Synopsis

Interpol agent Louis Salinger and Manhattan assistant district attorney Eleanor Whitman investigate the International Bank of Business and Credit, a powerful institution suspected of financing terrorism and manipulating governments. Their pursuit crosses Berlin, Luxembourg, Milan, New York, and Istanbul, exposing a conspiracy in which financial influence, arms dealing, political corruption, and murder are inseparably linked.

Factoids & Trivia

• The fictional IBBC was inspired partly by the real Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, which unfolded during the 1980s and early 1990s.

• The Guggenheim Museum shootout was filmed partly at the actual New York museum and partly on a life-size replica built in an abandoned locomotive warehouse near Berlin. The replica was constructed from the museum's original architectural plans.

• The Guggenheim action sequence lasts roughly 13 minutes but required nearly six weeks of shooting on the replica set. The production carefully matched lighting and camera angles between the real museum and the reconstructed interior.

• The museum's collapsing chandelier was created digitally rather than by dropping a real object into the set.

• The film opened the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2009.

• Several works shown in the fictional Guggenheim exhibition were created by media artist Julian Rosefeldt. The exhibition was designed specifically for the movie rather than representing a regular museum display.

• The rooftop chase in Istanbul was filmed around the Grand Bazaar, a location later featured in the motorcycle chase from "Skyfall" (2012).