The Manchurian Candidate Movie Cast, Plot and Everything to Know

Plot

What's the story about?

Plot

U.S. Army Major Bennett Marco can't sleep at night—and he doesn't want to. Marco spends his days giving inspiring speeches about his platoon's ambush in the Kuwaiti desert and the heroics of Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who won the Medal of Honor for saving Marco's crew. But at night, Marco's dreamlike memories of the desert turn sinister and terrifying. And Marco privately wonders whether the two soldiers who died in the firefight might have met darker fates than officially recorded—and whether Shaw might not be the glorious hero that everyone thinks he is. When Shaw takes the national stage as a surefire candidate for vice president—under the thumb of his controversial mother, Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw—Marco is forced to act on his growing suspicions. With military officials questioning his sanity, and the net of security tightening around Shaw, Marco races to probe deeper into the unimaginable, shocking truth before the White House is won.

Thriller Remake

Top Cast

The lead cast starring in The Manchurian Candidate.

• 
  Denzel Washington

  Flight, Unstoppable

• 
  Meryl Streep

  Doubt, The Devil Wears Prada

• 
  Liev Schreiber

  Lee Daniels' The Butler, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

• J
  Jon Voight

  Man with No Past, The Painter

• 
  Kimberly Elise

  A Snowy Day in Oakland, Diary of a Mad Black Woman

• 
  Jeffrey Wright

  The Batman, The Batman Part II

• 
  Ted Levine

  Starbright, Starbright

Crew Behind the Film

The The Manchurian Candidate behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

The film's director Jonathan Demme last directed Ricki and the Flash and Enzo Avitabile Music Life. The film's writer Daniel Pyne last wrote Backstabbing for Beginners and The Camorra Never Sleeps.

Director

Jonathan Demme

Screenwriter

Daniel Pyne

Producers

Scott Rudin
Tina Sinatra

Production Details

What we know about the The Manchurian Candidate movie production.

Production Updates for The Manchurian Candidate

Dec 2004

Completed

Changed The Manchurian Candidate movie production status. The movie is ready for release.

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Additional Information

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Watch official The Manchurian Candidate movie trailers and clips.

Questions

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