# The Ghost Writer (film)
**The Ghost Writer** is a 2010 political thriller directed by [Roman Polanski](https://www.edgepedia.org/roman-polanski), adapted from Robert Harris's 2007 novel *The Ghost*, in which an unnamed British ghostwriter completing the memoirs of a former prime minister uncovers evidence linking the politician to the CIA and learns that his predecessor on the job died in suspicious circumstances.[1](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/) • [2](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/08/prime-suspect) It was a French, German, and British co-production, released in the United Kingdom under the original title *The Ghost*.[1](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/) • [3](https://apj.co.uk/articles/films-the-ghost-writer)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Roman Polanski; screenplay by Robert Harris and Polanski, based on Harris's 2007 novel *The Ghost*[1](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/) |
| Cast | Ewan McGregor (the Ghost), Pierce Brosnan (Adam Lang), Olivia Williams (Ruth Lang), Kim Cattrall (Amelia Bly), Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/) |
| Runtime and format | 128 minutes, CinemaScope; France/Germany/UK, in English[1](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/) |
| First release | 18 February 2010 (Germany, Switzerland), with wide US release 19 March 2010[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012063-ghost_writer) |
| Box office | $60,331,447 worldwide on a $45,000,000 budget[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1139328/credits/) |
| Major awards | Silver Bear for Best Director, Berlin 2010; six European Film Awards 2010; four César Awards 2011[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/) • [8](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film480586.html) |
| Critical scores | 84% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (207 reviews); Metascore 77 on Metacritic[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012063-ghost_writer) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ghost-writer/?dist=neutral) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
A successful British ghostwriter, credited only as the Ghost and never given a name, is hired to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang after the previous writer on the project, Lang's long-term aide Mike McAra, died in a drowning accident.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/) • [10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/) He travels in midwinter to an oceanfront house on an island off the US Eastern seaboard, where Lang is staying with his wife Ruth and his personal assistant and mistress Amelia.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/)
One day after the ghostwriter reaches the house, an ex-member of the British cabinet charges that Lang ordered the unlawful detention of terror suspects and their transfer to the CIA for torture, calling it a war crime.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/) As reporters and protesters converge on the island, the writer finds clues suggesting his predecessor discovered a secret linking Lang to the American intelligence agency, hidden in the manuscript he left behind.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/) In the film's ending, the writer leaves the book's presentation with a copy of the manuscript detailing the secret and is struck and killed by a car in a hit-and-run accident.[11](https://www.fondazioneprada.org/project/the-ghost-writer/?lang=en)
## Production
The film is a literary adaptation of Robert Harris's 2007 bestseller *The Ghost*, with the screenplay co-written by Harris and Polanski.[1](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/) • [12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9641/files/TAZ-TFM-2012-1161.pdf) Polanski was attached to direct the adaptation as early as November 2007, when the novel was announced for filming.[13](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-09-et-quick9.s4-story.html)
**European shooting.** Although the story is set on [Martha's Vineyard](https://www.edgepedia.org/marthas-vineyard), Massachusetts, with some scenes in New York and London, the film was shot almost entirely in Germany.[10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/) Polanski was barred from working in the United States, as he had left the country in 1978 to escape prosecution after admitting guilt to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.[10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/) Lang's beach house was built from scratch inside Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, with [Cape Cod](https://www.edgepedia.org/cape-cod) views supplied by green screens, and the Martha's Vineyard exteriors were filmed on the German North Sea island of Sylt.[10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/) • [12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9641/files/TAZ-TFM-2012-1161.pdf) Beach scenes were shot in Denmark and the hotel where the Ghost first stays was in France, while a second crew without Polanski or the actors filmed a few driving scenes in Massachusetts and some London exteriors on their original locations.[12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9641/files/TAZ-TFM-2012-1161.pdf)
**Polanski's arrest.** Polanski was arrested in September 2009 on his way to the Zurich Film Festival, while the film was in post-production, because of his fugitive status.[10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/) He continued to oversee the film's completion and edited it while in a Swiss prison, and he was unable to attend the premiere at the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival), where he won the Silver Bear for Best Director.[10](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/)
The production companies included R.P. Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Studio Babelsberg, and Runteam, with [Summit Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/summit-entertainment) as sales agent and US distributor.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012063-ghost_writer) The crew drew on Polish, French, British, German, and American workers.[12](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9641/files/TAZ-TFM-2012-1161.pdf)
