Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, written by brothers-in-law Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman, claims to tell the story of an Israeli nuclear intelligence agent who found his way into the film business. The book is due for release on July 30 by Gefen Books.
Arnon Milchan is a Hollywood movie producer, responsible for such films as
Love and Other Drugs and
Knight and Day. However, according to the new biography, he also has a story which one reasonably might expect him to adapt to film.
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Beyond Hollywood: A look back at some Israeli film gemsThe Holy Land in HollywoodThe book claims that Milchan used to be part of Lakam, a top-secret and now disbanded Israeli intelligence agency which specialized in scientific and technological information.
He is also said to be friends with President Shimon Peres, various other Israeli bigwigs, and several US presidents.
The writers go on to suggest that with connections such as these, it is
not so far fetched that Milchan was also a successful arms dealer, dealing
in, among other handy items, nuclear triggers.
The book was based on dozens and dozens of interviews with Milchan
and others, including Peres, who the book quotes as saying that he was the one to
recruit Milchan to Lakam. As such, Milchan is said to have played an active part
in procuring equipment and technology for Israel's nuclear program.
Lakam was disbanded in the late 1980's after Jonathan Pollard was
sentenced to life in prison for stealing US secrets and delivering them
to Lakam agents.
Interestingly though, Milchan's alleged arms dealing supposedly led him to a
lucrative career in the movie production business.
Writers Doron and Gelman said they do not know if Milchan is still
involved in Israeli intelligence or arms dealing, but his film company,
Regency Enterprises, is still booming. The company's most recent release,
Monte
Carlo for Fox, came out only a few weeks ago.