By Darius KADIVAR

©imdb.com & photocomposition DK

One of Britain's hottest young screenwriters, Iranian-born Hossein Amini wrote the teleplay for Peter Kosminsky's "Dying of the Light" (1995), a based-on-fact drama about the outspoken UNICEF aid worker in Africa, Sean Devereux, who was assassinated in Somalia. The program earned a BAFTA Award nomination as Best Single Drama. A screen version of Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" became his first produced feature, Michael Winterbottom's "Jude" (1996), winning both the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival and Best Film at the Dinard Film Festival. Amini's adaptation of Henry James, Ian Softley's "The Wings of the Dove" (1997), raised his star to new heights, putting him in league with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala as a leading translator of Victorian and Edwardian fiction into the language of film.

Some of Hossein Amini's previous scripts
 turned into films ©imdb.com

New Line also  initially hired Hossein Amini to pen "The Subtle Knife," the second part of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" starring Daniel Craig,  Nicole Kidman and Eva Green but apparently Amini set off working on another movie Killshot produced by Quentine Tarantino and the task was given to another talented screenwriter Chris Weitz.

KillShot is the first collaboration between Palm d'Or director of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino and Amir Hosseini who was Oscar nominated for his script for Wings of the Dove. Tarantino is executive producer on this film which means he has the final say on the script and has creative control of the project. The film was directed by British O John Madden best known for his highly acclaimed Oscar Awarded movie Shakespeare In Love that spearheaded the then young Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes  to International Stardom.

Hossein Amini has delivered a wry script so much appreciated by Tarantino die hard fan's and is based on Elmore Leonard's best-selling crime novel.

The Plot: The beautiful Carmen Colson (Diane Lane) and her husband Wayne (Thomas Jane) become entangled in a scam with a bumbling, small time con artist (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his over-the-hill hitman partner the Blackbird (Mickey Rourke). Ultimately, it all comes down to one wife, one husband, two killers...and one lethal killshot.

Former Sex Idol of Nine ½ Weeks has made a comeback in

Pulp Fiction Style films From Sin City (1,2)  to KillShot ©imdb.com

After an eclipse of nearly a decade in any major Hollywood Production due to personal and financial problems, Mickey Rourke has made a comeback as a Pulp Fiction hero in several noticeable roles thanks to Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez in such sequel films as  Sin City. It has turned the former good looking Sex Idol of Arian Lyne's Nine Weeks ½  into a self destructive and less glamorous film Star but whose ironic onscreen presence has still maintained some of his charisma.   

Killshot is directed by British Award
winning director John Madden ©imdb.com

Hossein Amini appears as one of the eclectic screenwriters capable of equally writing scripts for action packed films like the Colonial Adventure The Four Feathers as much as more Romantic Drama's in the lines of  Henry James Wings of the Dove novel.

KillShot should therefore be an interesting film experience for Amini in revisiting a film genre that has been firmly reintroduced in recent years by Quentin Tarantino.

It seems however that the film is meant for an immediate DVD release rather than a theatrical one.

VIVE LE CINEMA !

Author's Notes:

WARNING PG: RATED R:  KillShot Trailer

Recommended Readings:

SAW III: Bahar Soomekh's Halloween Nightmare by Darius KADIVAR

Persian Golden Boys in Hollywood by Darius KADIVAR

Nailing the Script: Hollywood Screen Writer Cyrus Nowrasteh's new Challenges  by Darius KADIVAR 

An Interview with Cyrus NowRasteh by Shabnam Rezaei and Darius KADIVAR

About the Author: Darius KADIVAR is a Freelance Journalist, Film Historian, and Media Consultant.