By Iain Blair 

Saw an early screening of the taut new political thriller Traitor about an elite FBI investigator (Guy Pearce of Memento, L.A. Confidential, Fame) who crosses three continents in search of a renegade U.S. military operative (Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda, Crash) who holds the secret to a shocking terrorist conspiracy. As the credits rolled, there was another shock - the film, written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff (screenwriter of The Day After Tomorrow) comes from the fertile mind of comedian/author Steve Martin who executive produces.

Traitor takes place in 17 cities around the world on three continents, was shot in 48 days on a relatively modest budget, and feels almost like a documentary because the filmmakers went to Toronto, Marseilles, Morocco and London on location.

The other reason it looks so good is because it was shot by the great DP J. Michael Muro who made his name as a Steadicam operator on such films as The Mighty Quinn, Field of Dreams, James Cameron’s The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He went on to become the cinematographer of the Academy Award-winning Crash (2005), written and directed by Paul Haggis. He has since shot the feature films Rush Hour 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Flicka and The Last Mimzy. Traitor has his trademark cinema verite look all over it.
 

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