Nicolas Cage’s Lord Of Conflict Used Actual Weapons As a substitute Of Props For A Weird Motive

The 2005 Andrew Niccol crime drama “Lord of Conflict” is an unsettling movie in regards to the morally corrupt world of arms dealing that performs it a bit quick and free with each its plot and details, however one ingredient of the film is shockingly life like: the weapons.

In “Lord of Conflict,” Nicolas Cage stars as Yuri Orlov, an arms seller who offers with seedy underworld sorts and worldwide governments alike, and the film follows him as he goes a couple of main deal shopping for and offloading Kalashnikov rifles, transporting them from Ukraine to Liberia and Sierra Leone, with all the issues that may come up alongside the best way. The rifles within the film aren’t prop rifles, however actual ones, in keeping with Niccol, who informed The New York Every day Information (by way of The New Zealand Herald) that the choice wasn’t about accuracy, however as an alternative got here all the way down to being extra cost-efficient. That is proper, actual AK-47s had been cheaper to purchase than faux ones, so that is what the manufacturing group on “Lord of Conflict” went with. It is type of wild {that a} film about arms sellers ended up getting the film makers shopping for lots of of precise weapons themselves, however moreso that it was only a matter of cash. 

Look, we’re used to Nicolas Cage going methodology, and actual weapons might have simply been part of that, but it surely’s bonkers to think about the actual factor really being cheaper. We doubt they will use actual weapons in the event that they ever really make that proposed sequel, however simply how did that each one go down?

Whereas taking pictures within the Czech Republic, probably for the sequences set in Ukraine/the previous Soviet Union, the place Yuri buys the huge cargo of weapons, it was merely cheaper to purchase actual Kalashnikovs than purchase or make faux ones, as Niccol defined: 

“In a means, my movie is a how-to about changing into an arms seller. Through the making of it, I wanted weapons within the Czech Republic, and it was cheaper to make use of actual weapons than replicas. I purchased 3000 Kalashnikovs after which offered them again at a loss. I would not make an excellent arms seller.”

Promoting the weapons again to the unique seller at a loss is certainly not the type of factor that makes one a great arms seller, but it surely’s additionally a bit morally questionable. Then once more, Yuri himself is fairly morally ambiguous (at finest!), and possibly it is just a bit case of life imitating artwork. “Lord of Conflict” is not Nicolas Cage’s most well-known film, however it’s one with a stellar (and considerably nuanced) efficiency from him, and it is value testing. Not solely that, however Ethan Hawke is incredible because the agent searching him down, and regardless that Jared Leto is in it, issues go even worse for him than they did in “Battle Membership.” Now that is cinema.