Now that the runaway success of American Sniper has proven audiences will turn out for a good Iraq war film—as well as reminding Americans of the noble act of killing people from a great distance—studios are looking to capitalize on more war drama. First it was Ang Lee’s adaptation of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, and now Deadline reports that Cinemax is developing Baghdad Country Club, a new drama from Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey’s production company Team Downey.
The project is an adaptation of Joshuah Bearman’s online journalism piece of the same name. It details the actions of a “soldier-turned-mercenary who opens the only watering hole in Baghdad’s Green Zone at the height of the post-invasion Iraqi insurgency.” Cinemax is probably hoping to capture some of that Bearman magic, considering the journalist’s story “The Great Escape” was the basis for Best Picture winner Argo. No word yet on whether this show will act as a prequel to the rehab drama Team Downey has set up at Showtime, so that the Green Zone drinkers can return home and immediately enter the treatment facility. After all, shared universes are all the rage these days.