EXCLUSIVE: Less than a week after the Paramount-Skydance merger went through, Paramount+ has released a trailer and premiere date for its latest documentary – and some big names are attached.
Bodyguard of Lies, an investigation into the United States’ bloody, costly, and ultimately futile war in Afghanistan, will open theatrically for a limited run in New York on September 12, before bowing on the Paramount+ platform on Sept. 23. The film is directed by two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Dan Krauss (Extremis, The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club) and produced by Krauss, Oscar winner Alex Gibney, and Susan Zirinsky – former president of CBS News – among others. It’s a collaboration of the Washington Post, Amblin Documentaries, Jigsaw Productions and See It Now Studios. Watch the trailer above.
‘Bodyguard Of Lies’
Courtesy of CBS/Paramount+
Bodyguard of Lies constitutes “the first unvarnished documentary of the history of the Afghanistan war, exposing the falsehoods told to Americans and the secrets kept over four administrations,” notes a release. “Through damning testimonies from insiders, confidential documents, never-before-seen footage and private audio recordings of those at the highest levels of government, this gripping film reveals how failed war policies and strategies were perpetuated, sacrificing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars in the process.”
In the trailer, a succession of American political and military leaders tell the public, “We are winning” in Afghanistan – from Pres. Trump in his first administration to Gen. David Petraeus. Pres. Obama and Secretary of State offer similarly optimistic assessments. But privately, some of the most senior officials in government knew that wasn’t the truth. For some, Bodyguard of Lies will sound like a repeat of the Pentagon Papers, the secret Vietnam War assessment leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971 that exposed the false narrative pushed by American leaders that the U.S. was winning that war in Southeast Asia.
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under Pres. George W. Bush from 2001-2006
CBS/Paramount+
Pres. George W. Bush launched the war in Afghanistan in October 2001, punishing the Taliban for giving haven to Al-Qaeda which had attacked the U.S. on 9/11. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld oversaw the war effort, but by 2002 – as the documentary reveals – he was asking how the U.S. could get out of its military entanglement. The title of the film comes from something Rumsfeld said at the time — watch the trailer to hear his words. (Students of documentary will appreciate this is the second time a pithy or obscure Rumsfeld utterance has been turned into a film title, following the 2013 Errol Morris documentary The Unknown Known).
Courtesy of CBS/Paramount+
Bodyguard of Lies is directed and produced by Dan Krauss. Producers include Susan Zirinsky and Terence Wrong from See it Now Studios, Alex Gibney, Brad Hebert and Ahmad Sharifi for Jigsaw Productions (Gibney’s Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side investigated torture and interrogation tactics used by the American military in Afghanistan). Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey produce for Amblin Documentaries. Craig Whitlock serves as an executive producer. Bodyguard of Lies is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Watch the trailer above.