Beirut is an upcoming political thriller film directed by Brad Anderson. The film has been criticized for exploiting negative stereotypes of Arabs and misrepresenting Lebanese history. Beirut (formerly titled High Wire Act) is a 2018 fictional political thriller film directed by Brad Anderson. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Festival. In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), a former U.S. diplomat returns to service to save a colleague from the group responsible for the death of his family.