Three Kings (1999)
Three Kings is a 1999 American black comedy war film written and directed by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley. It stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze as four American soldiers on a gold heist that takes place during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein following the end of the Gulf War. The film was released on October 1, 1999, in the United States. It received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $107 million on its $48 million budget.RELATED:
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Plot.
Following the end of the Persian Gulf War, U.S. soldiers are sent over to tie up loose ends. The soldiers are bored from the lack of action and throw parties at night. Major Archie Gates, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, is trading for stories with a journalist, Cathy Daitch, when he is interrupted by Adriana Cruz, the television reporter he is assigned to escort. While disarming and searching an Iraqi officer, U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow, his best friend Private First Class Conrad Vig, and their unit find a map in the officer’s rectum. Troy goes to Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin to help translate the map.
Major Gates appears, after tracking down a lead from Adriana. Archie convinces them that the document is a map of bunkers near Karbala, containing gold bullion stolen from Kuwait, which they decide to steal in turn. To keep Adriana off his back, Gates sends Specialist Walter Wogeman to aid her on a false lead.
They set off the next day and, among other goods plundered from Kuwait, find the gold, and stumble on the interrogation of Amir Abdullah. As they are leaving, Amir’s wife pleads with them not to abandon the anti-Saddam dissidents, but she is executed by the Iraqi Republican Guard. The group decides to free the Iraqi prisoners, triggering a firefight.
They pull out just as Iraqi reinforcements arrive, and as they try to evade a CS gas attack, they blunder into a minefield and get separated. Iraqi soldiers capture Troy while a group of rebels rescue the other Americans and take them to their underground hideout. There, Conrad, Chief and Archie agree to help the rebels and their families reach the Iranian border, after they rescue Troy.
Troy gets taken back to the bunker, and is thrown in a room full of Kuwaiti cell phones. He manages to call his wife on a MicroTAC and tells her to report his location to his local Army Reserve unit. His call is cut short when he is dragged to an interrogation room where he is interrogated by Iraqi Captain Saïd.
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Casting.
Russell penned the script with several actors in mind. Although Spike Jonze had never acted in a film before, Russell wrote the part of Conrad Vig specifically for him, and the two practised Conrad’s Southern accent over the phone while Jonze directed his first feature film, Being John Malkovich. Although Russell had to convince a wary Warner Bros. to cast an inexperienced actor in such a large role, he eventually won out. Russell said Jonze’s lack of previous acting work was beneficial to the film, citing the “chaos that a nonactor brings to the set…he really shakes things up.” Co-star George Clooney also expressed initial reservations about the choice of Jonze. “It’s always worrisome when somebody says, ‘I got a friend,’ and you’ve never heard of them. But within five minutes of meeting Spike, you just go, ‘Oh, he’s perfect for the part.'” The part of Archie Gates was originally planned for Clint Eastwood, but Russell decided to rewrite it as a younger character.
George Clooney eventually saw a copy of the script and was “blown away” by it. When he heard the part was being re-written, he jumped at the chance to get involved. At this point in Clooney’s career, he was best known for his role as the handsome Dr. Doug Ross on the popular television drama ER. Clooney was ready to pursue a role in film. Unfortunately, Russell seemed unwilling to cast Clooney in the role. Persistent, Clooney sent a humorously self-deprecating letter signed “George Clooney, TV actor” to Russell asking for the part, and showed up at Russell’s New York City apartment to plead his case. Russell still wasn’t satisfied that Clooney could portray the character. He instead convinced Nicolas Cage to play the role. However, when Cage became unavailable after being cast in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead, Russell gave the part to Clooney. Russell later stated that Clooney “was meant to play the part.” Many of the Iraqi roles were played by actual Iraqi refugees in the United States.
