So the week started out on an unusual note for me — I headed out to Staten Island to receive a commendation from the U.S. Coast Guard for the rescue Captain Ludwig and I performed in August. It was really touching and a little embarrassing to be standing in a conference room full of uniformed Coast Guard officers applauding us after a commander read aloud an account of how we scooped from the Hudson passengers whose speedboat had been rammed by a cargo ship.

It may not seem it from these blog posts, but I’m often pretty self-deprecating. That being said, I can now be seen in the Fair Game cutting room sporting my official COAST GUARD NY SECTOR cap. Plus, I’ve been told I can pin the medal on my tuxedo whenever I go to a black tie event (which is never) and can also use it as a challenge coin to get other people to pay for my drinks. This latter perk is more of a military custom, but the bottom line is, if I put it down on the bar and my friends can’t match it with a medal of their own then they have to pay for the drinks.

I may need the confidence from this morning to carry me through the week, as the film will be screened on Wednesday for Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife, former spy Valerie Plame. I’ve never done a movie about real people before. Chris Cooper’s character in The Bourne Identity was based on Oliver North, and Oliver North called me up when he read about that in the press before the film came out and asked me to come on his radio show. He had obviously missed the part where they explained that Chris Cooper was the villain. But this isn’t a movie loosely based on Joe and Valerie; it is their story. At least how I and our writers saw it.

I honestly can’t imagine anything more surreal than watching Sean Penn reenact a scene you lived. Or seeing Naomi Watts enter an office that is an exact replica of your office at the CIA and speak dialogue that you said in real life. Sean and Naomi are so good in this movie, and I really hope Joe and Val can see that. I don’t know who should be more nervous about Wednesday, me or Joe and Val. I am by nature a risk taker and am drawn to danger, so I am really excited about Wednesday, excited and terrified.

Related posts on 30ninjas.com:

• Doug Liman Blog: Sean Penn Has the Movie Star Role But Naomi Watts’ Steely Performance May Be Her Finest Yet
• Doug Liman Blog: I’m Heading to Cannes Without Sean Penn, But You’ve Got to Admire the Guy for Standing by Haiti
• Fair Game Blog — Naomi Watts Training at Crucible
• Doug Liman Blog: Drinks With Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts: Fun. Watching My Ex Diss My Screenwriter’s Work to His Face? Not So Much.
• Doug Liman’s Scouting Pics from Jordan for Sean Penn Spy Thriller Fair Game — 2
• Doug Liman’s Scouting Pics from Jordan for Sean Penn Spy Thriller Fair Game — 3