Matt Damon to Star in Iraq Movie  5/25/07

Matt Damon will star in a new movie about America's attempt to set up a government in Iraq.

Damon will re-team with The Bourne Supremacy director Paul Greengrass for the movie, which is based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran's non-fiction book Imperial Life In The Emerald City.

The book describes how the provisional Iraqi government was made up of people based on their loyalty to U.S. President George W. Bush, rather than their suitability for the job.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, Damon says, "It was a disaster. They hired people who couldn't speak Arabic. They hired people to run the accounting system who couldn't add two and two, and people with no expertise in post-conflict reconstruction.

"It was a farce, and I think the film's approach will be to look at it like a tragic black comedy of incompetence.

"Paul's still working on The Bourne Ultimatum and the script for Emerald City isn't complete." Filming is due to begin next February (08).