"So, You Ever Kill Anybody?"

In the final film, the plot, rather, plots are wholly invented and the names have been changed. Clooney's character is called Bob Barnes, although his expertise and undercurrent of melancholy are pure Baer. (Barnes' prodigiously sarcastic son Robby is modeled on Charlotte Baer.) But the fruits of Gaghan's research are obvious. Syriana's characters--from would-be Arab princes to American oil traders, CIA agents to terrorists--behave in exquisitely detailed and complicated ways. They cross paths and challenge one another's assumptions, just as Gaghan's were challenged. Of course, Syriana is entertainment first and foremost. It just happens to feel true.