Build a movie plot around this: Where was the American President due to pay a visit? China
In 1991, the governments of the U.S. and China are on the verge of a major trade agreement, with the President of the United States due to visit China to seal the deal. The CIA learns that its asset Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) has been captured trying to free a Briton, Elizabeth Hadley (Catherine McCormack), from a People's Liberation Army prison in Su Chou near Shanghai, China. Bishop is being questioned under torture and will be executed in 24 hours unless the U.S. government claims him. If the CIA claims Bishop as an agent, they risk jeopardizing the trade agreement. Exacerbating Bishop's situation is the fact that he was operating without permission from the Agency.Attempting to deal quickly with the situation, CIA executives call in Nathan Muir (Robert Redford), an aging mid-level case officer on his last day before retirement and the man who recruited Bishop. Although they tell Muir they simply need him to act as a "stop gap" to fill in some holes in their background files, the officials are hoping he will give them the pretext they need to justify letting Bishop die. The CIA executives are unaware that Muir had been tipped off about Bishop's capture prior to arriving at the CIA's headquarters, by fellow CIA veteran Harry Duncan (David Hemmings), for whom Bishop had been working an operation in Hong Kong before going rogue. Muir first attempts to save Bishop by leaking the story to CNN through a contact in Hong Kong, believing that public pressure would force the CIA to rescue Bishop. The tactic only stalls them, however, and is stymied when a phone call to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from CIA Deputy Director Charles Harker (Stephen Dillane) results in CNN retracting the story.During the debriefing, Muir describes how he recruited Bishop for an operation when Bishop was a U.S. Marine scout sniper during the Vietnam War. Muir also discusses their 1976 tour of duty in Berlin, Germany, where Bishop was tasked with procuring East German assets, with Muir commanding, as well as Bishop's spy work...