Mark Boal

Filmmakers have long been inspired by the work of investigative reporters, as was Oscar-winner Paul Haggis when he adapted Mark Boal's Playboy Magazine article "Death and Dishonor," the true story of a father who searches for his missing Iraq war veteran son. The film, "In the Valley of Elah," earned its star Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Truly uncommon, however, is when a journalist's experience and research inspires him to develop his own screenplay, as did Boal with "The Hurt Locker," the Oscar-winning indie hit released by Summit Entertainment in the summer of 2009. As writer and producer of the film, Boal won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film also picked up prizes for Directing, Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, more categories than any other film nominated. Boal also earned top writing prizes at the Golden Globes, Critic's Choice Awards, BAFTA and WGA.

In 2004, during a chaotic, deadly month in 2004 in Iraq, Boal embedded himself with members of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit.

"What many people don't know is that although Baghdad was horrifically dangerous in those years, it could have been a lot worse," Boal explains. "On any given day, for every bomb that exploded in the city, there were probably ten or fifteen that didn't detonate because of a few, secretive bomb squads that were in theater."

He adds, "Army bomb technicians were thrust into a role that they had never played before in any other war. And they quickly became the key strategic unit in the attempt to stem the growing tide of roadside bombs that were turning the city into an incredibly lethal, unpredictable and insane environment."

Their harrowing daily experiences led him to consider that the account of these young men who save lives and risk their own by disarming deadly bombs planted in population centers might best be appreciated in a fictional telling, set in that terrifyingly real world. Boal pitched the idea to filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow ("Point Break," "Strange Days"), whom he had met when she was developing a television series based on an article he had written in 2002. The two decided to pursue the project independently, so as to limit a committee reaction to the tough material, and Boal went to work writing a 'spec' script.

Ultimately, the production financing was raised by Nicolas Chartier, via his Voltage Pictures. Chartier had also backed Haggis' Oscar winning "Crash." The film was screened at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival, and shortly thereafter Summit Entertainment acquired it for distribution.

Boal is currently working on a new script, an original idea, entitled "Triple Frontier," for Paramount Pictures, which Bigelow will direct.

Boal, who majored in Philosophy, graduated with honors from Oberlin College. At age 23 he wrote an acclaimed Village Voice series of articles about the rise of surveillance in America, which led to him writing a weekly column for the paper, entitled 'The Monitor.' He subsequently covered politics, technology, crime and the youth and drug cultures in stories for a variety of national publications, including Rolling Stone, Brill's Content, Mother Jones, and Playboy, among others.

His 2003 article in Playboy entitled 'Jailbait,' about an undercover drug agent, was adapted for Fox TV's "The Inside." Boal's 2008 investigative story for Rolling Stone entitled 'Everyone Will Remember Me as Some Sort of Monster,' about the life and times of mall shooter Robert Hawkins, will be included in the Best American Crime Writing anthology edited by Otto Penzler.

Boal lives in Los Angeles.