Mercury Rising
Mercury Rising is a 1998 American action thriller film starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Harold Becker, the movie is based on Ryne Douglas Pearson's 1996 novel originally published as Simple Simon, which was the working title of the film. Willis plays Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects a nine-year-old autistic boy, Simon Lynch (played by Miko Hughes), who is targeted by government assassins after he cracks a top secret government code.
Plot
A nine-year-old boy with autism, Simon Lynch, is given a sophisticated puzzle book by his teacher. Simon quickly solves a particular puzzle and phones a number encoded in the solution. This call reaches two National Security Agency cryptographers, Dean Crandell and Leo Pedranski, who created the new cypher Simon has cracked. Pedranski and Crandell report the situation to their boss, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Kudrow, who severely rebukes the pair for their unauthorized actions, describing Simon and his abilities as a national security threat. Two assassins, Peter Burrell and Shayes, are sent by Kudrow to terminate the boy and his parents, Martin and Jenny. Posing as a police detective, Burrell murders both Simon's mother and father, but is unable to find Simon.
Cast
- Alec Baldwin
- Betsy Brantley
- Bodhi Elfman
- Bruce Willis
- Camryn Manheim
- Carrie Preston
- Chad Lindberg
- Chi McBride
- Hank Harris
- Jack Conley
- James MacDonald
- John Carroll Lynch
- John Doman
- Jude Ciccolella
- Kevin Conway
- Kim Dickens
- Lindsey Ginter
- Margaret Travolta
- Miko Hughes
- Peter Stormare
- Richard Riehle
- Robert Stanton
- Steve Rankin
More details
| author | Lawrence Konner Mark Rosenthal |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Chicago South Dakota |
| director | Harold Becker |
| editor | Peter Honess |
| events | autism |
| genre | action crime drama political thriller |
| keywords | bank robbery birthday party build ceiling coffee shop foster parents hostage situation kill meet morning national security police detective run special agent task force witness protection write |
| musicBy | John Barry |
| producer | Brian Grazer Karen Kehela |
| productionCompany | Imagine Entertainment |
| publisher | Universal Studios |
| recordedAt | Chicago |
| theme | action drama political thriller |