Movie re-creating WTO chaos "Battle in Seattle"

[JiminyCricket II]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...71_wto08m.html

Riot act: Movie re-creating WTO chaos

By Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporter


Charlize Theron

Seattle police say this weekend's filming of a movie based on the 1999 WTO riots will have "minimal" impact on commuters and shoppers.

Of course, they said the same thing seven years ago before the anti-globalization protests erupted into full-scale, tear-gas-choked riots.

Not to worry. Even the small army of actors, plus 300 extras, technicians and others who will participate in the filming of "Battle in Seattle" won't approach the tens of thousands of protesters, police and National Guardsmen who turned Seattle streets into a war zone seven years ago. And the tear gas will be fake.

Nonetheless, there may be a strange sense of déjà vu when actors and extras dressed as sea turtles or cloaked in black with bandanas draped across their faces square off against actors and extras dressed as police officers in riot gear. Similar scenes have already been shot in Vancouver, B.C., where shooting began several weeks ago.

Filming will take place Saturday and Sunday, closing several streets.

"Battle in Seattle" will star Academy Award winner Charlize Theron and was written and is being directed by her boyfriend, Irish actor Stuart Townsend. According to the Internet Movie Data Base (imdb.com), other stars include actors Susan Sarandon, Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Rodriguez and Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 from the hip-hop group Outkast.

Jim McKeown of Insight Films, a Vancouver company producing the film with Proud Mary Entertainment, said the movie will draw from the perspectives of many characters — a mother who loses her child in the riots (Theron), a doctor, police officers (including Harrelson) and protesters. Some protesters who took part in the WTO riots have been hired as extras and asked to dress like they did seven years ago, said Aaron Jacobs, owner of Reel Extras.

"Battle in Seattle" is "a story about the circumstances ... of an event that brings issues to eyes and ears of a local community," McKeown said.

The film will recreate the five days of protests that greeted the World Trade Organization's first ministerial meeting in the U.S., when 50,000 protesters — far more than police or then-Mayor Paul Schell ever dreamed — jammed downtown streets. The WTO ministers were trapped inside hotels as self-described anarchists dressed in black smashed store windows. The police response included copious amounts of tear gas and pepper spray ("freshly ground pepper spray" because, after all, it was Seattle, comedian Jay Leno joked at the time) and the entire city ended up under martial law.

Townsend researched many points of view of the WTO debacle that hastened the end of the careers of Schell and Police Chief Norm Stamper. While it does not appear from the cast list that an actor will portray Stamper in the movie, Liotta will play a character named Mayor Jim Tobin. Actors Harrelson and Channing Tatum play riot cops.

Townsend told the Vancouver Sun he will consider the independent, $10 million film a success if it sparks new discussion on the WTO and points of view expressed during the five days of chaos.

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times news researcher David Turim contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

[Skian]

Well, with all those lib actors I can guess what point of view they will follow.

Back then I lived in Lower Queen Anne and I remember it well. My cousin from Toronto was staying with me and covering the confrence (he had a press pass). Every morning I would give him a ride, through the barricades, to the convention center. I got to see the burning dumpsters, destroyed private ( and Public) property, and graffiti. Every night I heard the explosion of tear gas grenades.

These unemployed left-wing radicals weren't heros or patriots. They are criminals with no regard for others.

[zilfondel]

My friend still has pieces of the NIKETOWN sign that he tore off.

My other friend was shot with rubber bullets!

[northface]

^ good they deserved it.

[JiminyCricket II]

the vast majority of the protesters were peaceful, it was just a handful of anarchist(who, on most accounts, are extreme libertarians) who ruined it. it wasn't the "liberals" at all. the police got out of hand too and escalated the situation.

[bgwah]

Originally Posted by JiminyCricket II

the vast majority of the protesters were peaceful, it was just a handful of anarchist(who, on most accounts, are extreme libertarians) who ruined it. it wasn't the "liberals" at all. the police got out of hand too and escalated the situation.

Yes, a couple dozen people dressed in black and tens of thousands of peaceful protesters are criminals? Hahaha.

Still, it is great how the police let that small group of people wreak havok... Just long enough until an adequate amount of video had reached the media, just long enough so they could send the police in to silence the rest of the peaceful protesters and make it look justified.

And national gaurdsmen? Hopefully there are enough actually left in Washington in case there is a large earthquake!

[Skian]

The city made the police stand down until all hell broke loose, then it was too late.

Before the confrence even started, the city & and police met with protest leaders to avoid problems. The city laid out where the police were going to be and what they were allowed to do. The protest leaders used that information to wreck havoc. They also pre stationed lawyers at the sand point processing center that told all the arrested protesters to not answer and police questions (even their names) so the system (that protest organizers helped set up) would collapse.

Most of the "peacefull" protesters were criminals. They blocked intersections and failed to disperse when police ordered them to.

