The Interpreter

Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn star for Sydney Pollack -director of such genre-defining thrillers as The Firm, Absence of Malice and Three Days of the Condor- in The Interpreter , a suspenseful thriller of international intrigue set inside the political corridors of the United Nations. Kidman stars as South African UN interpreter Silvia Broome, who inadvertently overhears a hushed, after-hours conversation in the General Assembly Hall . And what she hears could topple a government... if she can just survive long enough to get someone to believe her. She and has to convince a doubtful FBI agent that something bad's going down. In the right hallway, at the right time, all it takes is a whisper to tip the balance of power.

Besides, the United Nations. is set to welcome filmmaker Sydney Pollack into its hallowed halls. Security Council President Heraldo Muñoz confirmed that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has given permission in principle for the shooting to go ahead.

Pollack has succeeded where other directors have failed -the UN famously turned down Alfred Hitchcock when he was making North By Northwest, so the great director recreated interiors on a soundstage.

However, according to Ambassador Muñoz, the only query to Pollack's request came from the Spanish ambassador Inocencio Arias, who wanted to know if he could be an extra.