Taglines: Trust. Betrayal. Deception. In the C.I.A. nothing is what it seems.
James Clayton (Colin Farrell), a computer programming expert at MIT, is offered an interview by senior Central Intelligence Agency instructor Walter Burke (Al Pacino) for a position with the Agency. After witnessing a demonstration of Clayton’s skills, Burke tests Clayton with a puzzle encoded on the sports page of a newspaper. Clayton agrees to be recruited because he wants information about his missing father, whom he suspects was a CIA agent.
After passing numerous psychometric, psychoanalytic, aptitudinal, and polygraphic tests, Clayton is taken to The Farm, a CIA training facility. There, Burke and other instructors teach the candidates the skill sets of espionage, covert operation protocols, and intelligence gathering techniques. During a surveillance exercise, Clayton and fellow recruit Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan) are kidnapped by men apparently from a foreign intelligence service. Clayton is tortured in a cell for several days but refuses to give up the names of his instructors. When the interrogators threaten to hurt Layla, Clayton gives in. The rear wall of the cell opens to reveal Burke, Layla, and the other recruits sitting in a lecture theater, having witnessed the whole event, which was a set-up.
The Recruit is an American-German spy thriller film, directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell and Bridget Moynahan. It was produced by Epsilon Motion Pictures and released in North America by Touchstone Pictures on January 31, 2003. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
The film was produced by Gary Barber’s and Roger Birnbaum’s production company Spyglass Entertainment, with financial support from Disney’s Touchstone Pictures and German film financing company Epsilon Motion Pictures (which was owned by the Kirch Group at the time). It was mainly filmed in Toronto and Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada, with some landmark scenes, such as that from the Iwo Jima Memorial by the Arlington National Cemetery, shot in and around Washington, D.C.
In an era when the country’s first line of defense, intelligence, is more important than ever, comes an explosive thriller starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. For the first time, the CIA’s infamous closed doors are opened, giving an insider’s view into the Agency: how trainees are recruited, how they are prepared for the spy game, and how they learn to survive in a world of secrets.
James Clayton (COLIN FARRELL) might not have the attitude of a typical recruit, but he is one of the smartest graduating seniors in the country – and he’s just the person that Walter Burke (AL PACINO) wants in the Agency. James regards the CIA’s mission as an intriguing alternative to an ordinary life, but before he becomes an Ops Officer, James has to survive the Agency’s secret training ground, where green recruits are molded into seasoned veterans.
As Burke teaches him the ropes and the rules of the game, James quickly rises through the ranks and in the process falls for Layla (BRIDGET MOYNAHAN), one of his fellow recruits. But just when James starts to question his role and his cat-and-mouse relationship with his mentor, Burke taps him for a special assignment to root out a mole. As the suspense builds toward a gripping climax, it soon becomes clear that the CIA’s old maxims are true: “trust no one” and “nothing is what it seems.”
Touchstone Pictures’ and Spyglass Entertainment’s “The Recruit” stars Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan and Gabriel Macht. Roger Donaldson directs from a script written by Roger Towne and Kurt Wimmer and Mitch Glazer. Roger Birnbaum, Jeff Apple, and Gary Barber produce. Jonathan Glickman and Ric Kidney serve as executive producers. Buena Vista Pictures distributes.
“The idea of creating a story that dealt with CIA recruitment was fascinating,” says Roger Birnbaum, producer of Touchstone Pictures’ / Spyglass Entertainment’s “The Recruit.” “Who are these young people that are willing to do this job that so few are willing to do? How does this clandestine organization choose people for this job? These are the types of questions that came to mind.”
The idea of telling this story with Al Pacino – an Academy Award® winner and one of the greatest actors in film history – was also irresistible. “He’s an icon,” says producer Gary Barber. “Every moment on screen, you believe in him.”
“‘The Recruit’ is a psychological thriller, with twists and turns. You’re never sure who the good guys are, or what’s going to happen next. It’s set in the CIA’s training facility, but at its heart, it’s a performance piece anchored by Al Pacino,” says director Roger Donaldson, whose films include the political thrillers “No Way Out” and “Thirteen Days.”
“On another level, this is a story about a young man searching for his father,” adds producer Gary Barber. “It’s a journey for James to come to terms with his father’s absence.”
“Spy training doesn’t come from a book,” says producer Jeff Apple, who previously oversaw another film dealing with an equally clandestine organization – the Secret Service – with the hit “In the Line of Fire.” “It requires a collection of skills that range from, on the visceral side, explosives training, and parachuting, to a very cerebral part of distinguishing what’s real and what’s not, how to disguise yourself, how to play a role and become the ultimate actor.”
CIA spokesperson Chase Brandon was instrumental in giving his insight into the Agency’s facilities, methods, and complex recruitment process: the way in which the Agency identifies suitable candidates, recruits them, and molds them into operation officers.
