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 Suspect Zero Production NotesWho's next?
It’s 4 a.m. and torrents of rain pour down on a roadside diner in New Mexico. Inside, an innocuous looking salesman sips coffee while catching up on his fishing magazines. Suddenly, he is startled by an unusual looking man who sits down at his table and displays horrific drawings that send the salesman fleeing for the safety of his car.
The salesman is the first victim…or have there been others?
Assigned to the case is FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart). Wrestling with his own demons, Mackelway is plagued by terrible headaches and feels he is being watched.
He is.
A second victim is found -- a sixth grade teacher from Boulder, Colorado, discovered in an abandoned vehicle. Is there a connection? Mackelway isn’t sure, but he does know that the third murder is personal. He knows the victim.
Killed while attacking a young girl in a parking lot, the victim was Mackelway’s personal nemesis, a heinous killer himself who Mackelway let slip through the cracks.
Is this new killer somehow helping Mackelway…or taunting him? Is it the prey who now watches the pursuer?
FBI Agent Fran Kulok (Carrie-Anne Moss), Mackelway’s former partner and one of the few people who knows his deepest secrets, is sent to Albuquerque to assist him on the case. Together, they set out to solve this lethal puzzle, a labyrinth that becomes more complex as the killer starts faxing Mackelway hundreds of maddening, chilling clues, all of which point to a cunning renegade named Benjamin O’Ryan (Sir Ben Kingsley).
Trained in a secret government remote viewing program which enabled five elite agents to telepathically get into the hearts and minds of killers and their victims, O’Ryan has become consumed with tracking the ultimate manifestation of a killer, an entity he calls Suspect Zero.
But has O’Ryan’s ability to identify with both murderers and their victims turned him into the very same type of monster he is trying to bring to justice, could he be Suspect Zero?
While O’Ryan continues his pursuit, Mackelway tracks O’Ryan, and in the process both men find they are confronting humanity’s darkest side…and entering directly into the mind of a killer.
About the Story
When Dallas FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart) violates serial killer Raymond Starkey’s civil rights during an unorthodox arrest, Starkey goes free and Mackelway is demoted to a remote branch of the agency in Albuquerque. His first day on the job, Mackelway investigates the murder of a traveling salesman Harold Speck, which turns out to be the first of three seemingly random killings. Or perhaps they are not random at all; the last to die is Mackelway’s nemesis, Raymond Starkey.
The assignment consumes him. His past mistakes haunt him. His head throbs constantly as he tries to find the link between the victims that will lead him to their killer. The case becomes increasingly gruesome and patently personal. This does not go unnoticed by his unflappable partner Fran Kulok (Carrie-Anne Moss), who knows of Mackelway’s past and the demons that afflict him. Like Mackelway, she becomes drawn into the labyrinth of chilling clues, all of which point to the enigmatic Benjamin O’Ryan (Ben Kingsley). O’Ryan clearly has a connection to the murders, a connection he flaunts; quite possibly, he may also harbor a sinister link to Mackelway.
“This is a fascinating movie because it works on so many different levels,” observes producer Paula Wagner. “The heart of the film is the concept of a ‘Suspect Zero,’ or the ultimate serial killer, someone who functions with no modus operandi, no telltale fetishes, no patterns and no remorse. It’s very scary to think that there are people out there who are driven by pure malevolence.”
The notion of playing someone allied with such wickedness appealed to Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays Benjamin O’Ryan.
“My character is a very complicated man who is literally driven to the edge by an overpowering ability to track and identify with evil,” says Kingsley. “When I read the script, I found him to be very compelling and multifaceted, the type of individual who is intriguing and difficult to read. I loved the challenge of bringing him to life.”
Portraying lead FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway, who is investigating a series of random murders, is Aaron Eckhart. “When I first read the screenplay, I thought it was a great thriller,” he recalls. “But with the element of remote viewing woven through the plot, it really makes the story hauntingly scary, and I think it’ll certainly have people thinking about the nature of evil.”
Said to have directed film festival favorite “Shadow of the Vampire” with “visionary brilliance” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), director E. Elias Merhige has been fascinated with the idea of remote viewing for years and felt it was just the right tool to tell a story like “Suspect Zero,” which has so many psychological layers.
“I love stories that go deep into the psychological and irrational nature of human beings like this one does,” says Merhige. “It draws out the bigger questions too, like what is the true nature of justice and evil? In essence, the story describes one man’s journey into the darkness of another man’s soul, and finding the haunted places within himself.”
Merhige adds that in telling this tale he was inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. “Both Mackelway and O’Ryan go to the unknown, uncharted places deep within themselves,” observes the director.
At Mackelway’s side is his partner, Special Agent Fran Kulok, portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix” trilogy). She describes the film as a journey toward light through inexplicable darkness.
“The script is absolutely fascinating,” says Moss. “I think that all the characters have a lot of depth and their relationships with one another are complicated in a way that draws you into their lives and makes you care about them.”
Producer Paula Wagner credits the empathetic portrayal of all the characters to the ensemble of actors that came together to create the film. “We are fortunate to have attracted such an extraordinary cast,” she says. “Aaron Eckhart is one of the most gifted young actors around today, Carrie-Anne Moss is a charming, elegant and multifaceted actress, and Ben Kingsley is absolutely iconic -- the depth and commitment he puts into his role is simply amazing.”
Director E. Elias Merhige couldn’t agree more. “The cast was a very fine group of actors -- from Ben Kingsley, a film veteran with an impressive body of work behind him, to the very ambitious and talented Aaron Eckhart, to Carrie-Anne Moss, an extremely dedicated and consummate pro. It was great to have such a superb ensemble of talent to bring out this story.”
Ultimately, Wagner adds, it was director Merhige who drew the whole film together. “When we brought on Elias, he added a wonderful vision to the film by infusing the concept of remote viewing into the project, and that added a dimension that audiences have never seen before.”
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Carrie-Anne Moss as Agent Fran Kulok in Suspect Zero.