Sundance Institute

Institute History

2018 Sundance Film Festival

Description

In the midst of World War II, major league catcher Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) is drafted to join a new team: the Office of Security Services (the precursor to the CIA). No ordinary ballplayer, the erudite, Jewish Ivy League graduate speaks nine languages and is a regular guest on a popular TV quiz show. Despite his celebrity, Berg is an enigmatic man with a knack for keeping secrets. The novice spy is quickly trained and sent into the field to stop German scientist Werner Heisenberg before he can build an atomic bomb for the Nazis.

Director Ben Lewin’s (The Sessions) fascinating political thriller follows Berg from the bullpen to behind enemy lines. Rudd’s sly performance brings the charming, chameleonic catcher to life with the support of a crackerjack cast, including Jeff Daniels and Guy Pearce as seasoned spies and Paul Giamatti as a Dutch physicist. Adapted by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) from Nicholas Dawidoff’s 1994 biography, The Catcher Was a Spy tells one of the great unsung tales of American espionage.

— M.C.

Screening Details

Section: Premieres
Film Type: DRAMF - Dramatic Feature
Country: U.S.A.
Language: English and Japanese/Italian/French/German/Dutch
Run Time: 94 min.

Credits

Co-Executive Producer
- Marty Adelstein
- Scott Nemes
Production Designer
- Luciana Arrighi
Costume Designer
- Joan Bergin
Actor
Based on the book by
- Nicholas Dawidoff
Producer
Executive Producer
Co-Producer
- Ryan Kreston
- Judi Levine
Director
- Ben Lewin
Cinematographer
- Andrij Parekh
Screenwriter
- Robert Rodat
Composer
- Howard Shore
Editor
- Mark Yoshikawa

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