Trivia for
Traitor (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Steve Martin came up with the idea for the movie while filming Bringing Down the House (2003).
  
  
• When Samir buys an apple on a market in Marseilles you can clearly see the French word "traiteur" (in English: delicatessen), similar to the word "traître" (in English: traitor) on the awning in the background, when he leaves the market.
  
  
• The film was shot in a mere 48 days, through 17 cities spread over 3 continents, and all for the relatively low budget of 22 million American dollars.
  
  
• Alyy Khan who plays the Pakistani Fareed Mansour, previously portrayed Omar Sheik in A Mighty Heart (2007), a real-life character upon whom the character Omar in this film, played by Saïd Taghmaoui, is loosely based.
  
  
• The film was initially set up at Touchstone Pictures in 2002 but was put in turnaround following management change at The Walt Disney Company (which owns Touchstone) until it was picked up by Don Cheadle and Overture Films.
  
  
• Co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff was eventually asked to direct the film after the original director dropped out.
  
  
• According to Guy Pearce, who plays FBI agent Roy Clayton, the conflict depicted and denounced in the film is due to lack of communication between the different branches of the American government post-9/11, particularly the CIA and the FBI, with each agency trying to supplant the other.
  
  
• Co-writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff met with several intelligence professionals, political observers and other specialists to make his script as realistic as possible.
  
  
• Matthew McConaughey was considered for the part of FBI Agent Roy Clayton.
  
  

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