When Is A Mendes Not A Mendes?

Sam Mendes' next film will be Jarhead, based on the (first) Gulf War memoirs of American marine Anthony Swofford. A frontline infantry soldier, Swofford writes about his experience of the conflict, including the long advance across the dunes behind the American air attack past dead and surrendering Iraqi troops, dealing with inadequate equipment and some harrowing incidents of friendly fire. "This is equal parts black humor, honesty, rage, lyricism, profanity and the mixture of machismo jarhead culture. With the exception of Three Kings, this is a war that has been overlooked but which has a burning relevance to what is happening right now in the Middle East," Mendes said. The script for the film has been written by William Broyles, writer of Cast Away and a former soldier with combat experience in Vietnam. Mendes is already scouting locations, with the American Southwest likely to double for the Middle East, and shooting to begin in the autumn. Unfortunately, filming Jarhead will mean that Mendes needs to postpone his film version of musical Sweeney Todd and his proposed adaptation of The Kite Runner. Still, who needs murderous barbers with cutthroat razors when you can have lots of soldiers with M-16s?