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This HBO Films production mixes breakneck excitement, biting humor and blistering drama in telling the behind-the-scenes true story of how brash CNN producer Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton) and his resourceful team made history, and reported it, during the onset of the 1991 Gulf War. Arriving in Baghdad, Wiener and co-producer Ingrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter) contend with numerous logistical, technical and political challenges as they attempt to report on the situation in Baghdad as war looms.
While feeding stories to a hungry 24-hour news network under the scrutiny of Iraqi censorship and Saddam's propaganda efforts, the two producers must stay ahead of the competition - the Big Three networks.
When the bombs hit Baghdad on January 16, 1991 (most of the other news crews have fled the city), the ingenuity and courage of Wiener, Ingrid and their crew (including CNN anchor Bernard Shaw and reporters Peter Arnett and John Holliman) pay off when they are able to use a coveted "four-wire" transmitter to relay live reports on the U.S. bombing of Baghdad not just to America, but the entire world.
LIVE FROM BAGHDAD also includes in its cast Lili Taylor (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Bruce McGill (HBO's "Path to War"), David Suchet ("Poirot"), Robert Wisdom ("Storytellling"), Joshua Leonard ("The Blair Witch Project"), Paul Guilfoyle ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"), John Carroll Lynch ("The Good Girl"), Michael Cudlitz (HBO's "Band of Brothers"), Hamish Linklater ("Gideon's Crossing"), Jason Antoon ("Minority Report") and Kurt Fuller ("Pushing Tin").
LIVE FROM BAGHDAD is directed by Mick Jackson, executive produced by Rosalie Swedlin ("Clockers") and Sara Colleton ("Riding in Cars with Boys"), and produced by George W. Perkins ("James Dean"). The script is by Robert Wiener & Richard Chapman and John Patrick Shanley (Oscar®-winner for "Moonstruck") and Timothy J. Sexton (HBO's "Boycott").
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