This was conceived before 9/11. How much of it changed as a result of 9/11?

Berg: It was actually conceived after 9/11. I read Louis Frei’s book, My FBI, after 9/11 and in the first chapter he talks a lot about the Khobar bombings in Saudi Arabia, and  it struck me as a very unique situation that the American FBI which a lot of people didn’t realize, myself included, has two evidence response units that are designed to respond internationally. There’s one in L.A.  There’s one in D.C. They divide the world in half. D.C. take the  Middle East, so  that when Americans are killed or injured anywhere in the world, F.B.I.  doesn’t have jurisdiction, but they do investigate, and they contact local authorities in whatever country the crime takes place and ask to help, and when Khobar happened, I think 17 Americans were killed in Khobar — excuse me guys, I just drank a bunch of coffee — the FBI wanted to help and the Saudis reluctantly said yes, and it was a very complex investigation and the Saudi culture is just not designed to accommodate westerners, particularly FBI agents, so as I was reading about the FBI’s attempts and frustrations at instigating an investigation, I thought that was just a really interesting idea for a film which I then went and discussed with Michael Mann whose office was right next to mine, and that was the genesis of the idea.

Paul: There was an article in the New York Times said entertainment can trump politics ... What do you say to people who may think this a racist movie? At a screening in NY a woman got very irate and stood up and started screaming and walked out.

Berg: Did it have anything to do with the movie or was it a bad date that she was on? Are we sure? You never know. With walkouts, you have to really check.  They’re not always because of the film. That would probably have something to do with it.

It was important to me that this film not leads with its politics. I don’t believe that people go to films to be educated.  That’s certainly not the first and primary reason why people go to films, and if you’re too heavy-handed with any message, whatever it is, you’re probably going to put people off. I know, I don’t go to films to be educated. There are other areas — if I want to be politically educated, there are other ways I would do that than go to a Hollywood film. So it was important to me that the film work as an exciting and dynamic procedural. At its core, this film is about FBI agents trying to investigate a series of homicides in a complicated environment. That’s it.

Obviously politics and religion play a strong role in the film, and as a

film maker I wanted to make a film that responded to the times that we were

living in and make a film that in 15 years my son, who’s 7, will be able to watch

and have I think a unique and a fair representation and understanding of what

life was like for all of us who were living in this time. And because of that,

I wanted to make a film that dealt with the Middle East and dealt with

religious extremism, but I first and foremost wanted to make a film that — in this

case the film’s a thriller — people would be thrilled at, people would be

excited about, scared, pumped up emotionally over. And that was the promise I made to the studio. The studios, believe me, aren’t rushing out to make educational films about the Middle East. . . they don’t see that as a win. So they kept saying — it’s gonna be intense, right? And I’d say — I think it will be, yes. —

Please make it intense. I said — I will.

It’s also my belief that it doesn’t take a lot to get people thinking. To me, the ending — the little ending in this film — should be thought=provoking.  And it doesn’t take so much, you know, and I think the opening credit sequence I’m very proud of in this film, and I want to give people a fun, engaging, educational experience of what is going on in the militia. I was pretty shocked to find out that many people don’t understand that 15 or 19 hijackers at 9/11 were not from Iraq. They were from Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia, he’s not from Iraq. And everyone understands oil . . . there’s a lot of oil there, but there’s a lot more going on. I want people to understand that, and I found that just like getting my son to do things he doesn’t want to do in terms of math and science, if you can make it entertaining and almost trick people into having something that then feels more like an educational, thought-provoking experience, then everyone wins.

Paul: And as far as the racism — was that because — was it racism about Saudis, about Arab culture —

I tried to make as balanced a film as I could. I went to Saudi Arabia for three weeks. As far as I know, I’m the only American filmmaker ever to get a visa to go there as a filmmaker, and it took me a long time to get that visa. It took several meetings with Prince Feisel who’s the ambassador to  the U.S. and  the United Kingdom who ran the Saudi Intelligence Agency and was the last Saudi to meet with Osama, tried to get him to surrender. I had three long meetings with the Prince who then granted me a visa. I have friends who are Saudi, I’ve shown them the film, and they responded quite well. It’s important to me, particularly through the character of Al Ghazi, played by Ashraf, to present a moderate Arab, someone who was as interested in battling religious extremism as we appear to be, and it’s my experience that the great majority of the Saudis that I encountered were moderate, and I tried to make as balanced of a film in that regard as I could.

Paul: Can you talk about the film’s delay in release?

Berg:      I feel really good about that. You know, what happened was we had a series of test screenings a while ago . . . Sacramento . . . and we all went up there

and watched the film and it was a pretty bizarre experience. The audience

started clapping very intensely and they started responding very aggressively, and I sat there thinking I really fucked up and had made something that appealed

to the most bloodthirsty, violent, militaristic component of our culture, and

that was never the intention. And afterwards we had this focus group of 30

people and everyone sort of talking about the film in very emotional terms, and

they were responding to Ashraf’s death and to the message at the end, and they

said, yeah, there was great action, but that they were finding the film

provocative, at which point we were like — maybe we should think a bit more about how we release this film and put a little more thought into it. And the studio was extremely supportive, and said, we want to take more time, figure out exactly what we have, figure out how we want to sell it, and that was followed up by a very intense screening process, which included a European screening with a pretty heavy Muslim population, where we experienced the same reaction. So the bottom line is I’m glad we took the time, I feel great about coming out when we are, and very appreciative of the studio for taking the extra time, and spending the extra money to give it a more thorough release.

Paul: Are you concerned about the proximity to Sept. 11?

Berg: Not really. No.

Paul: Talk about the casting of Jennifer Garner.

Well, there was always a woman. I know women do go, have gone, with the FBI

to the Middle East and  investigated. I’ve met those women. It’s completely

accurate. I wanted a woman in the movie to balance just the testosterone. I

personally like having women around and I thought to go on that trip without a

female energy would maybe be missing an opportunity of some sort. I’ve been a huge fan of Jennifer since I acted with her in Alias in season one. She’s really one of the unique abilities — maybe her and Jodie Foster, the only two actresses I know that can bring pathos and intelligence and real femininity to strong characters that are believable in action scenarios. So she was really the first and most logical choice for me.

The other actors are just — I tend to like to improvise and to encourage the actors to improvise, and for anyone who’s seen Jamie’s stand-up comedy routines, he’s a unique guy and his ability to sort of marry the dramatic with the comic and flow easily back and forth — Bateman I’d worked with in Smoking Aces and had seen first-hand how loose he could be, and Cooper I’d always just been a huge fan of and wanted to work with him. So for me it was a dream cast.

Paul Fischer is originally from Australia. Now he is an interviewer and film critic living in Hollywood.

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