The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (released as The Ghost in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a 2010 French-German-British political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski. The film is an adaptation of the Robert Harris novel, The Ghost, with the screenplay written by Polanski and Harris. It stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams.

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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Plot: When a successful English ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent, Rick Ricardelli (Jon Bernthal), assures him it is the opportunity of a lifetime. Plus the money is excellent: the publishing company advanced Adam Lang $10 million for his memoirs, and the ghost writer is set to make $250,000. But the project seems doomed from the start, not least because his predecessor on the project, Mike McAra, Lang's long-term aide, died in an apparent accident. The ghost writer flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, at an oceanfront estate in the fictional American village of Old Haven (an allusion to Vineyard Haven) on Martha's Vineyard where the former PM is staying with his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams), and his personal assistant (and mistress) Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), along with a staff of servants and security personnel. Forced to work on the estate because he's forbidden from taking the manuscript outside, the ghost writer is checked into a small hotel on the island where he sleeps. The day after his arrival, former British Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh) accuses Lang of authorising the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA, a possible war crime. Lang faces the threat of prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless he stays in the U.S. or goes to another country that does not recognise the court's jurisdiction. The controversy brings reporters and protesters to the security perimeter of the island estate. The ghost writer wakes up to a swarm of media people that have checked into the hotel. To prevent the press from having access to him, the ghost writer is brought to live on the Lang's estate and is put up in McAra's old room with his personal belongings not even cleared out yet.

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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In a PR move aimed at sending the message to the public that everything is as usual, Lang's people quickly schedule some high-profile meetings with top US officials which take Lang and his assistant to Washington. As the ghost writer clears the room, he finds an envelope containing clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret concerning Lang. Among the material is a handwritten phone number which the ghost writer calls and discovers it's Richard Rycart's. The ghost writer hangs up without saying a word and doesn't answer when Rycart calls back. During a bicycle ride around the island, as the rain and wind pick up, the writer seeks shelter and meets an old man (Eli Wallach) living nearby, who tells him that there is no possible way the current could have taken McAra's body from the ferry where he disappeared to the beach where it was discovered. The old man also reveals that a neighbour woman saw flashlights on the beach the night the body was discovered, but later fell down her stairs and went into a coma. Continuing his ride, the writer is intercepted by Ruth and her security guard who have gone out to look for him. On the ride back, she clutches the writer's hand as she cries. He doesn't protest, interpreting her emotional outburst to be caused by feeling neglected and abandoned by Lang. Back at the estate, he and Ruth watch the evening news, the leading story being Lang's visit with the vice president in Washington. At the dinner, and later over drinks, they're talking fairly openly. The writer wonders why someone like Lang (handsome skirt-chaser) suddenly decided to go into politics in his early twenties when he never had a political thought in his head up to that point.

–from wikipedia

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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The Ghost Writer (2010)

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