Doug Liman, the director of The Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith and Jumper has a new movie up his sleeve, which will take him behind bars. Over this side of the pond, Attica is probably best known as something Al Pacino iconically shouts in Dog Day Afternoon. However the reason he was so busy yelling it in the 1975 flick is because of events that had taken place at the prison in 1971 – and it’s those events Liman’s film with detail.
The prison was the scene of one of the most deadly riots in US history. For a long time prisoners had been demanding better living conditions (for example they were limited to one toilet roll a month). However the violence erupted after the killing of a back prisoner as he tried to escape. Shortly afterwards around half the prisoners rioted and took control of the jail. Over four days authorities negotiated with the inmates, but eventually resolved to take back the jail by force. This led to the deaths of 29 prisoners and 10 prison staff member. The riot polarised the US, with some seeing it as a case of state brutality (hence Pacino’s rallying cry in Dog Day Afternoon), and other saying it was the prisoner’s own fault.
The film is rather personal for Liman, as his father co-authored the official New York Special State Commission For Attica Prison’s report on the incident, which criticised Governor Nelson Rockerfeller and prison authorities for their share of the responsibility for the death toll. Variety reports that the film will be written by Precious scribe Geoffrey Fletcher.
It’s early days for the movie, which is yet to get distribution, but it could certainly make an interesting flick.