[zilfondel]

Well, I don't know. I would hate to be a reporter who gets 3 rubber bullets across the chest and sprayed in the face because you were there for the school newspaper coverage.

[Black Box]

I was living in Minneapolis at the time. A group of friends from Seattle rode the train out to visit and they were still coughing from the gas. They were peaceful protesters. I hope it's a decent flick.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Note to self: Stay away from downtown the next 2 days.

[Black Box]

Uh, I have to go downtown tomorrow to do some shopping and to attend several holiday parties. Guess I'll just have to deal with it, my patience are intact. Everyone, go downtown tomorrow and for all y'all photographers, snap up some good pictures for the rest of us.

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
Maybe if you're in the right place at the right time, you'll get a cameo appearance in the movie!

[herb]

Originally Posted by Skian

The city made the police stand down until all hell broke loose, then it was too late.

Before the confrence even started, the city & and police met with protest leaders to avoid problems. The city laid out where the police were going to be and what they were allowed to do. The protest leaders used that information to wreck havoc. They also pre stationed lawyers at the sand point processing center that told all the arrested protesters to not answer and police questions (even their names) so the system (that protest organizers helped set up) would collapse.

Most of the "peacefull" protesters were criminals. They blocked intersections and failed to disperse when police ordered them to.

Many of these "criminals" were practicing something called civil disobedience. Criminals like Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi also practiced civil disobedience. It's usually the tactic of last resort employed by people marginalized or excluded entirely from a decision making process. The WTO was at that time and still is an undemocratic, unaccountable institution with the power to challenge laws of sovereign member nations (Like ours), and punish uncooperative nations with fines and sanctions. Many people feel profoundly threatened by such an organization and hundreds if not thousands traveled from around the country and world to help disrupt it. They were joined by thousands of gainfully employed locals (myself included) and at one point some odd 40,000 union members who marched through downtown in support.

The organizers of the ministerial apparently did not anticipate this response. The police researched and planned but were woefully unprepared for the scale of what took place (and typically took the fall for everyone's collective inability to see into the future). Many protesters were highly organized and disciplined, planning ahead with officials and police, but many were not. To imagine that somebody was in charge or leading the demonstrators is to fundamentally misunderstand what took place that week. The WTO itself compelled this rather diverse group of people to travel to/within Seattle to oppose it. This same sort of attention follows the WTO wherever it goes, whereas Seattle has been pretty peaceful since it left.

[Nutterbug]

How exciting can a movie about a riot be.

I mean it's not like anybody even died in it, did they?

[Black Box]

Well, I think that it has more to do with the fact that this was the first time that there was such a large, organized demonstration against the WTO and the modern day brand of globalism that we're all experiencing at varying degrees. Like, for instance, shooting movies in Canada because it is economically beneficial to the powers that be and today's Hollywood is so bad that they need to worry about pinching all those pennies, or whatever, but it has something to do with the globalism. Whoa, I feel like I've gone back to the 90's and started caring.

[Dr. Smoke]

God, she is a doll...

How did Stuart ever get so lucky?

[PacificNW]

If I remember correctly the WTO summits have always had a history of "organized demonstrations" (Many more violent than the one in Seattle). Seattle should have been better prepared, and just maybe, the demonstrations would have not gotten out of hand. The Mayor, and other city officials, were not prepared for the worst that could have happened. It was a mind opening experience for Seattle's welcome to the "World Stage". It had, and has, a huge desire to become a International/world class city. In a sense Seattle lost it's innocence during that summit. That summit, along with the Fat Tuesday tragedy, cost the mayor his job the next election.

Now many of these volatile summits have been held in places/retreats where it is difficult for large groups of demonstrators to gather.

[seaskyfan]

I was just Downtown and the traffic didn't seem bad at all.

I can't imagine the WTO making a good movie - I keep thinking it will be like "Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace" only with more exposition about globalism.

Snore.

[Hoodrat]

I remember being at that Jack in the Box on Broadway one of the nights of WTO protest...around 6PM or so...anyway, we watched a group of Anarchists (I can only assume) march up Pine Street and then went north on Broadway. They were setting fire to all sorts of things. Following them were the SPD donning these gas masks and looking like stormtroopers.

At that point, the JITB manager locked the door. I don't remember being particularly alarmed...we just sat there and grubbed on shitty fast food, watching the events unfold outside. It was definately a surreal moment. 40 minutes later the doors were unlocked, and we walked back home (I was living at 10th & Jefferson at that time, next to Seattle U).

[MrMetropolitan]

It's a shame it ever happened. Free trade has done so much for the poor of this world alongside the rich that it's not even fathomable. The quality of life in countries that are open to free trade have grown massively. Those who feel that the WTO is wrong should really take an International Economics course and see the great things that trade beyond our borders has done for us.

As for the movie, I don't think I could stomach it.