EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Director Carl Colby talks 'The Man Nobody Knew'

Monday, 17 October 2011 11:00

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Currently playing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles is a new documentary from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Carl Colby called The Man Nobody Knew. The film tells the story of Colby's father, CIA spymaster and former CIA head William Colby, and it provides a son's powerful look at his mysterious father, whose life was straight out of a spy thriller. The film offers a probing history of the CIA, a personal memoir of a family living in a highly secretive world, and a fascinating look at the costs of a nation's most clandestine actions. The documentary forges a fascinating mix of rare archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and an extensive array of interview with the "who's who" of American intelligence, including former National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director James Schlesinger, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh, and Tim Weiner.

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down and talk with filmmaker Carl Colby about The Man Nobody Knew. The director spoke candidly about the new film, his childhood memories of his father, the effect his dad's work had on the rest of his family, his father's role in Vietnam, the art of spying, William Colby's legacy; and the lasting effect that it has had on our country's foreign policies.

To watch our exclusive interview with Carl Colby about The Man Nobody Knew, please click on the video player above.

SYNOPSIS:

In The Man Nobody Knew, Carl Colby asks a series of powerful questions about a father who was a ghost-like presence in the family and who died under mysterious circumstances. He probes deeply into his father's role in designing clandestine actions and counter-insurgency methods, tactics that we now see being implemented in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film is also fundamentally, at its heart, a gripping story of a secretive father and a son desperate for his love. From the beginning of his career as an OSS officer parachuting into Nazi-occupied Europe, William Colby rose through the ranks of "The Company," and soon was involved in covert operations in hot spots around the globe. He swayed elections against the Communists in Italy, oversaw the coupe against President Diem in Saigon, and ran the controversial Phoenix Program in Vietnam, which sparked today's legacy of counter-insurgency. But after decades of obediently taking on the White House's toughest and dirtiest assignments, and rising to become Director of the CIA, Colby defied the President. Braving intense controversy, he opened up to Congress some of the agency's darkest, most tightly held secrets and extra-legal operations and was ultimately replaced by George H. W. Bush. Through it all, Carl Colby searches for an authentic portrait of a man who remained masked even to those who loved him most.

The Man Nobody Knew is currently playing in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles.