The Manchurian Candidate 2004

The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American psychological political thriller film directed and produced by Jonathan Demme. It is a remake of the 1962 film, in turn adapted from Richard Condon's 1959 novel. It stars Denzel Washington as Bennett Marco, a tenacious, virtuous soldier; Liev Schreiber as Raymond Shaw, a U.S. Representative from New York, manipulated into becoming a vice-presidential candidate; Jon Voight as U.S. Senator Tom Jordan, a challenger for vice president; and Meryl Streep as Eleanor Prentiss Shaw, also a U.S. Senator and Raymond's manipulative ruthless mother. While the name of the novel and the earlier film was retained, the significance of "Manchurian" was changed. In the original, the protagonist was captured in the Korean War and brainwashed by the Chinese army in Manchuria. In the 2004 film, with the Korean War replaced by the Gulf War, Manchurian is instead used as the name of a sinister multinational company. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on July 30, 2004. It received positive reviews and was a moderate commercial success. Meryl Streep was nominated for a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe for her performance.