg and the story of the murder of Arafat and the story that now there is an inquest about it. The movie will not show the reality, that's for sure. So maybe the movie is made in part to contradict the true story of the murder of Mr. Arafat. I don't know if you understand me. I am curious how Hollywood and the big company of Mr. Spielberg will narrated  a story of a Palestinian! You know what I mean?

I understand you. They can do a lot of things, also they can provoke the Palestinian people.

And re-write the History. And then win an Oscar. And lie, lie. Spielberg is a good director, has talent...and money. The only movie I really like by him is Duel. He is by the way admired by the French. We will see how he will see Arafat and the history of the OLP. I am really curious how he will talk about the history of Palestine.