Bin Laden hunt film already in works

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LOS ANGELES, May 3 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden's killing provides an ending to a film already in the works about U.S. efforts to kill the terrorist, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter said.

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and producer-screenwriter Mark Boal -- whose gritty Iraq war-on-terror film "The Hurt Locker" won six 2009 Academy Awards, including for best picture and director and screenplay -- plan to start shooting the suspense action thriller this summer, Variety said.

The film, whose script is not finished, is tentatively titled "Kill bin Laden," the Reporter said.

The motion picture -- which the Reporter said was originally to focus on an earlier failed, highly clandestine U.S. covert operation to kill bin Laden -- "will definitely include" the highly risky overnight raid and intense 40-minute firefight in Pakistan that killed bin Laden, Variety said.

The newspaper did not say what failed operation the filmmakers meant.

U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora, in eastern Afghanistan's White Mountains, Aug. 14-16, 2007. After killing dozens of al-Qaida and Taliban members, the forces found neither bin Laden or No. 2 al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri, officials said at the time.

Capturing bin Laden was a Washington objective since the Clinton administration and became a top priority after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Boal had planned to scout filming locations in Afghanistan next week but canceled his trip after U.S. forces killed bin Laden, Variety said.

Bigelow and Boal plan to gauge Arab world reaction to bin Laden's death before shooting, "though they still are aiming for a summer shoot," Variety said.

One of the actors in contention for the film is Australia's Joel Edgerton, the Reporter said. Edgerton appeared in the second and third "Star Wars" prequel films as young Owen Lars, stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker and uncle to Luke Skywalker.

Bin Laden's death should help with finding financing for the film, Variety said.

While Bigelow and Boal have their sights set, bin Laden's killing will also likely lead to "a ton" of other bin Laden-related projects, the Reporter said.