The Wachowskis Gay Iraq Romance Begins Casting, Has A Title: CN9

For seven months now, we've been hearing about the secret next-film for The Wachowski Brothers, a Hard-R rated 'cinema verite-style gay romance iraq war film set in the near future. We've been getting tidbits every couple months, but all we know is the film tells the story of a homosexual relationship between a US soldier and an Iraqi and that it is set in the near future, but then moves back in time to tell the bulk of the story, part of which includes the current Iraq War.  Last we heard, the script was completed and the Wachowskis want to direct.

Production Weekly is reporting that casting has begun for the project with Lora Kennedy, the casting director of Speed Racer, Romeo Must Die, Swordfish, The Boondock Saints, and Tombstone. More information after the jump.

No record of a film titled CN9 can be found on the internet prior to today, but the tern CN9 apparently refers to the 9th Cranial Nerve. Here is more information from Wikipedia:

The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth (IX) of twelve pairs of cranial nerves (24 nerves total). It exits the brainstem out from the sides of the upper medulla, just rostral (closer to the nose) to the vagus nerve. There are a number of functions of the glossopharyngeal nerve:

  • It receives general sensory fibers (ventral trigeminothalamic tract) from the tonsils, the pharynx, the middle ear and the posterior 1/3 of the tongue.
  • It receives special sensory fibers (taste) from the posterior one-third of the tongue.
  • It receives visceral sensory fibers from the carotid bodies.
  • It supplies parasympathetic fibers to the parotid gland via the otic ganglion.
  • It supplies motor fibers to stylopharyngeus muscle, the only motor component of this cranial nerve.
  • It contributes to the pharyngeal plexus.
  • Previously:

    You might recall that late last year, Arianna Huffington (co-founder of the liberal news website The Huffington Post) published a few tweets claiming that she was shooting a part in a secret Wachowskis Brothers film, a movie about the Iraq War, from the perspective of the future. We wouldn't have believed it but Huffington posted photos from the set, one of which features Any Wachowski and Wachowski brother turned sister Lana Wachowski. Was it possible that the Wachowskis have actually sneaked their next film into production without anyone noticing? Or is this just part of a short film, commercial, or test footage for a potential future project? No one had any idea, and nothing more has been learned about the project until today. In May, professional wrestler turned actor turned governor Jesse Ventura dropped word on the Stern show that he just got done filming a movie for the Wachowskis. When asked if he missed acting and would ever consider returning to the big screen, Ventura dropped the bomb shell:

    "I just did one with the Wachowski brothers..."

    Ventura explained that he didn't know where this film is gonna end up, to which Stern asked "What is the film?" Ventura responded: "I don't know..." Ventura revealed that they didn't have a script, and the whole thing was done ad-lib/improv.

    "Wait til you hear what they did. They brought me, and they brought Arianna Huffington in after me. Arianna was there, and they had her looking like cleopatra. What they did... Do you remember what John Travolta looked like in that horrible film Battlefield Earth? They put multicolored dreadlocks on me all the way to here. They gave me this crazy beard that was hanging down pointed, looked like Travolta, right? And they put a third eye in the middle of my forehead. Because what this is, is this is a hundred years in the future, and they wanted me to talk about the current war in Iraq and how I felt about it. And so I got to vent, looking like this maniac in this whole outfit."

    Ventura said he did his rant about Iraq and then he was questioned by Lana off camera, documentary style. Stern responded that he doesn't "understand what this part is about", to which Ventura quickly responded: "Neither do I!" You can check out more photos from the Huffington shoot in our previous post about the project.

    Arianna Huffington