Movies about the Gulf War are usually centered around long drawn out gunfire battles, losses taken by American troops, and nail-biting strategic battles in an effort to quell a dangerous enemy. Three Kings, directed by David O. Russell, presents a different take on the activities of our soldiers deployed to the Gulf. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze, and Ice Cube play four American soldiers involved in a gold heist against a backdrop of anti-Saddam Hussein uprisings in Iraq in 1991.
The film was shot in the deserts of Arizona, Mexico, and California, and many of the extras were real-life Iraqi refugees who had fled their homeland because of Saddam Hussein's regime. Two of the cast members had fled because they had personally defaced three hundred Saddam murals, action which could most certainly lose them their lives. Surprisingly, the most controversial thing about the film was not the story, but the screenplay itself; the outlined idea had belonged to stand-up comedian John Ridley, who had written it out of curiosity to see how quickly he could devise, write and complete a movie screenplay. Russell was attracted to the script based entirely on the brief description of it given to him by the movie studio - gold heist set in Gulf War. Russell claims that he gave ample credit to Ridley for the initial idea for the film, but Ridley begged to differ, accusing Russell of shutting him out of the entire process whilst nevertheless using an idea that was Ridley's from the get-go.
Russell intended the role of Archie Gates to be played by Clint Eastwood but at the last minute took twenty years from the age of the character which piqued the interest of George Clooney, whom Russell did not want to cast because he was a television heart-throb rather than a "serious" movie star. After relentless lobbying for the part seemed to go nowhere, Clooney wrote a letter to Russell which he signed "G. Clooney Television Actor". This didn't work either; Russell admitted that he thought the gesture was "cute", but he by this time had his sights set on Nicolas Cage for the role, as the actor had been on an upward trajectory since the success of the ensemble romantic comedy Moonstruck in which he had co-starred. However, Cage was unavailable, and so Clooney as the last man standing was cast, with Russell's strong reservations.
Although the film received favorable reviews, and critics were impressed with the general weirdness of the idea behind it, many felt that it proved the only way in which effective change could be made in Iraq was by the involvement of American troops - an opinion that Russell admitted he had also come to share during production after extensive conversations with his Iraqi extras.
