Steve Martin enlists in Ang Lee’s Iraq war satire Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

By Alex McLevy | March 4, 2015 | 8:15pm

Aux Features Film

If Three Kings, Jarhead, and In The Loop have taught us anything, it’s that Americans don’t care how scathing your indictment of the Iraq war is, they’re still not going to go see it in theaters. But start picking off men, women, and children from a great distance, like the humble do-gooder with an impeccable conscience that you are (even if you’re also an inveterate liar), and the people will turn out in droves. Despite the evidence, Ang Lee is hoping he can buck the trend, and The Wrap reports that he has hired Steve Martin to help him do it in an adaptation of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.

As we previously reported, Lee’s film recounts the story of a platoon that is brought home for a victory tour and ends up in the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving halftime show with Destiny’s Child. But despite the uncanny resemblance, Martin will not be playing Kelly Rowlands. Instead, it’s assumed he’ll take on the role of Albert, a “Hollywood wheeler-dealer who tries to set up a movie based on Billy Lynn’s experiences with the rest of Bravo company.” Garrett Hedlund, who stood out for emoting just slightly less than Jeff Bridges’ beard in TRON: Legacy, is also in talks to play a drill sergeant. Production is slated to start in April, unless Ang Lee decides to start that much-demanded Hulk sequel that just consists of the Hulk moping around at Woodstock.