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Shooter is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Jonathan Lemkin, based on the 1993 novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. The film follows Force Recon Marine Scout Sniper veteran Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), who is framed for murder by a mercenary unit operating for a private military firm. The film also stars Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty. Shooter was produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura through Di Bonaventura Pictures, and released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on March 23, 2007. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $95.7 million on a $61 million budget. Plot USMC Force Recon Scout Snipers Bob Lee Swagger and his spotter Donnie Fenn provide overwatch for a mission in Ethiopia. The mission goes awry when an enemy militia assaults Swagger and Fenn's position with helicopter support. The CIA officer supervising the operation burns the mission, resulting in Fenn's death. Three years later, Swagger is retired and lives in the Wind River Range. Swagger is approached by Isaac Johnson and his associates, Payne and Dobbler, to enlist his aid in thwarting a potential assassination attempt on the President during a public speaking event. Reluctantly, Swagger agrees to help. He assesses the only viable location is Philadelphia. On the day of the speech, Swagger accompanies Johnson to an overwatch position. The shot is made but is revealed to be a setup: the President's guest, Ethiopian Archbishop Desmond Mutumbo, is killed, and a Philadelphia police officer, on Johnson's payroll, shoots Swagger. Swagger escapes, disarms rookie FBI Special Agent Nick Memphis, and flees into the Delaware River. Swagger travels to Kentucky and meets Fenn's widow, Sarah, who treats his injuries. Using Memphis, who was skeptical of the shooting, as bait, Sarah and Swagger feed him information, which he uses to investigate the shooting to force Johnson out of hiding. Suspecting they may be compromised, Johnson orders his men to capture Memphis and kill him. Before they can kill Memphis, however, they are killed by Swagger. Swagger releases Memphis and requests his help bringing down Johnson. The two travel to Tennessee and meet with firearms expert Mr. Rate, who explains paper patching. Rate deduces that the wheelchair-bound Serbian sniper Mikhaylo Sczerbiak would be the only other sniper alive capable of making such a shot. Swagger concludes that he unwittingly conducted Sczerbiak's recon to ensure the assassination's success, and he and Memphis travel to Virginia to confront him. At the same time, Sarah's connection to Swagger is uncovered, and Johnson orders Payne to abduct her to be used as leverage. Swagger and Memphis infiltrate Sczerbiak's estate, where the latter reveals that Johnson works for Montana Senator Charles Meachum on behalf of oil conglomerates exploiting developing nations for profit. Sczerbiak confesses that, acting on Johnson's orders, he assassinated Mutumbo to prevent information about crimes against humanity carried out by Johnson from going public, which include the massacre of a village on the Eritrea–Ethiopia border. Sczerbiak informs Swagger that he and Fenn had unknowingly covered the retreat of the contractors who carried out that mission and were supposed to be killed to cover it up. Upon revealing Sarah's abduction, he commits suicide. Swagger records the confession, escapes with Memphis, and kills the mercenaries sent to eliminate them. The pair escape to Montana, tip off the FBI, and arrange a meeting with Meachum and Johnson. Johnson, Meachum, and Payne arrive, with Sarah held at gunpoint. With Memphis acting as a decoy, Swagger eliminates Johnson's counter-snipers and disarms Payne, whom Sarah kills shortly after. Meachum cryptically implies he is not the only politician who works for the oil companies. Deducing that the proof will get them killed, Swagger destroys the recording as the FBI arrives to arrest him. He is granted an audience with US Attorney General Russert. With Memphis's help, Swagger takes a live sniper round secretly given to him by Memphis and tries to fire it at Johnson, but it doesn’t shoot. Swagger reveals that whenever he leaves his rifles unattended, he switches the firing pins, making his rifles useless to other people. Memphis provides evidence to Russert cataloging Johnson's involvement in crimes carried out by Johnson. Russert laments that Johnson's crimes are outside US jurisdiction, so he cannot arrest Johnson. Privately, Russert confides in Swagger that extrajudicial measures may be necessary to end the corruption and orders Swagger's release. Sometime later, Meachum, Johnson, and their associates discuss their next operation before Swagger attacks and kills all of them. He ruptures the gas line and flees as the house is destroyed in a massive gas explosion. Swagger returns to Sarah in a waiting car, and the two drive off. Cast Production Development The novel Point of Impact was in development first at Universal and later at Paramount for twelve years, with seven screenwriters attempting many adaptations. The author Stephen Hunter also tried to adapt the book but was put off by the experience and disconnected himself from the process. In 2000, William Friedkin agreed to direct the film with Tommy Lee Jones starring as Bob Lee Swagger. However, the writers were unable to complete a script, and Friedkin and Jones to decide to make The Hunted (2003) instead. That film incorporated many of Friedkin’s ideas for Shooter, and its protagonist L.T. Bonham was also based on Jones’s planned portrayal of Swagger. Friedkin expressed interest in additionally directing Shooter as a sequel to The Hunted, but ultimately did not. Jonathan Lemkin read the book and some of the previous drafts and was able to avoid repeating some of the same mistakes. Lemkin updated the story away from the original post Vietnam setting, and restructured the story bringing the main event to the end of the first act, and to cut the multiple plot lines down to just the A story. His page 1 rewrite of the screenplay attracted Wahlberg and Fuqua, and on his second draft, the film got the green light to go into production. Unusual for a screenplay with such a long development process and multiple rewrites, Lemkin retained sole credit after Writers Guild of America arbitration. Locations Most of the film was shot on location in New Westminster, Kamloops, Mission, Ashcroft and Cache Creek in British Columbia, Canada. For example, Swagger's escape was filmed in New Westminster along the Fraser River, standing in for the Delaware River. The car chase that ends when it plunged into the river was filmed down 6th Street and off the Westminster Quay. The following scene of Swagger clinging to the side of a dredger was also filmed on the Fraser River near the Pattullo Bridge. The assassination scenes were filmed in Independence National Historical Park in front of Indep.... Discover the Nick Bonaventura popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Nick Bonaventura books.