A ‘Mighty’ challenge

Adult moviegoers may be craving serious drama after overdosing on the mindless sequels that have driven this year’s box-office sales.

But whether they’ll rush to see a sobering, ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks remains a question for “A Mighty Heart,” opening in theaters today.

Paramount Vantage is taking a risk releasing its emotionally charged movie about slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl just as audiences are poised for another round of escapist fare that includes “Transformers” and the latest “Die Hard” sequel.

People haven’t exactly lined up for films with themes related to Sept. 11. They gave cool receptions to last year’s “United 93” and “Reign Over Me,” about a man who lost his family in the attacks.

“World Trade Center,” released last summer by Vantage’s big-sister studio, Paramount Pictures, fared better but was not a runaway hit.

“Serious movies in the summer can be problematic,” says Jeff Blake, head of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony Pictures, which has “Spider-Man 3” in theaters. “People do seem to be in the mood for something lighter.”

Paramount executives are hoping the movie will be the perfect antidote to the fluff in the marketplace.

“There are a lot of fast-food blockbusters out there, and this is a powerful story,” says Vantage President John Lesher. “Our hope is that this is the first Oscar movie of the year.”

Lesher and his co-president, Nick Meyer, also say they wanted to capitalize on the strong buzz and reviews that the film and its star, Angelina Jolie, got at the Cannes International Film Festival in May.

There already has been talk about an Oscar nomination for Jolie’s portrayal of widow Mariane Pearl, the movie’s central character.

The film, directed by Michael Winterbottom and featuring Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl, is based on Mariane Pearl’s memoir about the kidnapping and frantic five-week search for her husband.

He was abducted and murdered in January 2002 by extremists in Karachi, Pakistan, while chasing a story that linked foiled shoe bomber Richard Reid to al-Qaida.

Despite the story’s post-Sept. 11 backdrop and a photo of the burning twin towers on the film’s Web site, Lesher says the movie is about Mariane Pearl’s strength and courage in dealing with the pain without “going to a place of hate.”

“Under the most extraordinary circumstances, she remained very focused on having sympathy for the other side, even after they did that to her husband,” Jolie says.

“I’m sure she feels all that we expect her to feel, but somehow on top of that, she managed to rise above it.”

Mariane Pearl, a French radio journalist, was six months pregnant when she and an international cadre of friends, investigators and others, housed under the same roof in Karachi, united to search for her husband.

“This horrific event that was meant to destroy and separate people proved quite the opposite,” says Jolie’s boyfriend, actor Brad Pitt, whose passion for the project as its producer made the movie happen.

“The quest for Danny brought together Muslims, a Jew, a Buddhist and Christians.”

Mariane Pearl’s depth of character inspired Pitt to aggressively pursue the movie rights to her 2003 memoir, “A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl.”

He was moved by having seen her first interview with CNN when the search for her husband was under way.

“There was something about her strength,” Pitt says. “She was a fighter and was not cut down by this.”

Pearl initially had no interest in selling the movie rights to her book, but when Publishers Weekly ran a rave review, Hollywood came calling. Realizing a movie could be a lasting legacy for her husband, she agreed to talk with producers.

It took only one meeting with Pitt to get her blessing. He recalls sitting on the back porch of his Los Angeles house with Pearl, drinking coffee and eating croissants as they discussed his vision.

“We talked about the minefields of turning a real-life story into a film and traps we would watch for,” Pitt says. “It could so easily be sentimentalized.”

Both Winterbottom and Pitt were adamant that the movie stay true to the real events and the people involved. Such persistence, Pitt says, came from “the responsibility I felt being the protector of the story.”

For her part, Jolie says: “I questioned myself through the entire process of making this film. It was a huge responsibility to not just try to be her in the film, but to be her in the most difficult time in her life and to try to interpret her pain and her love for her husband.”

That concern was shared by all involved, she said while discussing the film at Cannes: “This story and this time is something that everybody remembered. Even studio heads actually care about this, they care about Danny Pearl and they care about Mariane.

“Even when we came to the publicity, they didn’t ask for things that were silly. All anybody had to say was that didn’t feel right, and nobody pushed.”

One of the most trying moments for the filmmakers came once the movie was in the can.

“It’s always difficult whenever you show a film to people about their own life,” Winterbottom says, referring to Mariane Pearl and to Daniel Pearl’s parents, who watched the movie on DVD before it debuted at Cannes.

“We didn’t see it as a movie; for us it meant reliving the most painful period of our life,” the Pearls said by e-mail.

“Our hope is that viewers will come away from ‘A Mighty Heart’ inspired to join us in fighting the hatred that took Danny’s life.”