Oscar-Winning DP Robert Richardson To Lens ‘A Private War’ With Rosamund Pike

EXCLUSIVE: Upping the ante on a hot project, three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson has joined A Private War, the Matthew Heineman-directed feature that stars Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan. Pike is playing famed war correspondent Marie Colvin in the thriller that’s told from the front lines of the most dangerous battlefields in the world. Dornan is photographer Paul Conroy, having stepped in for Taron Egerton. Shooting begins later this month in Jordan and then London.

Richardson has won Academy Awards for his work on Oliver Stone’s JFK, and Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator and Hugo. He’s also received six nominations, for Platoon, Born On The 4th Of July, Snow Falling On Cedars, and for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.

Heineman, an Oscar nominee for documentary Cartel Land, is directing A Private War from Arash Amel’s script, adapted from Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War.”

Colvin became the most celebrated war correspondent of her era. She was known as a woman as comfortable downing Martinis with the posh elite of high-society as she was staring down warlords and fleeing from gunfire. Driven by an enduring desire to bear witness and give voice to the voiceless, Colvin’s conflict zone coverage included Chechnya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, where she lost her left eye in 2001. She wore a distinctive eye patch after that, and died in early 2012 during a rocket attack covering the civil war in Syria for the UK’s Sunday Times.

Says Heineman of Richardson, “Bob is a legend, and it’s truly humbling and a great honor to be collaborating with him. Like me, he started making docs, so it’s been incredibly exciting working with him to bring that aesthetic to the look and feel of A Private War.”

Producers are Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Kamala Films’ Marissa McMahon. Acacia Entertaiment’s Matthew George as well as Charlize Theron’s Denver & Delilah Films are also producing. Executive Producers are Erica Lee, Jonathan Fuhrman and Ashley Schlaifer.

Richardson, who recently shot the Andrew Garfield/Claire Foy drama Breathe for Andy Serkis, is repped by WME.