The release of the new thriller “Enigma” this Friday marks the culmination of a most unusual collaboration, a sophisticated WWII spy flick produced by “Saturday Night Live” founder Lorne Michaels and legendary rocker Mick Jagger.
The idea was hatched when Jagger and Michaels were enjoying a friendly dinner together, and the subject of Robert Harris’ 1995 best-selling novel came up.
“Mick mentioned that he’d read the Harris book, and that he’d tried unsuccessfully to secure the rights to film it,” remembered Michaels. “I said to him, ‘Is this something you’d like to do together? If so, I’d be happy to do it with you.’ “
“Enigma” tells the story of code breakers working in Britain’s top secret Bletchley Park in 1943. When Nazi U-boats unexpectedly change their codes, a brilliant young mathematician named Tom Jericho (played by Dougray Scott, fresh from “Mission Impossible 2”) is enlisted to lend his expertise.
At the same time, Jericho desperately searches for the woman he loves, Claire Rommily (played by Saffron Burrows), who has seemingly disappeared into thin air.
What started as a casual dinnertime offer took more than five years to complete. The delay prompted “Enigma” author Harris to joke recently that production of the film lasted longer than the war itself.
But the effort was apparently worth it.
Michaels believes that after Sept. 11 moviegoers are ready for a film profiling the intelligence game that takes place behind every major conflict.
“I think making a World War II movie, a relatively austere one at that, couldn’t have been a worse idea until recently,” said Michaels. “But after Sept. 11, this movie is so much more relevant.”
As for his partnership with Jagger, he says it couldn’t have gone more smoothly, despite the rocker’s perfectionism.
“He was very much a presence on the set. When Mick works on something, he throws himself into it – he’s a brilliant problem solver.”
For Michaels, who’s produced such light fare as “Wayne’s World” and “Coneheads,” “Enigma” is a stark departure, but he believes audiences will embrace the challenge.
“Mick and I were hoping first to get all the details right, and also to make a taut thriller,” he said. “This is a movie where you’re rewarded for paying attention.”
