We have a blondish-looking Katharine. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Interestingly I think we faced a challenge, which some of you may or may not agree with. [Ahmed is depicted in the film as strongly pro-war, resistant to running stories that conflict with his opinion.]. I didn't plan to have this movie out today and know what was going to be going on. Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. "And she then said: 'My way into this is what would I as the unadorned, no-makeup, no-fancy-edges Keira Knightley what would I feel like if this memo landed on my desk?'". I did feel like, Well, I failed.. So important was this email, I knew it might even derail the case that Tony Blair was making for joining the Americans in an invasion. Such a law is not compatible with openness, transparency, accountability and justice. But the invasion was forced to proceed with the backing of Bushs coalition of the willinginstead of with the support of the United Nations. Today, I believe the Act serves as an illiberal, draconian piece of law, little more than a weapon of the state to deter any disclosure, no matter how much in the public interest it might be. Right: Entertainment One, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. The invasion was a huge blow, says Gun. I actually think the little memo lands on our lap more often than we think, even if it's just who I should vote for. At first, I heard nothing. So somehow in my rolodex, sometimes they sought me out. For the Observer too, it was a story full of risks. To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page. And I went, Oh, that's how much that superhero myth is in our system. We didn't end up making it with that studio. Two hours later after this deep dive, I called Ged back and said, How come we dont know this story? I guess the answer to that is that her story was big news for the day, and then very quickly got crushed by a bigger story, which was the story of the invasion. Despite the risk of a harsher sentence, I decided to plead not guilty because I felt strongly that my actions had been intended to prevent the unnecessary loss of life in an illegal war. Ed, the real Ed, is absolutely delightful. Then, the following Monday, I printed out a copy of the email, folded it up, and tucked it carefully in my bag. Unfortunately. Martin Bright, who is in the movie very briefly I guess, is no longer in journalism as I understand it. When you have the initial GCHQ induction course for new arrivals, she said, they tell you not to trust journalists, to be careful to keep everything confidential. Still, she printed off the memo, tucked it into her purse, and took it home. Which really, really, really happened. This is not to say that Iran does not have a trick up its sleeve, or that wild-eyed Iranian hawks aren't circling its leaders. "There seems to be this blas attitude the spying goes on, everyone does it and so it's nothing to get all hot under the collar about. "That really happened," Hood confirmed, though it did not go quite as it is shown in the film. So we start with hair, and then we start with glasses, and Keira says, "Gavin, what if I just was me?" Over the weekend, I got to work. My shock turned to anger as the significance sank in. WebAttempts were made by the authorities to deport her husband, who grew disillusioned with Britain. David Dayen: The first thing I thought about when looking at this movie is that in most recent historical epics, the audience knows what's happening next. Everyone involved assumed the project had run into the dust, but then it appeared on the Black List, a Hollywood website for unmade film scripts, which has featured Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech in the past. But when Gun's lawyers threaten to question the U.K. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith about Britain's involvement in the Iraq war, the government drops their case against Gun. My job had been to listen to Chinese communications, translate them from Mandarin to English and produce reports for different government departments. It almost started with, well, would I have the courage to do what she did in another setting maybe? Not good enough, the trio decided. Hundreds of thousands were killed. But the falsehoods and unnecessary wars of yesteryear likely have influenced the waning support for public institutions today. [Gun's husband Yasar, a Kurd, was nearly deported back to the Middle East at one point, even though he had nothing to do with the leak.]