'' The Passenger '' ( ) is a 1975 drama art film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni . Written by Mark Peploe , Peter Wollen and Antonioni , the film is about an Anglo-American journalist , David Locke ( Jack Nicholson ) who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad , unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war . Co-starring Maria Schneider , '' The Passenger '' was the final film in Antonioni 's three-picture deal with producer Carlo Ponti and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , after '' Blowup '' and '' Zabriskie Point '' , and competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
1975 Cannes Film Festival
The Passenger (1975 film)