“The training that goes on in the Agency is very interesting, and we do have an area where we conduct clandestine training for our operations officers,” says Brandon. “I’m aware that people think that we call it The Farm. In wonderfully classical Agency response, I can neither confirm nor deny that such a place exists, but I will say that if we were going to give our training facility an interesting name, The Farm perhaps could be an appropriate thing to call it.”
Brandon arranged visits for the filmmakers to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and, where possible, gave information that had a direct effect on the story. “We had the opportunity to see how the operation works, and more importantly, what the people are like,” remembers Apple.
Director Roger Donaldson was chosen to bring the story to the screen. Barber and Birnbaum were pleased to have the opportunity to work with Donaldson, who’s well known for creating finely nuanced, intelligent and suspenseful films. “Gary and I feel that Roger’s
film ‘No Way Out’ shared similar characteristics with ‘The Recruit,’” says Birnbaum.
“We have known Roger for a long time and it was wonderful to finally work with him again, after previously making the thriller ‘White Sands,’ with him,” say Birnbaum and Barber. Donaldson says that he loves making thrillers. “I have done a number of movies that have a thriller quality to them, and even the dramas that I have done have always had an element of danger, violence, and intrigue. I have done films about Washington; ‘Thirteen Days’ is set in the White House and ‘No Way Out’ was set in the Pentagon. Now this one is about the CIA. These three institutions run not only Washington and the USA, but have a major impact on the world, so there’s something inherently interesting about these institutions,” notes Donaldson.
Besides the appeal of the story and its themes, the idea of working with Al Pacino as CIA instructor Walter Burke and Colin Farrell as new recruit James Clayton, made it easy for the director to commit. “Both Al and Colin are among the best actors working today. Working with actors of their caliber is an easy situation to accept,” he says.
Roger Birnbaum explains the choices. “Both Al and Colin are consummate actors. They both have a wonderful connection to their craft. Al’s personality hints at a mercurial nature that goes hand in hand with being authoritative and mysterious. The audience has the feeling that when Al speaks, he knows things that he isn’t going to tell. Who better to play a spy?”
As many directors before him, Donaldson has only the highest praise for Pacino’s approach to, and practice of his craft. “He’s among the best actors of his generation. Al is a perfectionist, who is very demanding of himself.
There’s no one harder on Al than Al. It doesn’t get better than that for a director. My job was to make Al know that his good work was being appreciated,” says Donaldson.
Farrell’s voice changes when he speaks of his experience working with Al Pacino. “I got on so well with him. I love the man dearly. He’s so smart and so talented. I didn’t expect him to be that funny, but he’s hilarious. I laughed so much. I have learned a lot – to change the takes, to keep it fresh. They say that no man is an island, but in terms of his talent, he is a whole country.”
Pacino had a similar effect on the other actors. The phrase most frequently heard among them was ‘going to class’ – none of the actors had to pretend while shooting the sequences in the classroom. Moynahan relives the experience, “All of my scenes with Al were in the classroom environment. I had the pleasure of getting a front row seat to the best acting lessons in the business. You don’t have to act on paying attention. It is Al Pacino working. You pay attention.”
“I loved working with Al because it’s not every day you get to work with an American icon and learn his process. I enjoyed seeing him play and take these incredible risks,” recalls Macht.
“I was over the moon when I found out that I’d be working with Al,” Farrell sums up. “He’s a legend, he’s a craftsman, he’s a genius. I loved working with him.”
Of his character, Farrell says, “I seem to be attracted to characters that have had, or are undergoing, a major life-changing experience. When James was 12, his father died in a plane crash and his mother died from natural causes when he was 14. He pretends that he doesn’t take things too seriously, but in fact he takes everything very seriously. I was attracted to how damaged he was, and how at the age of 25, he wasn’t a man. He hadn’t found himself. He has no reference because he can’t remember his parents.”
The film’s dramatic core was another element that appealed to Farrell’s creative sensibilities. “It’s always nice to have somewhere to go with characters. Start somewhere, go through something and end up in a different place. It’s nice to have that journey, where the events serve and sculpt the character as a human being, rather than the character being there just to serve the story.”
Farrell likens James’ relationship with Burke to that of a father and son. “It’s a strained relationship. James sees Burke as a father figure, even though Burke plays him like a fiddle. Burke manipulates him, tricks him, pulls James towards him, and pushes him away. He does all this for a purpose that ends up working.”
Donaldson instinctively knew that Farrell was the right choice. “Colin is an extremely talented and energetic actor, who’s not hampered by his good looks. He was always perfectly prepared for anything the script called for on any given day.”