## Themes and reception
The character of Adam Lang invites comparison with [Tony Blair](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-blair), whom the novelist Harris, formerly a political journalist, had known closely; critics read the film's rendition-and-CIA material as a commentary on the Blair government's alignment with the United States over the [Iraq War](https://www.edgepedia.org/iraq-war).[14](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-ghost-writer/) • [2](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/08/prime-suspect) • [15](https://www.independent.com/2010/03/10/ghost-writer/) David Denby, film critic of *The New Yorker*, called it "an extraordinarily precise and well-made political thriller" and "the best thing Polanski has done since the seventies," describing how Polanski fed the political material into "the mazy convolutions of a neo-Hitchcock story" told entirely from the restricted point of view of the writer.[2](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/08/prime-suspect) Roger Ebert, longtime critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, praised its deliberate rhythm, noting that it "builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action" against the ominous gray chill of a rain-swept winter island.[16](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-ghost-writer-2010)
**Awards.** At the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival the film competed in the official competition and won the Silver Bear for Best Director.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/) At the [European Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/european-film-awards) 2010 it won six prizes, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor for Ewan McGregor, Best Screenwriter, Best Production Designer for Albrecht Konrad, and Best Composer for Alexandre Desplat.[4](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/) • [17](https://www.cinematik.sk/app/uploads/2013/07/Cinematik-2011_KATALOG.pdf) At the 2011 [César Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/cesar-awards) it won four awards, for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Original Score, from eight nominations including Best Picture.[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/) • [8](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film480586.html) The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Desplat's score Best Music Score.[8](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film480586.html)
**Commercial performance.** The film grossed $15,541,549 domestically (25.8 percent of its total) and $44,789,898 internationally, for a worldwide total of $60,331,447 against a $45,000,000 budget.[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1139328/credits/)
## References
1. [The Ghost Writer, New Zealand International Film Festival 2010](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2010/archive/the-ghost-writer/)
2. [David Denby, "Prime Suspect," The New Yorker, February 28, 2010](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/08/prime-suspect)
3. [The Ghost Writer review, APJ](https://apj.co.uk/articles/films-the-ghost-writer)
4. [The Ghost Writer, European Film Academy](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/the-ghost-writer/)
5. [The Ghost Writer, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/116411/)
6. [The Ghost Writer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012063-ghost_writer)
7. [The Ghost Writer (2010), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1139328/credits/)
8. [The Ghost Writer (2010), Filmaffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film480586.html)
9. [The Ghost Writer Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ghost-writer/?dist=neutral)
10. [Saturday Night at the Movies: The Ghost Writer, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/video/the-ghost-writer-56pzpv/)
11. [The Ghost Writer, Fondazione Prada](https://www.fondazioneprada.org/project/the-ghost-writer/?lang=en)
12. [Andrés Bartolomé Leal, The Spaces of the Transnational in the Cinema of Roman Polanski, University of Zaragoza](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9641/files/TAZ-TFM-2012-1161.pdf)
13. [Polanski tapped to direct 'Ghost,' Los Angeles Times, November 9, 2007](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-09-et-quick9.s4-story.html)
14. [The Ghost Writer, IFC Center](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-ghost-writer/)
15. [The Ghost Writer review, The Santa Barbara Independent](https://www.independent.com/2010/03/10/ghost-writer/)
16. [Roger Ebert, The Ghost Writer review, February 24, 2010](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-ghost-writer-2010)
17. [GHOST WRITER, Cinematik 2011 catalog](https://www.cinematik.sk/app/uploads/2013/07/Cinematik-2011_KATALOG.pdf)
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