How a pilot sealed the deal
DRUG WARS: TOM CRUISE PLAYS A HUSTLER RECRUITED BY THE CIA FOR COVERT OPERATION
American nobody called Barry Seal played a pivotal role in Iran-Contra affair.
In American Made, Tom Cruise reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith), in this international escapade based on the outrageous (and real) exploits of a hustler and pilot unexpectedly recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations in US history.
One of the wealthiest men in 1980s America is someone you’ve never heard of. With his devilish swagger and zest for life, TWA pilot Barry Seal (Cruise) is the hero of his sleepy southern town.
Much to the surprise of his wife, Lucy (Sarah Wright Olsen), the charming entrepreneur has gone from a well-respected TWA pilot to being a key figure in one of the greatest scandals in modern history. Little could they grasp that what started out as transporting contraband would lead to Barry helping to build an army and fund a war.
Once the hotshot airman gets caught up in a shadowy division of the government – running crates of AK-47s and kilos of cocaine – he makes a fortune as a key player in the Iran-Contra affair.
From trading arms for hostages to training the forces of Central and South American kingpins, Barry becomes an improbable hero working against the system.
So, how does he sleep at night? It seems that it’s all legal if you do it for the good guys.
In 2012, Quadrant Pictures producer Doug Davison was searching for ideas to develop when he met with then relatively unknown writer Gary Spinelli. After a quick introduction and a few pitches, nothing seemed like a fit.
Then, just as Spinelli was leaving, he mentioned one more concept he had been working on. The writer had recently seen Argo, which had piqued his interest in other untold CIA scandals of the era.
During his research on key players of the time, he had come across a man called Barry Seal, a fascinating character in recent American history and one who affected all he met.
Davison walks us through their meeting: “Gary proceeded to tell me the basics of Barry’s story, as well as the beats of his life adventure. Barry wasn’t just a drug smuggler, but a family man who was deeply in love with his wife while leading a double life.”
He pauses. “Now that was a story I wanted to tell.”
Spinelli was fascinated by the fact that Seal’s life in the late 1970s and early-to-mid-’80s allowed him to get away with illegal exploits for years – ones that would be impossible today.
Our 24-hour news cycle makes for a much more transparent world than the one the pilot inhabited, and we live our conspiracies as they unfold.
“Goodfellas is one of my favourite movies, and I was on the hunt to find a version of that when I found my American Made story. I was looking for a little hidden piece of history,” he says.
“A small story that affected a global event, and I came across Barry in Mena, Arkansas.”
For the next six months, Davison and Spinelli researched everything about Seal. As the two men dug deeper and uncovered the cross-connecting layers of the pilot’s life and times, they were surprised at how intricately involved Seal was in various facets of the US government, as well as his double dealings with the Colombians and the Medellín Cartel.
At the end of the day, Seal had an inordinate role in a scandal that shadowed Ronald Reagan’s eight years in office.
Davison vividly remembers the Iran-Contra efforts as a fascinating and complex time in US history.
The producer says: “The aspect of Barry’s story that really got to me was how he was working for our government to help fund the Contra war effort.”
The result was this action-packed film, which is being released today. – Citizen reporter