Oren Moverman

Academy Award-nominated Filmmaker
Screenwriter & Director, The Messenger

“With the insight and sensitivity of an insider, The Messenger illuminates the sometimes invisible victims of war—the survivors—and a pain that is tolerated but never quite healed.” —Miami Herald

 

A cinematic craftsman, Oren Moverman is the director and co-writer of The Messenger, an emotional portrayal of a soldier's journey to re-assimilate into the civilian world after his turn in Iraq, starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. The film is nominated for two major Academy Awards in 2010 (Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor) and a Golden Globe Award. Having premiered at Sundance 2009, Moverman won the Directorial Debut Award from the National Board of Review, Best Screenplay and the Peace Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Grand Prize at the Deauville Festival. Stuart Lee of Screen International proclaimed The Messenger "A film that sings with great acting. Grabs you by the heart all the way through and doesn't let go! One of the absolute best of the year," while David Denby of The New Yorker wrote: "The Messenger offers one of the most shrewdly perceptive portraits of military men to have appeared in American movies since such classics as From Here to Eternity and The Last Detail." And Mike Nichols declared in Variety, simply: "Moverman is a born director."

Moverman was a screenwriter and associate producer of Jesus’ Son, starring Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, and Dennis Hopper. He is the screenwriter for two upcoming films—Phillip Kaufman's Interrupted and Steve Buscemi's Queer. He co-authored the 2007 Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There, starring Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, and Julianne Moore, and collaborated with Ira Sachs on Married Life, and on The Goodbye People, with Ben Foster and Patricia Clarkson. He is currently working on a film adaptation of The Lost, Daniel Mendelsohn's bestselling Holocaust odyssey.

Born and raised in Israel, Moverman is based in New York.

About THE MESSENGER
With three months left in the service, Will (Ben Foster) has spent a good deal of time in army hospitals, healing scars from his time in Iraq. To make things worse, the girl he left behind (Jena Malone) has moved on with her life. Ironically, his chance at a fresh start lies in working shoulder to shoulder with Tony (Woody Harrelson), a senior officer who teaches him the ropes of his new post with the Casualty Notification Office. Will, who narrowly escaped death, must now break the news about those who didn’t. Between assignments, these two soldiers form a unique bond that helps them in their struggle to get back to ""normal"" life, fully knowing nothing will ever really be normal again.Proving himself a cinematic craftsman, director Oren Moverman deliberately hasn’t made a political film. The Messenger isn't even about the military at its core; it's about people choosing to live life and finding the light and humor at the end of the tunnel. Harrelson and Foster infuse these complex characters with the necessary pathos to raise their story to a new level of compassion. Foster adds yet another layer when Will faces an ethical dilemma because he is drawn to one of the young widows, played by Samantha Morton. She rounds out this powerhouse cast in a moving and elegant film that is an elegy of our time.

The Messenger / Official Movie Site