“The ultimate reality show”

Hollywood agent turned war reporter Pat Dollard attempts to put the record straight in The Guardian today. Tony Scott, director of Top Gun, is working with Dollard to put together a TV series from the 700+ hours of film he returned from Iraq with. Dollard’s unconventional, drug fuelled style appealed to movie maker Scott who calls the forthcoming show “the ultimate reality show”,

“I said to myself: ‘My God, this guy is off his fucking head. It’s great.’ [says Tony Scott] Pat’s life was in total shit and turmoil back in the US. He had lost custody of his kid and had lawsuits all over the place. So he went to find some sanity in Iraq with drugs and a hi-def camera…”
…It soon became clear that Dollard was different. Here, after all, was a man who had been driving around Hollywood with “US WINS” on the vanity plates of his Hummer. “He did things you wouldn’t see any other reporter do,” says [Brian Iglesias, the lieutenant charged with taking care of Dollard in Ramadi]. “It was like, ‘Holy crap, this guy is kind of a nutcase.’ I didn’t think he’d live long enough to complete his project….”
“It’s probably the truest description I’ve seen,” says Iglesias… “Pat’s footage doesn’t hide anything. It is what it is in all its glory and all its horror. It’s almost a case against the war. When they see the gross reality of it all, people who are anti-war will probably feel it justifies their position.” link

More about Pat Dollard here and a selection of his films can be found here. And here’s the trailer to Dollard’s film Young Americans. NB: Awful music alert.