Indiana Jones actor may play Mattis in Fallujah film

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer | Tuesday, December 21, 2004 11:11 PM PST ∞

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Hollywood "Marines" could soon be taking orders from actor Harrison Ford if Hollywood carries out plans to cast the leading man as former 1st Marine Division commander Maj. Gen. James Mattis in an upcoming film about the Marines' assault on Fallujah last spring.

In what entertainment writers say would be the first feature length film about the war in Iraq, Universal Pictures plans to base the movie on the upcoming book, "No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah" by Bing West, a Marine veteran and former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, according to the Reuters news agency.

Universal spokeswoman Jodie Henig said Tuesday that she could not confirm that any such project was in the works.

According to Reuters, Ford is to play the famously cantankerous general who led thousands of Marines to lay siege on Fallujah after four American contractors were slain by a mob in March 2004.

If the movie is made, Hollywood has its work cut out for it: Ford is hardly a dead ringer for Mattis.

A heartthrob actor best known for his roles as reluctant heroes Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and Han Solo in "Star Wars," Ford, at 62, would portray 53-year-old Mattis, a gruff career officer perhaps best known for his almost monastic devotion to the military and his cunning on battlefields in both Iraq and Washington.

The two seem to have one thing in common: Marines seem to love Mattis as much as fans fawn over Ford.

Neither Ford nor Mattis could be reached for comment about the film.

West could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but late last week distributed a report on the plans by Variety Magazine to the North County Times.

The release stated that Universal subsidiary Double Features purchased options on a screenplay yet to be written by West and his son, Owen, who also is a former Marine and author of works of fiction about Marines in action.

According to the report, West's book is due out by summer from Bantam, the publishers of West's most recent tome, "The March Up," an account of last year's invasion of Iraq from the Marines' perspective in which West hails Mattis as the Gen. Patton of the Iraq war.

A Camp Pendleton spokesman who recently spoke to West about the proposed movie deal said that production would not begin for at least four years.

Variety reported that Ford has not signed a contract and that no money has yet been earmarked for production.

While the film has been billed as the "Battle for Fallujah," there was no indication that it would include the most recent battle for Fallujah in November, during which more than 60 U.S. troops were killed in brutal house-to-house fighting to clear the city of rebels and terrorists.

West's upcoming book covers last spring's aborted assault on Fallujah, where Marines were ordered to attack the city and then instead held their ground along its edges for three weeks. According to Marine brass, civilian officials eventually called off the assault.

Some analysts say the failure to see through the first assault ultimately made the more recent assault necessary because the Marines' withdrawal gave the insurgents a safe base of operations for six months.

The outcome of the most recent assault remains unclear as at least a dozen more Marines have been killed in mop-up operations against rebel holdouts and fighters who've sneaked back in.

The real-life battle for Fallujah seems far from over as U.S. forces continue to use air strikes against rebel positions inside the city and more than 250,000 residents have yet to be allowed back in more than a month after military leaders claimed to have "broken the back" of the insurgency there.

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.

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