Video: GOOD SHEPHERD opens in NZ cinemas Feb 15

“The Good Shepherd is a fictionalized version of history which is accurate in almost every incident. But because the filmmakers are liberated from trying to be faithful to the tiny details, they’ve come a lot closer in many ways to capturing some essential truths about this extraordinary period of intelligence, counterintelligence, betrayal and espionage during the Cold War …

There’s no way to understand the present without understanding how we got there. And The Good Shepherd tells us.” - Richard C. A. Holbrooke, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, 1999-2001.

The untold story of the birth of the Central Intelligence Agency—viewed through the life of one man who believed in America and would sacrifice everything he loved to protect his country—is told in The Good Shepherd , an epic drama that features an all-star cast under the direction of Academy Award® winner ROBERT DE NIRO.

Academy Award® winners MATT DAMON, ANGELINA JOLIE and Robert De Niro head this formidable collection of accomplished actors, including Oscar® nominee ALEC BALDWIN ( The Departed), TAMMY BLANCHARD ( Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows), BILLY CRUDUP ( Big Fish), KEIR DULLEA (2001: A Space Odyssey), SIR MICHAEL GAMBON ( Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), MARTINA GEDECK ( Un Ami Parfait), Academy Award® winner WILLIAM HURT ( A History of Violence), and Oscar® winner TIMOTHY HUTTON ( Secret Window).

Damon plays Edward Wilson, a patriot who understands the value of secrecy—discretion and a commitment to honor have been embedded in him since his tragic and privileged childhood. As an eager, sensitive student at Yale in 1939, he is recruited to join the secret Skull and Bones society, a tightly knit brotherhood that serves to develop future world leaders. Wilson’s acute mind, spotless reputation and sincere belief in American values render him the prime candidate for an intelligence career by those who monitor the newest recruits.

The idealistic young man is recruited to work for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, during WWII. It is a decision that will alter the course of his life and change the geopolitical shape of our times as Wilson and his fellow secret group members come to create the most powerful covert agency in the world.

As one of the founders of the CIA, working in the heart of an organization where duplicity is required and nothing is taken at face value, Wilson’s idealism is steadily eroded by his growing suspicious nature, reflective of a world settling into the long paranoia of the Cold War. As his methods are adopted as standard operating procedure, Wilson develops into one of the Agency’s veteran operatives, all the while combating his KGB counterpart in a global chess match.

But Wilson’s steely dedication to his country comes at an ever-escalating price. Not even the growing concern of his wife, Margaret “Clover” (Jolie), and his beloved son (Redmayne) can divert Wilson from a path that will force him to sacrifice everything in dedication to his job.

The Good Shepherd is written by Oscar® winner ERIC ROTH ( Forrest Gump, Munich). And opens in cinemas across New Zealand on February 15.

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