Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd isn't exactly the story he originally wanted to tell. Apparently he wanted to write about the CIA's founder character from the 1970's until the fall of the Berlin wall, but the decisions were made to go earlier in Agent James Jesus Angleton's life.

Now, just before I start talking about this there may be very slight spoilers here. Nothing that I think would ruin the film for you, but something that might give away the direction of the sequel, if you're happy with that then read on. Frankly I wasn't bothered when I read it.

During an interview with the screenwriter Eric Roth over on CHUD, he said:

"When we met, Bob had been working on a CIA project that was set in a different time period – his was from the 70s or so until the fall of the Berlin Wall. We kind of struck a bargain that if he directed this one I would write the second one for him. They’re of a piece."

It's really interesting that Roth says this was originally written for Francis Ford Coppola, and not De Niro, so really this isn't his long desired CIA project but it really could lead to it. If it does well then he could tell the story he wanted to, of Agent Angleton's well documented descent into paranoia and madness, most likely brought about through his continual spying and trusting no one. It would also touch on a time when spying was changing, as was the world, and I think that it could make for a really interesting and rich story.

So if I was to chose between the birth of the CIA or De Niro's idea, I'd choose De Niro's, mainly because there are a lot more relevant themes today and it's a very rich time period for the story telling. I can only hope that this one does well enough to allow him to continue the character's tale.