Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film has been released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX theaters. The film grossed more than $170 million worldwide.

Production

Screenwriter Dan McDermott wrote the original script for Eagle Eye based on an original idea by Steven Spielberg who had been inspired by Isaac Asimov's sci-fi novel All the Troubles of the World. The studio DreamWorks then bought McDermott's script and set up the project to potentially be directed by Spielberg. When the director became busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he dropped out of the project. Director D.J. Caruso, who directed the 1996 TV series High Incident under Spielberg's executive production, replaced the director in helming Eagle Eye. However, Spielberg remains executive producer. In June 2007, actor LaBeouf who was involved in Spielberg's and Caruso's 2007 film Disturbia and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, re-joined the director and executive producer to star as the lead in Eagle Eye. McDermott's script was rewritten by screenwriters John Glenn, Travis Wright, and Hillary Seitz in preparation for production. Filming began on November 6, 2007 and wrapped in February 2008. The film's visual effects were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks.

The story was originally conceived in 1996, Caruso said by the time the film came to fruition twelve years later, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling... Everybody has a BlackBerry or an iPhone on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction than when Steven (Spielberg) conceived it."Caruso wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility to the film. Accordingly, a key chase scene in a high-tech package-processing hub on conveyor belts was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery. "It was like Chutes and Ladders for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun." While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, requiring stitches.

Cast

• Shia LaBeouf as Jerry Shaw / Ethan Shaw, a young slacker framed as a terrorist; and as his late twin Ethan Shaw, USAF officer.
• Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman, A single mother, also framed as a terrorist.
• Billy Bob Thornton as Thomas Morgan, the patriotic and relentless leader of an FBI team tracking the cell.
• Rosario Dawson as Zoe Perez, a government agent tracking the terrorist cell.
• Michael Chiklis as George Callister, the US Secretary of Defense.
• Ethan Embry as Toby Grant, Morgan's companion whom he assists in tracking the cell.
• Anthony Mackie as Major William Bowman, a soldier assigned to monitor the supercomputer.
• Cameron Boyce as Sam Holloman, Rachel's musically-gifted son.
• Julianne Moore (uncredited) as the voice of Ariia, a top-secret supercomputer bent on destroying the executive branch, believing it is a threat to the nation.