Lord of War

We watched Lord of War last night. The film follows the story of a New York-based arms broker (Cage) who traffics weapons to dictators and human rights abusers, and the efforts of the Interpol Agent (Ethan Hawke) trying to stop him.

Interestingly, no US studios would back the film, but Amnesty International USA supports it.


Lord of War Facts:

• According to Andrew Niccol, the filmmakers worked with actual gunrunners in the making of the film. The tanks lined up for sale were owned by a gunrunner who had to have them back to sell to another country. They used a real stockpile of over 3,000 AK-47s because it was cheaper than getting prop guns. The gunrunners were more cooperative and efficient than the studio or the crew.
  
  
• Yuri Orlov is a composite of five real arms dealers.
  
  
• No US studios would back the film. International finances were secured instead.
  
  

• The tanks seen in the movie were real and belonged to a Czech arms-dealer.
  
  
• Before shooting the scene where tanks were lined up for sale, the filmmaker had to warn NATO, lest they think a real war was being started when they see satellite images of the set.
  
  
• The character of Andre Baptiste is loosely based on famous warlord, and ex-leader of Liberia, Charles Taylor.
  
  
• The Antonov An-12 airplane number 9Q-CIH filmed in the movie was owned by a Russian citizen Evgeny Zakharov. On January 8, 2005, the plane crashed at Bukalaza, Ughanda; all six crew members were killed. The plane departed Entebbe airport with destination Kinshasa. It was reportedly carrying humanitarian relief items.