Bridget Moynahan was cast as Layla Moore, another CIA recruit. She had read several versions of the script and her impression of the character remained the same. “Layla is a very intelligent, ambitious, and determined woman. She has a precise goal and really doesn’t plan on anything getting in her way. At the same time, she is very much in touch with her heart. Layla is also sensitive and struggles at time between her heart and her head, a situation that I think a lot of strongminded and career-oriented women go through.
She is definitely someone that I can relate to.”
The filmmakers knew the type of woman they wanted for the role of Layla and Moynahan fit the criteria. Barber notes, “For the role of Layla we wanted a young woman, not a young girl. Bridget is a fine actress who is both beautiful and intelligent. She suggests both mental and physical strength. Bridget makes Layla come alive.”
The role of Zach, whose intentions arouse Clayton’s suspicions from the start was won by Gabriel Macht. “The role of Zach interested me because he competes for the attention of Burke, along with James. I find him to be the perfect candidate for the CIA. He plays by the rules and has wanted a position like this from his early upbringing. I also like the aspect that in the CIA as an operative… one never knows where one really comes from. Zach appears to be entirely duplicitous. The twists and turns of the film are suspenseful and thrilling.”
Donaldson relished the idea of working with this particular group of actors, many of who were not very well known at the time they were cast. “It’s more difficult to create a mystery with actors who are well known. They can often play against the story that you are trying to create. This combination gives me more freedom as a director.”
Despite limited time, the actors did a variety of things to prepare for their roles. “I read different books as far as my research for this film. I read My Spy – A Memoir of a CIA Wife by Bina Cady Kiyonaga and The Book Of Honor by Ted Gulp, which inspects the secret lives and deaths of CIA operatives, and an extremely informative intelligence magazine that covers the CIA, NSA, MIG, and the FBI,” recalls Macht.
“I also did a film last year where I played a CIA operative who was a surveillance specialist. For that role, I had done some reading on the Delta Force and I worked closely with an Army Ranger who told me countless stories about the training aspect involved in becoming an Army Ranger and then a CIA op. It all came in very handy.”
While the cast enjoyed playing spies on screen, none of them have any desire to try out the roles in real life. Moynahan explains, “One of the things that really baffled me when reading stories about some agents’ lives was their capability to lie to the ones they love. I can’t imagine having to live a double life. The job is a necessary one, but having to deceive everyone that you care about would be too difficult.”
Farrell visited the MIT campus to get the feel of being a student, but for the most part, he worked on his accent. In that task, he trained with dialogue coach Michael Buster, who has worked with Farrell for his first five American films, including last summer’s hit, “Minority Report.” For three weeks prior to shooting, they worked daily to change Farrell’s Irish brogue to what Buster calls “a general American accent that’s difficult to pin to any particular region.
There are no identifiable things to latch onto.” Like everyone else on set, Donaldson was amazed that “Colin could turn the accent on and off.”
Roger Donaldson was intent on getting the details right. When production began at a farmhouse outside of Toronto, it was after many weeks of careful preparation and attention to detail. “Realism is something that I enjoy creating on the screen. I want the audience to feel like it’s really there. It looks easy to do, but trying to distill out of anything what the reality of it is difficult. It’s always a challenge,” comments Donaldson.
Production designer Andrew McAlpine and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh took on that challenge. They were both committed to the task of giving the film a realistic look and feel. For inspiration, McAlpine watched films and studied pictures to create the look that he describes as “a realistic depiction of a fictional world. There’s no precedent for The Farm, no one knows what The Farm is, so it gave me an open book to create.”
“Half of the film is based upon the notion of a training base where we, the public, would expect recruits to get the best training in the field. The other half is at Langley, which we feel needs absolute accuracy in terms of representing the nature of that fortress of buildings,” continues McAlpine.
Since its creation, The Central Intelligence Agency’s tradition of secrecy and intrigue has been a fount of inspiration for many screenwriters and novelists. In the past the Agency responded to most inquiries for information with either “no comment” or “I can neither confirm nor deny…,” according to the CIA’s film industry liaison, Chase Brandon.
“Given that posture, we invariably left ourselves open to be interpreted by screenwriters and novelists,” says Brandon. “By not responding when we were shown in a negative light, and by failing to offer actual information as background research, we only added to the likelihood that writers would continue to misrepresent the true mission of the Agency and fail to portray the true heroism, patriotism, honor and integrity of CIA officers.”
After decades of silence, the CIA decided to change its policy and sought to become more involved in promoting its public image. Aware that it was the clandestine nature of its operations that fueled the public’s imagination, the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs asked Chase Brandon, a covert field operations officer for 25 years, to drop cover and begin an overt dialog with the film industry. Brandon’s new mission was very straightforward: “If someone wants to make a TV show, a documentary or a feature film about us and treat us in a fair and balanced way, chances are we can provide some reasonable measure of support and cooperation to the project.”
