USA: Director Kathryn Bigelow talks about the complexity of making "Zero Dark Thirty" -- a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden

Record ID: 734305

  • Title: USA: Director Kathryn Bigelow talks about the complexity of making "Zero Dark Thirty" -- a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden
  • Date: 3rd December 2012
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 03, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) KATHRYN BIGELOW, DIRECTOR, SAYING: "You're sensitive to, I mean on 'Hurt Locker' we were very, very careful to keep some operational tactics and procedures out of the movie that we knew could possibly be sensitive. And Mark made the same decisions on this movie. So it's definitely a
  • Embargoed: 18th December 2012 12:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAEV0B0LGYWGDM8LTP5L63FT0S9
  • Story Text: The events surrounding the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden get a Hollywood twist in the new film "Zero Dark Thirty".
    Director Kathryn Bigelow chronicles the ten year manhunt for one of the world's most wanted men. Using information obtained via research and interviews, Bigelow, who directed the Oscar winning film "Hurt Locker" said while accuracy was important, they made sure not to reveal classified information.
    "You're sensitive to, I mean on 'Hurt Locker' we were very, very careful to keep some operational tactics and procedures out of the movie that we knew could possibly be sensitive. And Mark made the same decisions on this movie," Bigelow explained, referring to co-screenwriter Mark Boal.
    "So it's definitely a story that is dramatized, you know, it's ten years compressed into two plus hours of the greatest manhunt in history," she added.
    The film reconstructs the hunt for bin Laden through the eyes of a young CIA agent, Maya, portrayed by Jessica Chastain. Her character locates bin Laden through a long-forgotten courier.
    The actress wasn't able to meet the person her character is based on because she is an active member of the CIA, so she relied on Boal.
    "Our screenwriter started as an investigative journalist, so a lot of research came from him - I actually nicknamed him 'The Professor'. Any question I had, and I had a lot of questions, he answered. I was also able to speak to some people who do things like that, who helped me a lot and I read a lot of books," she told Reuters.
    Bigelow, who was the first-ever woman to win an Oscar for directing, said telling the story through Maya's point of view was the best way to convey the message.
    "It was what the reporting bore out. I mean there were several women and men pivotal to this hunt. And then realizing that it would be probably the best way to tell the story would be through the eyes of this individual and then put the audience in her position. You know, she's kind of the boots on the ground so-to-speak, taking us through this hunt, taking us through this odyssey and this journey through all these different locations and finally ending up in Abbottabad, Pakistan," Bigelow said.
    The film opens with Australian actor Jason Clarke, who plays a black ops interrogator named Dan, in an interrogation session using techniques such as water boarding and sleep deprivation to gain information from a detainee.
    "Everything that happened, happened and you know, the fact that it's such a strong visceral thing to take you into it, I think, you know, it's fantastic. It draws you straight into the world of this film. Instead of just sticking with the facts and blah, blah, blah, you know, this is what happened that we know, we think we know. You come in there with the people, you know, and that's where this film stays, with the people who actually went on this hunt, that followed it through, who put their lives in danger," he explained.
    Although most people will go into this film knowing how it ends, Chastain said the movie is nothing like what most people, or even she, suspected.
    "We all think we know what this movie is about, which is - I mean, we're so wrong. I was so wrong when I read the script, starting at page five I realized this is not what I thought really happened. It's fantastic because it really is, it's a scoop. I think it's the perfect, what do you call it, like water-cooler film."
    "Zero Dark Thirty" opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 19th, with a wider release on January 11th.
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