Director Jonathan Demme and star Denzel Washington team together for the first time since 1993's critically acclaimed Philadelphia in this remake of the 1962 political thriller The Manchurian Candidate, which was based on the novel of the same name by Richard Condon and featured Frank Sinatra in the lead role. Washington plays Bennett Marco, a soldier who, along with Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) and the rest of their platoon, is kidnapped by the enemy during the first Gulf War. Back home years later, as Shaw rises to political prominence, Marco begins to remember that they had been brainwashed by their captors, programmed to carry out the wishes of terrorists when triggered by a specific phrase. The Manchurian Candidate also stars Meryl Streep, Miguel Ferrer, and Jon Voight.