In an alleged “exclusive interview,” News of the World‘s William Spence reported today that Oliver Stone “won’t be making [his] Afghanistan/Bin Laden film” — commonly known as Jawbreaker — “anytime soon.” Stone is quoted as saying that “the story is changing too fast to properly put to film yet. Perhaps some day. Bush is a fascinating portrait in psychopathy and I think it would make a great film, and Blair would have to play a supporting role.”
So with Stone out of the picture the tally of movies about U.S. soldiers or agents grappling with Middle Eastern terrorists or insurgents is now down to eleven — two Afghanis (Lions for Lambs, Charlie Wilson’s War), seven Iraqs (In The Valley of Elah, Redacted, Stop Loss, The Hurt Locker, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, Grace is Gone and Nick Broomfield‘s Battle for Haditha), plus the Riyahd shoot-em-up thriller that is Peter Berg‘s The Kingdom plus Gavin Hood‘s Rendition (New Line, 10.12.07), which is about U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.
My understanding is that Marc Foster‘s The Kite Runner is more or less on its own nativist Afghani plane and therefore not really part of the club.