Tina Fey predicted the backlash about certain casting choices in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot from the very beginning.
Advertisement
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, which stars Fey as Chicago Tribune South Asia bureau chief Kim Barker during her time in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will debut on Friday, Mar. 4.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve worked with Tina Fey for years, but this movie is probably the first time she’s had to be under intense gunfire and real, mortal danger. Its depiction of war, and war reporters’ lives, can be hard to watch but feels very real and compelling. To boost the box office with telegenic topicality, the film changes Barker’s job from print journalist to cable news reporter. Not that she isn’t amusing – she and the movie deliver a bunch of laugh-out-loud moments.
They were joined by her co-stars including Margot Robbie, 25, who showed off plenty of cleavage in a low-cut jumpsuit at the star-studded event.
Also on the scene is Iain (Martin Freeman), a photographer with whom Kim establishes the kind of prickly yet provocative chemistry that can only mean they’ll soon be engaged in something other than conversation. Billy Bob Thornton is enjoyable as a Marine colonel whose attempts to help the locals nearly literally blow up in his face. “I think it takes curiosity and the desire to challenge yourself to do things that really scare you”. Mostly comic in tone, the book could also be quite harrowing. She did some excellent dramatic work in the flop This Is Where I Leave You, so she’s capable of working outside of her character type.
Barker’s book came to Fey’s attention because a book review of The Taliban Shuffle described the author as a ‘Tina Fey-like character’.
“To be a good journalist you have to be a bit of a chameleon”, says Kim Barker.
Indeed, Fey had her own adventure coping with the dual responsibilities as producer and lead actress in nearly every scene. But she has a secret to managing the double-duty stress. “I’ve always loved that”.
Certainly, the filmmakers were the flawless collaborators to capture the weird and wacky world of covering a war.
All true. But Barker is also charming. We all just want to get along.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (“WTF”, get it?) may be more drama than comedy, which suits the subject matter.
“(People) said, ‘Who’s going to play you?’ I said, ‘A smart amusing woman in Hollywood, ‘ and everybody was like, ‘Tina Fey?’ It was everybody’s first answer”. “He’s trying to improve things to make the situation better, but he butts up against the incredible complexity of the mores and relationships and history of the Afghan people”, said Fey.
Advertisement
Barker describes having her life turned into a film as surreal.
