Are acting jobs hard to find for Gary Busey?

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Updated: 12:34 PM EST
In Turkish Movie, Americans Kill Innocents
Gary Busey, Billy Zane Co-Star in Anti-American Film
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, AP

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Feb. 2) - In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his mother.

Pana Film
Advance tickets are selling out all around Turkey for 'Valley of the Wolves Iraq.' In the movie, U.S. soldiers storm a wedding party, killing dozens.

They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison - where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

"Valley of the Wolves Iraq" - set to open in Turkey on Friday - feeds off the increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbor toward their longtime NATO allies: Americans.

The movie, which reportedly cost some $10 million, is the latest in a new genre of popular culture that demonizes the United States. It comes on the heels of a novel called "Metal Storm" about a war between Turkey and the U.S., which has been a best seller for months.

One recent opinion poll revealed the depth of the hostility in Turkey toward Americans: 53 percent of Turks who responded to the 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey associated Americans with the word "rude"; 70 percent with "violent"; 68 percent with "greedy"; and 57 percent with "immoral."

Advance tickets are already selling out across Turkey for the film, which has dialogue in Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and English. In addition to Turkey, the film is set to be shown in more than a dozen other countries - including the United States, Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Russia, Egypt, Syria and Australia.

The movie's American stars are Billy Zane, who plays a self-professed "peacekeeper sent by God," and Gary Busey as the Jewish-American doctor.

U.S. soldiers have become hate figures in Muslim countries around the world after the unpopular war in Iraq. But here in Turkey, a personal grudge fuels the resentment.

"Valley of the Wolves Iraq" opens with a true story: On July 4, 2003, in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, troops from the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade raided and ransacked a Turkish special forces office, threw hoods over the heads of 11 Turkish special forces officers, and held them in custody for more than two days.

The Americans said they had been looking for Iraqi insurgents and unwittingly rounded up the Turks because they were not in uniform. Still, the incident damaged Turkish-U.S. relations and hurt Turkish national pride. Turks traditionally idolize their soldiers; most enthusiastically send their sons off for mandatory military service.

In the movie, one of the Turkish special forces officers commits suicide to save his honor. His farewell letter reaches Polat Alemdar, an elite Turkish intelligence officer who travels to northern Iraq with a small group of men to avenge the humiliation.

There they find a rogue group of U.S. soldiers led by officer Sam William Marshall - played by Zane. In the bloodfest that ensues, the small band of Turks bonds with the people of Iraq and eventually ends American atrocities there, killing Zane and his men in the final scene.

"The scenario is great," Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas told The Associated Press after the film was shown at a posh opening gala Tuesday night. "It was very successful. ... a soldier's honor must never be damaged."

But Topbas and other Turks at the premiere weren't too concerned about how the movie would be perceived in the United States.

"There isn't going to be a war over this," said Nefise Karatay, a Turkish model lounging on a sofa after the premiere. "Everyone knows that Americans have a good side. That's not what this is about."

Associated Press Writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to this report.

Choices:
Yes
No
Next film will be with Albert Brooks

Posts: 2578 | Location: The Great State of Texas | Registered: December 26, 2001

David Newell

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can't gary busey just live off his royalties from D.C. Cab and leave people alone? oh, i guess he can't. does he have any puppies?

Posts: 1243 | Location: houston, texas, u.s.a. | Registered: October 19, 2001

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No but Jane Starnes says he is a cat lover.

Posts: 2578 | Location: The Great State of Texas | Registered: December 26, 2001

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Shannon Edmonds

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You would think he'd have tons of offers ...

Posts: 2430 | Location: TDCAA | Registered: March 08, 2002

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Jeff Harper

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quote:
Originally posted by Shannon Edmonds:
You would think he'd have tons of offers ...

Um...I think that's Nick Nolte

Posts: 47 | Location: Houston | Registered: July 29, 2005

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Scott Brumley

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Particularly when foreign jingoistic filmmakers want someone who embodies "the Ugly American."

Posts: 1233 | Location: Amarillo, Texas, USA | Registered: March 15, 2001

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Jeff Harper

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quote:
Originally posted by Scott Brumley:
Particularly when foreign jingoistic filmmakers want someone who embodies "the Ugly American."

I guess they would both be good candidates.

Speaking of ugly Americans, I hear Tommy Lee Jones also has a new movie coming out...

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Shannon Edmonds

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I meant to post this pic:

as if it's any better ....

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Believe it or not, Busey looks better in the mug shot than in the picture was posted in the AOL article that accompanied the story, which presumably was a still from the movie.

Posts: 2578 | Location: The Great State of Texas | Registered: December 26, 2001

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JMH

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After seeing him on the Jimmy Kimmel show not too long ago, stumping for the Reality show he was on "Celebrity Fit Club", I would have to say "Oh Yeah."
That dude was a basket case, a loose cannon, and he seemed to have all the people on the show nervous as all get out. Don't think the effects from the Motorcycle crash have mended all the way.

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