EXCLUSIVE: Sacha Gervasi‘s movie about Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson’s United Nations goodwill mission to war-torn Sarajevo has tapped screenwriter Arash Amel (A Private War, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare). The feature is produced by Gervasi’s Portobello Electric which arrived at AFM this week with Gervasi’s Darlington starring Renée Zellweger, Dominic Sessa and Peter Dinklage.
The news comes at a time when Iron Maiden is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this weekend. Dickinson wrote the previous draft of the script as Deadline first told you.
In December 1994, at the height of the Bosnian War, Iron Maiden’s Dickinson and his solo band made a journey to perform for residents trapped by the conflict. After their planned UN helicopter transport was canceled following an attack, Dickinson and his band refused to turn back, traveling over the treacherous Mount Igman in a humanitarian aid truck before being escorted across active battle lines by UN peacekeepers. They performed at the Bosnian Cultural Centre for an audience who risked sniper fire and shelling to attend. Before departing, the band left their instruments behind for local musicians—a powerful gesture of solidarity through music.
The Siege Of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days from April 1992 to February 1996 and resulted in more than 11,000 killed, including 1,600 children. The city was flattened, its infrastructure destroyed, and there was significant damage to its cultural institutions, government buildings, hospitals, and schools.
“In 1994, in an act of momentary madness that changed my life and many others, I drove unescorted with my solo band into Sarajevo, and performed for the local population. The city was under a siege that was longer than the siege of Stalingrad. The story sounds unbelievable, but it’s 100% true….and then some. My longtime friend, filmmaker Sacha Gervasi had been badgering me for ages to tell the story, perhaps more relevant today than it was then. My indecision was rescued by the wonderful Arash Amel, who offered to tell the story for us. Arash has spent months uncovering the truth and is now ready to reveal all in the movie version. As a storyteller myself, this is one story that someone else needed to tell. I cannot wait to see what this incredibly creative team comes up with,” said Dickinson.
“When Sacha and Bruce first told me the story of this extraordinary moment, I couldn’t believe it was real. What kept the youth of Sarajevo alive in the depths of the longest siege in modern warfare was a desperate underground rock scene as a final act of rebellion. That one of their idols would have the conviction and single-minded lunacy to cross the frontlines to show up in solidarity is a human interest drama of music at its purest, as communion, as hope,” said Amel.
Amel wrote the Golden Globe-nominated motion picture A Private War (2018), directed by Matthew Heineman and starring Rosamund Pike as celebrated war correspondent Marie Colvin. His most recent film was Lionsgate’s WWII action adventure The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) from director Guy Ritchie, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Henry Golding, and Cary Elwes. Amel is currently penning the adaptation of The Things We Leave Unfinished from bestselling author Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing, In the Likely Event).
Gervasi co-wrote Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones which minted over $200M WW. He made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed hit, Anvil! The Story of Anvil in 2008. Premiering at Sundance, it won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary and is now one of the most celebrated music documentaries of all time. Gervasi subsequently directed the Academy Award-nominated Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and Scarlett Johansson, with Mirren earning BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her performance. Gervasi also wrote and directed the critically lauded My Dinner with Hervé, starring Dinklage, Jamie Dornan and Andy Garcia for HBO, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie, alongside nominations from the Critics’ Choice Awards, Producers Guild of America, and Writers Guild of America.
Jim Garavente will produce the Iron Maiden frontman feature for Portobello Electric. Dickinson will executive produce along with Arash Amel via The Amel Co.
Gervasi is represented by CAA and Kaplan/Perrone and Amel by Untitled Entertainment and David Fox at Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light. Both Gervasi and Amel are repped by 42 West.
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