Screenwriter Eric Poppen chatted about writing the movie “Words of War,” which was released via Rolling Pictures.
“Words of War” is from two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn (who serves as an executive producer), and BAFTA-nominated and Emmy award-winning director James Strong, who directed from a script by Eric Poppen.
The film stars Maxine Peake, Jason Isaacs, Ciarán Hinds, Ian Hart, Ellie Bamber, Harry Lawtey, Naomi Battrick, and Ben Miles.
Journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s (Maxine Peake) brave crusade, fighting to be an independent voice of truth for the Russian people, puts her own life in jeopardy.
Anna’s voice was silenced but her legacy lives on. Anna’s story serves as a reminder of the dangers that journalists face and the importance of protecting their right to report the news without fear of death or reprisal.
On his inspiration to write this script, Poppen said, “Originally, I stumbled on this story many years ago, and at one point, it was a really great story to tell but I didn’t do anything about it until I had a meeting with Good Films.”
“This was about a year into Trump’s first term, and the Head of Good Films asked me if I had any good stories that I liked, and she said she wanted to do anything with a strong female protagonist,” he recalled.
“Anna was a strong female protagonist, and it was especially relevant because at the time (and this was during Trump’s first term), he was cozying up to Putin, and he was saying things daily about the press being the enemy of the people, and that was a label that Anna had been given,” he elaborated.
“So, there were parallels there between what was happening in Russia in the early 2000s, when Anna was most active,” Poppen said.
“It was happening in the United States at the time. So, it has taken us a while to get this movie to the screen. In the meantime, Trump was voted out of office and then voted into office.”
Poppen continued, “Then, suddenly, it became really relevant when Russia invaded Ukraine, which directly mirrors Russia’s invasion of Cechan, which was the war that Anna covered, and ultimately, the war that killed her.”
“It was Anna’s reporting of the war, and her commitment to telling the truth about what was happening there that led to her being assassinated,” he noted.
“So, in this country, we need to be on guard, conscious, and awake at all times because our country can very easily slide into authoritarianism,” he said.
“People forget that at one point Russia had a democracy; after the fall of the wall, they had a democratic government, Putin was elected prime minster and finally became president, and he took the country in a very dark place, and Anna was there to report that,” Poppen concluded.
Read More: “Words of War” review.
