Movie news

First there was the furore over their capture. Then the backlash when released.

But no drama is ever complete without an accompanying movie, and yesterday Iran beat Hollywood to the mark by pledging to recount the entire 13-day affair of the British naval captives in a film.
A book will also tell the story of the British sailors, accounts that are likely to dwell on the hospitality and fun they had, rather than the imprisonment and isolation.
What the producers will make of UK sailor Arthur Batchelor’s claim that he lost his iPod and was traumatised by taunts that he resembled Mr Bean was unclear.
Iran’s armed forces HQ said the idea was hatched partly as a riposte to the sailors’ selling their stories to the British media, greeted with bewilderment in Iran. It is also a response to a UK Ministry of Defence press conference at which six sailors said their admissions of illegally entering Iranian waters, screened on state TV, were extracted under psychological pressure.
The book and film will challenge that view by “documenting” the sailors’ arrest, interrogations and alleged confessions.
Iranian officials have accused Britain of forcing the sailors to retract the admissions.
Gen Alireza Afshar, culture and defence propaganda deputy of the armed forces, dismissed the retractions as a “prepared text”. He added: “The documented report over the process of the arrest, interrogation and British sailors’ confessions during the detention period is about to be prepared and will soon be presented as a film and book.”
Tony Blair has admitted that government ministers had been wrong to allow the sailors and marines captured by Iran to sell their stories to the Press and said such a situation would not be allowed to happen again.
Attempting to draw a line under a row which has damaged the British government, the prime minister, however, defended the British navy’s original decision, which enabled two of the 15 captives, Faye Turney and Arthur Batchelor, to be paid thousands of pounds Sterling for their stories.
“The Navy was trying to deal with a wholly exceptional situation in which the families were being pursued by the media to sell their stories. The Navy took the view that it was better to manage the situation rather than let it happen,” he said.
— Robert Tait