Brandon added, “We understand that dramatic storytelling involves taking poetic license with facts. For example, a CIA recruit would never have to go through the kind of physical abuse that Colin Farrell’s character endures. But, that said, I must say that I appreciated the producers’ and director’s efforts to ensure that other aspects of tactical training were realistically portrayed. Certainly, ‘The Recruit’ shows Agency life more accurately than many films in the past.”
When the Agency commits to providing their support to a project, that can include letting a photographer shoot stills to help in designing sets, or, in certain instances, having the actors spend time in the building. By visiting Langley, the director says, he came to “understand how the space worked and looked. I needed a real sense of how a new person would feel when they saw the place for the first time.”
After security concerns dictated that the filmmakers could no longer visit the building, Brandon was still able to assist the production, although in a different way. Instead of having the production take pictures to help with set design, Brandon did it himself. “I measured all of the distances between the stars on the memorial wall and the size of the statues in the lobby. I tried to give the art department and set decoration crew something that they could work with to make the end product look real. I took a lot of phone calls for many, many months.”
Some of those calls came from propmaster Deryck Blake. He had the task of trying to determine whether certain gadgets and types of technology existed. An important plot point revolves around a gadget called the paper ant – a miniscule, biodegradable listening device. Blake didn’t know if the technology existed, and if it did, what the gadget might look like. “I called Chase, I called Harvard, MIT – everywhere I could think of, to see what I could find out. I know now that technology that operates on a molecular level does exist.”
When he couldn’t find definitive proof that something existed, Blake and his team did the next best thing. “We dreamt things up and made our best guess as to what things would look like.”
There was some guesswork involved in recreating the lobby of the CIA headquarters at Langley. A scenic artist developed a process that uses formica to float a pigment which then resembled marble on the walls of the structure.
The floors were made from terrazzo, discovered through a local Toronto dealer with a large quantity left from a job for a Las Vegas casino. Working from three pictures and a brochure sent by Brandon, the art department rose to the occasion with creative methods of calculating the dimensions of the space. “We used the height of a shoe in the picture – which we knew was a given height – and used that to calibrate the sixteen-foot pillars,” recalls McAlpine.
The end result was so authentic, that the CIA’s senior executives couldn’t believe their eyes when they were shown a still photograph of the set. “They were utterly astounded. It looks better than our lobby,” laughs Brandon.
The interior of The Farm – the instruction area of the facility – is another example of McAlpine’s creative vision. He wanted the audience to ‘catch their breath’ on seeing the interior for the first time. “I wanted a dramatic counterpoint to the utilitarian exterior of The Farm – a contradiction of materials. The polygraph area with the steel, glass, and brushed aluminum would be quite hard, reflective and un-giving against the soft hue and wood feel.” Director of photography Stuart Dryburgh had to respond to Donaldson’s request for a ‘gritty, realistic feel and look, but with pizzazz.’
“‘The Recruit’ is a human drama set in the world of the CIA, which uses the aesthetic of a spy movie, a realistic one.” He worked with a winter palette of greys and blues for the training sequences, then shifted for the urban areas, where he used shades of orange and dirty yellow. The climax of the film makes another transition to “creepier colors of greens, cyan blues and greys.”
Along with his devotion to the details of realism, Donaldson also wanted to have the liberty to experiment with movement within the frame. For most of the film, the camera stays with James’ point of view, except in certain sequences when angles are used to suggest that someone else is watching. Donaldson credits camera/steadicam operator Gilles Corbeil and focus puller, Christopher Raucamp with allowing him to “free up the camera. I couldn’t have achieved it without them. They are a fantastic combination.”
After ten weeks in Toronto, the production shifted to Washington, D.C. to capture the film’s exterior sequences. The weather was cool and rainy for the majority of the shoot, but nothing could dampen the experience of being in a city with such dramatic views of historical significance. Using locations like the Iwo Jima Memorial, the atrium of Union train station, the Tidal Basin parking lot with its dramatic view of the Washington Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial gives the film the authenticity that Donaldson wanted to achieve.
In completing principal photography, Donaldson comments, “there were days when we had plenty of difficult things to do, but everyday was a joy on set. It helps when everyone is committed to the task at hand, the actors and the crew.”
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht, Jeanie Calleja, Ron Lea, Jessica Greco, Elisa Moolecherry
Screenplay by: Roger Towne, Kurt Wimmer
Production Design by: Andrew McAlpine
Cinematography by: Stuart Dryburgh
Film Editing by: David Rosenbloom
Costume Design by: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Set Decoration by: Peter P. Nicolakakos
Art Direction by: Dennis Davenport
Music by: Klaus Badelt
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: January 31, 2003
