Untraceable, the timeliness of its story made it irresistible

When producers Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi first read the script by Robert Fyvolent and Mark Brinker that would eventually become Untraceable, the timeliness of its story made it irresistible. “The cyber-crime unit of the FBI is relatively new,” says Lucchesi. “It was established just six or seven years ago. Untraceable focuses on a case that is unusual because it doesn't deal with child abuse or credit card theft. It deals with somebody who's actually committing a murder and using the Internet to facilitate it. The public is watching and the more people who tune in, the faster the victim dies.”

While the Internet is a fount of useful information and entertainment, its anonymity gives it the potential to stoke unhealthy curiosity, says Lucchesi. “A lot of us open up our computers and look at the news, but at least as many look at the gossip: Which young movie star got arrested last night or has gone after a photographer or is having sex with somebody he or she shouldn't? We’ve become a public that's fueled by Internet information. One of the things that the movie asks us is, if a violent crime was being committed, would you watch it? Would you watch it if no one knew?”
To develop the script, Rosenberg and Lucchesi, who are chairman and president, respectively, of Lakeshore Entertainment, brought in screenwriter Allison Burnett, with whom they had worked on Lakeshore’s Feast of Love starring Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and Radha Mitchell.

“Allison is more of a dramatic writer, but we thought his understanding of characters would work really well for this thriller,” Lucchesi says. “He’s very forthcoming with ideas and quick in terms of execution. He knocked it out of the park.”

Together, the producers and Burnett focused on creating the story’s main characters and the relationships between them—while also working hard to make sure the film remained in the realm of the technologically possible. “It was very much a collaboration,” says Lucchesi. “The two of us sat with him and went through the screenplay page by page.” During this phase, Burnett added a complex and convincing back story for the murderer and fleshed out the central character of Jennifer Marsh, the role that Diane Lane would play.

Satisfied the script was ready for the big screen, Rosenberg and Lucchesi turned their attention to finding the right director to bring it to life. They sent the script to Gregory Hoblit and his frequent collaborator, producer Howard “Hawk” Koch, Jr., who most recently teamed up on the thriller Fractured, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Hoblit’s impressive résumé also includes the feature Primal Fear, as well as episodes of television series “NYPD Blue” and “Hill Street Blues.”

The director’s relationship to law enforcement goes beyond his Hollywood career, however. “His father was an FBI agent,” says Lucchesi. “So we thought, ‘Who better to direct a movie about an FBI agent?’” As Koch recalls, “My initial reaction to the script was: ‘Wow, this is a page turner!’ Really now and really exciting. I'd never done anything like it.”

Once he read the screenplay, Hoblit immediately knew he wanted to tackle the film. “The script takes a look at a whole new world,” says the director. “Cyber-crime came to become a vital unit within the FBI only a few years ago. Now there’s an entire floor dedicated to nothing but cyber-crime in the Federal Building in Portland.”

Hoblit’s meticulous attention to detail made him an ideal choice for the movie, says Koch. “If you're going to do a movie about cyber detectives, then you better know your subject matter. We really investigated the technical stuff so hopefully all the cyber geeks out there will appreciate its authenticity.”

During the years he worked as a director and producer on the television series “NYPD Blue” and “Hill Street Blues,” Hoblit consulted extensively with police officers to make sure he accurately depicted the world of law enforcement. “He's a big one for verisimilitude,” says his long-time producer, Koch. “He always appreciated getting phone calls or e-mails or letters from police officers afterwards saying, ‘You really got it right.’”

So when Hoblit tackled a project about the FBI’s new cybercrime unit, he brought in numerous experts, including the Portland police and FBI officials in Los Angeles and Portland.

“The Bureau vetted the script and helped with some of the technical details,” says Koch, “because one of the things we were very much focused on was how does one create a truly untraceable site, a site that can't be shut down? They helped make sure that we got the technology right.”

“Our key advisor from the FBI was Special Agent E.J. Hilbert,” says Gary Lucchesi “At that time, Hilbert was a Cyber Agent, specializing in computer intrusions and subsequent computer fraud for the bureau. He has since gone on to work in security for MySpace.”

In addition, Jane Brilheart, a Special Agent who has been with the Bureau for 20 years, worked closely with the film’s star Diane Lane to help her understand the job. Like Jennifer Marsh, Brilheart works in the cyber-crime division. “I go online as a 13 or 14-year-old girl and try to catch the individuals that are sexually exploiting children.”

Being able to work with a real life cyber-cop gave Diane Lane the opportunity to get to know not just the professional FBI agent, but to explore the pressures the job puts on her personal life. “That’s what I really wanted to talk to her about,” she says. “What can I use from all this to take home in my real life? It was very interesting. I’ve told my daughter that I can see everything she ever does, and everybody can always see anything anybody ever does on the computer.”

Lane dedicated a great deal of time and energy to learning the details of the job, says Brilheart. “She came into our office to see me go online. She was interested in finding out the little things. You know, do you carry your gun every place? How do you track down an IP address? She had some great questions.”

Lane was also interested in how Brilheart found balance between her life as an agent and her role as a mother. “There are times when it is a hard thing to handle,” Brilheart says. “I explained to her that with your kids you tend talk about some of the dangers, but you also have to remember that, kids being kids, they need a mom, and you have to step back and shed your law enforcement life to be with them.”

All of the actors were appreciative of the opportunity to see real agents at work. “That to me has been sort of the most fascinating part of the whole experience, meeting the people that actually patrol the Internet for a living,” says Colin Hanks. “It’s extremely hard work that they do—I can see the toll that it takes, but I can also see the reward. That was more interesting than the firearms training we did, or learning how to storm a house, or any of those things.”

The filmmakers also brought in Phil Blanchard, a police technical advisor. “It's my job to see to it that I can create it as realistic as possible for the director,” Blanchard says. “I would say there's a little cinematic license, definitely. But somewhere we're going to meet a happy medium, and it's going to look real good when it's done.”

At the same time, the filmmakers worked with the Portland Police Bureau, including some of the major homicide detectives in Portland, who proved immensely helpful.
Daniel Liu, a real life Portland police sergeant, plays Billy Burke’s character’s partner, Tom Moy, and also advised Burke and others on their roles. For the past 10 years, he has been fitting in acting roles as his schedule allows it. According to Liu, no law enforcement operation that he has been involved with is more complex that what happens on a movie set. “To see the daily chaos and then see how it blends so well together to get the final product is impressive for me to watch. And then to be a part of it, I mean, I couldn't ask for more.”

Liu also appreciated Hoblit’s trademark attention to detail. “You can see it when you step on the set or read the script. It's already there, or a lot of it is, but then he'll ask questions that’ll really hit the minute details. And that alone shows me the respect he has for what we in law enforcement do, and I'm sure it’s going to show up in the film.”