Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips To Tell ISIS Story ‘Black Flags’ And Radical Jihadi Plans Of ‘Apocalyptic Showdown’ With West
Bradley Cooper and Todd Phillips are hooking up with the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winning author Joby Warrick to produce an HBO miniseries about the rise of the radical Islamic jihadi group ISIS, also called Daesh and ISIL in different parts of the planet, according to tweets from the author and Deadline Hollywood.
Warrick’s book describes the Islamic State organization’s intention to actually destroy the modern states of the Middle East, and to replace them all under the jihadi “Black Flags” which are by now well-known to the Western world. According to writer Warrick, those flags can be seen as a sign of the group’s determination. They are seeking a “great apocalyptic showdown with the West,” as he forewarns in his book.
(AP Photo, File)
Twitterverse mentions ‘Black Flags’
Fans of Cooper, Phillips, Warrick and Tim Van Patten, who is set to direct the project according to the Deadline Hollywood information, perhaps will be as happy with the project as the writer seems to be in his tweet about the news.
delighted to finally be able to make this news public:… https://t.co/VO7DEVS1nx
— Joby Warrick (@JobyWarrick) August 4, 2016
If the project is anything like the book, published by Knopf Doubleday with the excerpt available on the website, it shall be a revealing peek into the radical jihadi darkness of the Islamic State worldview as the writing from Warrick is just good storytelling from a reporter who has covered the news. A small sample of the book appears below for readers who like seeing the story in words before they watch the story onscreen elsewhere.
“Her last earthly view, before she was blindfolded, was of a small execution chamber with white walls and a row of tiny windows, and a few tired faces looking up from the witness gallery just below her. An imam prayed as a noose with a heavy metal clasp was secured, and a judge asked if Rishawi cared to convey any last wishes or a final will. She gave no reply.”
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Hurst via AP)
Details
The details of the HBO project are told in various media reports. Lamarco McClendon, staff writer at Variety, gives confirmation on the miniseries story. He states that Cooper is “exec producing” the TV adaptation with his business partner Todd Phillips. Deadline Hollywood’s Nellie Andreeva offers the first specifics on the adaptation, however.
Cooper was reading Black Flags, it seems, and he suddenly thought to find the author/reporter Warrick and, along with business partner Phillips, to pitch the idea for a miniseries to him in his own hometown. They would collaborate on it, according to the details provided by writer Andreeva.
As the national security reporter for the Washington Post, according to the information provided on his Twitter account profile, Warrick has been covering the Islamic jihadi topic and the radical group for some time now.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