. Its had far reaching and very negative impacts in all aspects of our institutions and our public life," Gun says. However, Gun was well aware that any attempt to release the memo would find her running afoul of Britains Official Secrets Act, which criminalizes the leaking of intelligence-related information. She will not talk about it anything else. Gavin Hood: There is a kind of cognitive dissonance. We had planned to demand that the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith disclose the advice he had given on the legality of the war and so put the war itself on trial. Public attention is the last thing you expect if, like me, youd settled for a job in the shadowy world of British intelligence. Gun, a translator with the British intelligence service known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), received a document just before the war from an NSA manager, seeking British intelligence support in spying on members of the UN Security Council, to effectively blackmail them into voting for a second resolution that would make legal the invasion of Iraq. WebKeira Knightley stars in this true story about Katharine Gun, a British intelligence officer who exposed the US government's efforts to force the UN Security Council to sanction the She got into a plea bargain, they still gave her five years. WebFor example, a scene where Gun tries to get her husband out of an immigration detention center actually played out over three days during which she did not know where he was. And I thought: this is good. And just coming from my perspective, the press, because a lot of this is a story about the press, and how they handle it. To this day, however, there has been barely a mention of the year I spent living under a cloud. Thank you! Most directly, it bolstered opposition to the US position from Chilean and Mexican diplomats weary of American "dirty tricks". Only now, more than a decade and a half later, is this disturbing sequence of events once again receiving the attention it deserves thanks to Official Secrets, a brilliant new movie starring Keira and former Doctor Who, Matt Smith. Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. I had, of course, signed the Official Secrets Act, content in the knowledge I was working within the law for Britains protection. So we're in this development meeting, and the executive looks at me and goes, Gavin, I mean we need her running down alleys more, someone needs to throw a brick through her damn window, and when does she don her cape? It was literally the line. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Facts You Didn't Know About That '70s Show, The Cast of 'The Mandalorian' in Real Life, The Hilarious Reason Why Chris Pine Cut His Hair, 'The Mandalorian' Season 3, Episode 1 Recap, Chris Pine Tells All About Harry Styles SpitGate, 15 Books Chris Pine Thinks Everyone Should Read, Your Guide to Every One of Justin Biebers Tattoos, Movie Sequels That Are Better Than the Original. Not only was the cable the most sensitive ever to be disclosed on either side of the Atlantic, it was also unique in its timing. Now there is the possibility that Gun's singular life will be made into a movie. Weve said it before: The greatest threat to democracy from the media isnt disinformation, its the paywall. A thorough investigation began as soon as the staff started arriving at GCHQ on the Monday morning. She didnt know where he was for three days and she took the train down from Charlton to London to see the MP, Nigel Jones, who said exactly what he says in the movie. She made the point that if you have Helen Mirren playing the Queen or Meryl Streep playing Maggie Thatcher, everybody knows those people and your judged on how well you impersonate, if you will, those people. He really wouldnt; that scene in the movie really happened. A decade on, sitting in a cafe in Cheltenham, not far from GCHQ, I asked her if she still stood by what she had done. Direct to your inbox. It remains entirely to the credit of Roger Alton, at the time the paper's editor, that he stuck with the story, despite its potential implications. Throughout her own court case, whatonly a few knew wasthat she was also fighting for the right of her husband, who is from Turkey, to remain in the UK. In a year that the U.S. president is accused of pressuring foreign governments for political gain, the story behind the film Official Secrets seems particularly timely. Webdeport Guns husband, Yasar (Adam Bakri), a Muslim Kurdish Turk who was awaiting permanent leave to remain in the U.K. And maybe if we went to work for Enron and we liked our job well enough, and its a job. To look at someone who I thought was quite accessible and ordinaryand she doesn't mind me saying this because Katharine is someone who keeps her head below and is quiet, and did something extraordinary. And then there is the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led America deeply into war against North Vietnam. She said, You mean I dont have to wear a corset? To your point, in some way, she said to me, As a woman, its kind of ironic as an actress that I so often, even though Im in the modern world, that I have to find heroic women in period dramas wearing corsets. Theres something weird about that. Provocation? Gun said that the UK government still had some explaining to do: "I thinkthere need to be more questions asked about whether they responded to that request, why they felt it was within their scope of work to respond to that sort of request, and what is the manner of the relationship between UK politics and US politics. But ultimately, heres why I thinkthis might sound like a strange statement. Those are compelling and important qualities to see in characters that move through a story, and I feel like especially for women it's an under-valued active engine. It almost started with, Well, would I have the courage to do what she did in another maybe... 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