Thought provoking and emotional are the feeling that will be evoked into movie goers by the conspiracy thriller ‘Kill The Messenger.’ Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy) leads an all-star cast to shows how much one journalist will sacrifice for the truth in his portrayal of Gary Webb.
Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets…and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua.
Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications. His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. – and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.
Renner who is not a stranger to action packed films, describes one of the reason he took this story on was his intrigue with the underdog. “I love a flawed hero, I like those kinds of stories.” On his thoughts of conspiracy behind the remainder of Gary Webb’s life, Jenner commented, “Our goal was to portray his (Webb) story and to start a conversation because that is what movies and stories do, but the end conclusion is up to the movie goers.”
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The star-studded cast continues in ‘Kill The Messenger’ with Micheal K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire) in the role of drug kingpin, Ricky Ross. Williams growing up in New York experienced the deterioration of african-american neighborhoods reaching the east coast as a child.
According to Williams his conversation with Ricky Ross reveal another side to the infamous drug lord and reveal a soft-spoken, kind-hearted man. “After learning about his life and how he (Ross) wanted to be a tennis player and was never afforded the opportunity due to not being taught how to read and write he drew me into his story. He fell through the crack of the dismal education system in California in the eighties and learned how to survive the best way he knew how.” Williams said.
Williams spoke on the emotions that he felt playing Ricky Ross, “It’s a flood of emotions playing this role, drugs has plaque my family and after speaking to Rick and hearing his story, he was a victim just like my family and our communities were, just on different sides of the track.”
‘Kill The Messenger’ includes several real life clips of neighborhood blight and decay in the wake of the crack epidemic providing a time portal back to where the movie goer may have been at the time these events occured, this chilling connection to real events that have shaped our current world makes ‘Kill The Messenger’ a stand out film in the midst of adapted biographies.
‘Kill The Messenger’ hits movie theaters this Friday, October 10, 2014.
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