'Traffic' movie remade as miniseries with new plot

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Mike McKay (Elias Koteas) is a DEA agent in Afghanistan whose bosses think he's gone rogue. USA Network On TV 'Traffic' 7, 9 p.m. tomorrow through Wednesday USA

This time, it's a three-day, six-hour miniseries, tomorrow through Wednesday on the USA Network. It's sort of like the Oscar-nominated "Traffic" movie — except it has different characters, story lines and subjects. What remains is the name and maybe the attitude.

"This is the same format, the same style of storytelling," says producer-director Stephen Hopkins. "But a different story."

All this began with an acclaimed British miniseries, shown on PBS, depicting the oft-futile attempts to stop drug trafficking. That was loosely adapted in 2000 to become an American movie.

Now it has returned as a miniseries and the subject isn't confined to drugs.

"In our version of 'Traffic,' drugs are simply another currency," says USA Network programmer Jeff Wachtel. "You can buy a Stinger missile with a suitcase full of smack. The illegal cargo ... can be drugs, can be human beings (or) weapons of terror."

The basic style remains, however. "Traffic" keeps cutting between three seemingly unrelated stories, all headed toward a collision.

Hopkins, who directed the "24" pilot film, says this "Traffic," like the others, shows a world of murky morals. "People can talk themselves into doing morally reprehensible things, if they convince themselves that the money is there for them."

The first episode shows at 7 and 9 p.m. tomorrow, and again at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The second episode airs Tuesday at 9 and 11 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The third episode airs at 9 and 11 p.m. Wednesday.

In one story, we meet Ben Edmonds (Balthazar Getty), an MBA who lost his money in bad real-estate deals. "He's just a young, ambitious kid who wanted to be anything other than his father," says Getty, who might know the feeling. He's strayed far from the business of his own grandfather, tycoon J. Paul Getty.

There may be something universal about the character's temptation. "A lot of us have been tempted to do dumb things for cash," says Hopkins, who may have proven that by directing the 1998 "Lost in Space" movie.

In another story, Mike McKay (Elias Koteas) is a field agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Afghanistan, working a complex deal with an Afghan drug runner. U.S. authorities think he's become a rogue crook; he says he's really stalking a shipment of deadly smallpox virus.

Back home in Seattle, McKay's wife (Mary McCormack) deals with the perplexities of a teen son and a husband who's somewhere else on the planet.

"Someone who marries a DEA agent is interesting to me," McCormack says. "Someone who sees the war on drugs as so clear — clearly about good guys and bad guys."

The third story involves Adam Kadyrov (Cliff Curtis), a cab driver who illegally emigrated from one of the former Soviet republics. When his wife and daughter die trying to do the same thing, he rages.

"This deals with the very base emotions — to preserve and protect," Curtis says. "How far will a man go when his family has been killed?"

Ethnically, Curtis is Maori. He had a chance to play that in last year's "Whale Rider," the New Zealand film that became an art-house hit.

"It was an important film for me," Curtis says, "but I didn't realize it would be so well-received around the world."

He still lives in his home country, but rarely works there. "There's really no film industry in New Zealand," Curtis says. "There's no chance to be an actor."

So he commutes, getting small roles in big films. Now he has a large role.

"He really believes in the American dream," Curtis says of his character. "Then he gets here and finds that immigrants aren't really wanted."

Enraged by the loss of his family, he becomes entwined in a traffic that involves drugs, terror, people and (especially) money.