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There  have been many thrillers about amnesia — the Bourne films likely the first to come to mind. But in Unknown, botanist Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) has an even bigger problem. After he and his wife land in Berlin for a conference, he is in an auto accident. When he wakes after a four-day coma, he discovers that no one else, not even his wife, knows who he is. Complicating his situation, a man who claims to be Dr. Harris (Aidan Quinn) has taken his place. The star of Unknown was pulled into the story from the start. “For […]

Many couples will say that there are people conspiring to keep them apart. But in The Adjustment Bureau, rising politician David Norris (Matt Damon) glimpses a much darker conspiracy — agents of the Bureau, who not only want to keep him from pursuing a relationship with a ballerina (Emily Blunt), but also control the rest of the world as well. In the short story “Adjustment Team” by science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick, the protagonist was an insurance salesman. The film creators made him a politician because, says producer Michael Hackett, “Picking a politician allowed us a character whose decisions can […]

The Eagle has its story in fact — that the Ninth Legion of Roman soldiers vanished into what is now Scotland. Furious at what was likely a defeat by barbarians, the Roman emperor Hadrian built a wall to seal off the edge of the known world. Known as Hadrian’s Wall, the ruins of it exist to this day. The story was the basis for the novel The Eagle of the Ninth, an epic tale of heroism by Rosemary Sutcliff, one of the favorite novels of The Eagle producer Duncan Kenworthy. “It’s a wonderfully resonant and exciting story, with characters, issues, […]

Given the number of films he’s made with underwater scenes — such as the dramas The Abyss and Titanic,  as well as underwater documentaries — it’s clear that James Cameron has an affinity for the dangers of water and the claustrophobic pressures of the deep, even after a near drowning on the set of The Abyss. Like Titanic, the underwater adventure Sanctum is based on an actual event. In 1988, film producer and caver Andrew Wight led an expedition into a remote cave in Australia. An intense storm caused the cave entrance to collapse, leaving 15 people trapped underground. A […]