showbiz

Three-minute preview: Michael Bay’s ‘13 Hours’

January 10, 2016

Though director Michael Bay might not have the most high-brow of reputations among cinephiles, the original author of ’13 Hours’ has professional calibre of a different sort. – Youtube screenshot, January 10, 2016.​As Michael Bay action film "13 Hours" prepares to make its US debut over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, we take a look at its source, its director's credentials, and its headline actors.

Blockbuster action meets high-brow history

Though director Michael Bay might not have the most high-brow of reputations among cinephiles – “Armageddon," "The Rock," and the "Bad Boys" and "Transformers" films are among his box office smashes – the original author of "13 Hours" has professional calibre of a different sort.

Pulitzer Prize finalist and Boston University professor of journalism Mitchell Zuckoff won a prestigious PEN Award for his bestselling account of World War II survival, "Lost in Shangri-La;" wrote a New York Times' Editors Choice recipient in rise-and-fall biography "Ponzi's Scheme;" and was an Edgar Award finalist with Dartmouth Murders investigation "Judgement Ridge."

Converting the story from written account to theatrical release was Chuck Hogan, a relative newcomer who nonetheless has seen his own vampire trilogy "The Strain" become a Guillermo del Toro TV series and his 2007 crime novel "Prince of Thieves" become the WGA award-winning screenplay for 2010 thriller "The Town."

But can Michael Bay actually make non-fiction films?

Though the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya had wide-ranging political consequences, Zuckoff's account took a narrower focus – the fate of a security team stuck inside one of the US's diplomatic compounds – and it's an action-oriented approach that would appear to suit Bay well.

Neither is it the first time he's taken on a historical event. Whether "13 Hours" sticks closely to its source material or deviates as much as 2001's "Pearl Harbor" did, to maximise opportunities for cinematic spectacle, remains to be seen.

If the earlier film failed to win positive recognition for storyline or directorial achievement, it was at least praised for its effects.

So there's a good chance that "13 Hours" will make a sizeable impact on box office receipts. Not only that, but its subject matter ensures that it may even spill over into discussions surrounding the 2016 US Presidential elections.

Will I recognise any of the actors?

It's likely you'll know at least one of them, though in a very different context, as John Krasinski is still eminently recognisable as Jim from the US version of "The Office."

Likewise, Toby Stephens led TV series "Black Sails," David Giuntoli did the same for "Grimm."

Pablo Schreiber was Emmy-nominated for "Orange is the New Black," and Max Martini had military roles in both "Saving Private Ryan" and "Captain Phillips," as did James Badge Dale in "World War Z."

Freddie Stroma, meanwhile, played Cormac McLaggen in three "Harry Potter" films as well as radio station hunk Luke in "Pitch Perfect."

"13 Hours" opens in North American theatres on January 15. – AFP/Relaxnews, January 10, 2016.