FILM · 2010
Fair Game
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
An encrypted, still-undecoded message is hidden in the end credits sequence.
- #002
Director Doug Liman, with enormous cooperation from the Jordanian military, managed to shoot a scene featuring a Black Hawk helicopter flying at extremely low altitude along the main boulevard of the capital, Amman.
- #003
With Bill Pohlad's permission, Doug Liman re-cut the film for Netflix to include Trump's pardon of Lewis Libby (Scooter Libby).
- #004
Naomi Watts, the film's star and lead actress, trained with intelligence and special military agents replicating the grueling training regimen CIA officers undergo at Camp Peary, known as "the Farm," the second alias used in the film. The Farm is also a key location for the fictional story told in The Recruit (2003).
- #005
Another reason Doug Liman re-shot the film several years later was to soften Sean Penn's performance. Penn was working through many problems in his personal life (he was in the middle of a divorce from Robin Wright) and was not very happy with his performance in the film.
- #006
Aluminum tubes and other items were used in US Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the UN. This unfolded in a manner similar to Adlai Stevenson's UN presentation during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which focused on Soviet missiles in Cuba. Powell later learned that all the evidence he had been made to believe was false and that he had unwittingly lied to the global public, and he privately conveyed his displeasure to the White House, including his views on the invasion of Iraq. In an interview with Barbara Walters, he admitted the evidence was false and that it was a stain on his career. Shortly afterward, he was forced to resign as Secretary of State. As touched on in this film, Vice President Cheney's actions in pursuing the invasion and responding to whistleblowers were fierce.
- #007
This is the third film collaboration between actor Sean Penn and actress Naomi Watts. The first was 21 Grams (2003) and the second was The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004).
- #008
It received a standing ovation when it screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
- #009
She appeared as herself in the end credits sequence.
- #010
In the first scene, Plame (while undercover) mentions she is from Toronto and pronounces it like "Toronno" (as a real Torontonian would). Meanwhile, Argo, another film about Americans posing as Canadians, notes that pronouncing the second 'T' is a sign that someone is not actually from Toronto.
- #011
Background to the story: In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and seized its oil fields. Later, the Iraqis were pushed back across the border by American-led forces supported by a wide range of countries and UN mandates. Many believed the allied forces should violate the mandate, invade Iraq and then remove its leader Saddam Hussein, but this did not happen. Hussein then began foolishly baiting the US by testing the no-fly zones. This led to an intense desire to topple Hussein. Later, during a campaign rally held in Chicago in 2000, Bush, then a presidential hopeful, had promised to invade Iraq. Once in office, this became a major goal, and then the 911 attacks occurred. Many mistakenly believed Hussein was behind 911. Vice President Cheney, named in the film, led the effort to find evidence supporting the invasion. Ultimately, this was the source of the pressure that fed the story in this film.
- #012
Initially, actor Russell Crowe and actress Nicole Kidman were cast to play the film's two main characters, Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, respectively. In the end, the roles were filled by Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, respectively.
- #013
This film can be seen as a companion piece to Nothing But the Truth (2008). While Nothing But the Truth replaces the Iran story with a fictional story about an assassination plot in Venezuela, it tells a version of a CIA agent's exposure from a reporter's point of view and the impact of that journey.
- #014
Michael Kelly (Jack McCallister) played the character Doug Stamper in the Netflix series House of Cards (2013), in which Robin Wright (Claire Underwood) also appeared. Robin was married to Sean Penn, who plays Joe Wilson in this film. While this film was being shot, Wright and Penn were in the process of divorcing.
- #015
Noah Emmerich [Bill] plays a CIA agent and played an FBI agent in the series The Americans (2013) between 2013 and 2018.
- #016
This is the third major feature film to take the title "Fair Game" within twenty-five years. The first was Australia's outback thriller Fair Game (1986) and the second was the American action thriller Fair Game (1995), starring Cindy Crawford and William Baldwin. During this quarter century there were also Fair Game (2005), Fair Game (1988) (aka "Mamba"/"Fair Game") and the TV film Fair Game (1994).
- #017
Tim Griffin (Paul) plays a CIA agent. He also played a CIA agent in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), where he was beaten unconscious by Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in an airport waiting area.
- #018
Sam Shepard worked on the film for only 2 days.
- #019
Special Thanks: Dunkin Donuts, Grand Hyatt Amman, The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Calvin Klein, Spanx.
- #020
At least three groups of family members sharing the same surname worked on the production of Fair Game. These included the married producers Janet Zucker and Jerry Zucker; the brother screenwriters Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth; and the married Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, whose lives the film depicts and who wrote the source book.
- #021
Simon Baker was reported to be attached to star.
- #022
Fair Game was selected to be shown at and competed for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, which was won by Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010).
- #023
This is the only film directed by Doug Liman to date that has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
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