Writer's view of Sarajevo war to become film

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - What started out as a personal journey to escape grief following his wife's death led Bill Carter to Sarajevo during its long siege in the 1990s, where he witnessed both terrible suffering and uplifting hope.

Now his experience is being made into a Hollywood movie after more than a decade of trying to get the story on to the big screen.

"It's unbelievable, I know," Carter laughed as he sat in the lobby of a hotel in Sarajevo during a recent visit with the team that will make the film based on his book "Fools Rush In."

The crew, headed by Carter and Brazilian-born film director Andrucha Waddington, came to the Bosnian capital to look for possible locations for shooting the film about life in the city during the longest siege in modern history.

The movie will star Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, and reports have also linked Oscar winner Javier Bardem with the project. It will be produced by Elliot Lewitt and Bloom.

"It's very likely that we shall make it here, and that is our wish. I have a great faith in everybody," Carter said, explaining that he was encouraged by support pledged by local government officials.

Carter, a writer and filmmaker, wrote the book in 2004 after several failed attempts to sell a script to Hollywood.

"I couldn't put it all together. I couldn't get money, I couldn't get actors ... Eventually I said - it's not going to work, I'm gonna write a book," he said.

In the book, Carter tells his own story -- that of a young American who finds himself in a terrible war about which he knows virtually nothing.

Despite the hardship he stays on in the city without water, food and electricity, facing threats from Bosnian Serb snipers and shells raining down from the surrounding hills.

Carter was impressed by the dignity of locals.

"This is not a war movie, it's in the theater of war but it's about people," he said.

FIGHTING INSANITY

His book describes wartime life full of surprises.

Even the wildest ideas could become reality, such as establishing a satellite link between the rock band U2's European concerts and Sarajevo at the height of the war in 1993.