This is the busiest movie season in America, and many films get crushed in the competition -- for instance, the critically acclaimed The Blood Diamond, a flop despite currently hot leading man Leonardo Dicaprio. Yet industry buzz says The Good Shepherd will stay its course, building a steady momentum.
When she was cast to play Clover, a senator's daughter married to an idealist spy (Edward Wilson, played by Damon), there were some people who wondered whether Jolie wasn't too glamorous for the part. But De Niro, who himself plays a powerful role in the film, said at a press gathering that he had no doubts that she could excel as an ingenue who grows to live a life of constant uncertainty as a spy's wife. 'Her instincts were great,' he explains, 'She conveyed the things I thought were essential.'
Clover is a bit of spitfire at the start of the film, but slowly realises the loneliness and frustration of living with an honest, upright man who is, by the nature of his work, secretive. 'She is affected by all the negative things about this world,' she adds.
Advertisement
