STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The director Kathryn Bigelow makes a certain kind of thriller. It's a movie inspired by people in U.S. government service. "The Hurt Locker" showed Americans disabling enemy explosives in Iraq.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HURT LOCKER")
DAVID MORSE: (As Colonel Reed) What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?
JEREMY RENNER: (As Sergeant William James) The way you don't die, sir.
INSKEEP: "Zero Dark Thirty" dramatized a Navy SEAL mission into Pakistan.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ZERO DARK THIRTY")
JESSICA CHASTAIN: (As Maya) Bin Laden is there. And you're going to kill him for me.
INSKEEP: Kathryn Bigelow's latest thriller begins in the White House Situation Room. Early in "A House Of Dynamite," they receive a warning of a single mysterious long-range missile that is inbound.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE")
TRACY LETTS: (As General Anthony Brady) Current velocity indicates the object will go suborbital. Current flight trajectory is consistent with impact somewhere in the continental United States.
INSKEEP: Officials think about their jobs but also their families as the missile streaks closer. I just want to begin by giving you a quote from one of our editors who watched this film, and the exact quote is, when she was done, "I need a cigarette and a drink."
KATHRYN BIGELOW: (Laughter) That seems to be a pretty standard response...
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
BIGELOW: ...Which I'm going to take as a good thing because what I wanted to do was start a conversation, and there's certainly - that's one way to do it.
INSKEEP: Start a conversation about what?
BIGELOW: The fact that we're living with over 12,000 nuclear weapons, and I think the conversation about that has been quiet for decades and decades.
INSKEEP: There's probably a lot of ways to try to tell this story.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DR. STRANGELOVE")
GEORGE C SCOTT: (As General Buck Turgidson) Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops, depending on the breaks.
INSKEEP: The 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove" took a satirical look at nuclear catastrophe. It includes a general in a bunker, played by George C. Scott, who urges the president to go ahead and launch a massive preemptive strike. "House Of Dynamite" also features a general in a bunker, played by Tracy Letts, who urges nuclear retaliation, even though he is not sure who fired the missile.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE")
LETTS: (As General Anthony Brady) As unfathomable as it was just five minutes ago, I'd accept the loss of 10 million Americans if I could be absolutely certain it stops there.
INSKEEP: Other characters struggle to keep from coming apart under the pressure. As I watched this, I realized - I mean, there's lots of technology. There's lots of exciting things going on. But really, this movie takes place on people's faces.
BIGELOW: Well, thank you. That's a wonderful analysis. I think what was important to me was to underscore the fact that - what's at stake, and that's humanity, you know? We're at stake. I wanted to show what 18 minutes, which was the length of time from launch to impact, really felt like. And 18 minutes is a very short period of time, especially when you look at it or experience it in real time. And then finally, when we get to the president at the end, he has only minutes left to make what, for me, is - I would think is an unthinkable decision.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Two minutes and 30 seconds.
IDRIS ELBA: (As President of the United States) Jake, I do what you're suggesting and let whoever did this get away with it. How is that any different from surrendering?
GABRIEL BASSO: (As Jake Baerington) Sir, if you want to look at it that way, then I'm telling you your choices are surrender or suicide.
ELBA: (As President of the United States) We need a minute.
INSKEEP: He's on the phone with other people, and he says, I need a minute. And everybody else - there's only two minutes left.
BIGELOW: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: And he needs one of those to think, but you would need that. You would need it desperately.
BIGELOW: Oh, you'd need it desperately. We spoke with a former chief of staff and asked, OK, so how often do you rehearse this? And he said almost never. They're too busy doing too many other things. Whereas STRATCOM, they rehearse over 400 times a year, so they're very dialed in. But the president, who has to make the ultimate decision, is less so.
INSKEEP: You wanted the details to be right then.
BIGELOW: Oh, we were really focused on the reality of it. We also had three- and four-star retired generals who were working with us on a daily basis. We also had the former director of the White House Situation Room. The actors were free to consult with them for major aspects of their performance or just details, like Tracy Letts, who plays the - General Brady in STRATCOM. Can I ask for coffee and as much sugar as I want?
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
BIGELOW: And...
INSKEEP: The general sends away his apparently Dunkin' Donuts cup and says...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE")
LETTS: (As General Anthony Brady) Eight sugars, please.
BIGELOW: And he asked one of the generals - said, well, is this all right? Can I do that? He said, you're the general. You can do whatever you want.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE")
LETTS: (As General Anthony Brady) We can hit their command centers, silos and bombers while they're still on the ground, eliminating their ability to take further action against us.
INSKEEP: I want to note that although there're a lot of characters here who are in the military, it's broader than that. There're civilians as well. It's government service that you're portraying. What draws you to that as a way of life and as a subject?
BIGELOW: What's interesting to me is how competent everybody is, yet chaos is almost incapable of being contained. You know, there is a chaotic quality to it that's very realistic and very rational, yet these people are so competent. And they're working - as you and I have this conversation, they're working 24/7 to keep us safe, and clearly have thus far. But what this movie does is call attention to what is possible.
INSKEEP: In fact, I feel that I am watching the latest in a kind of informal trilogy - "Hurt Locker," "Zero Dark Thirty," "House Of Dynamite." Do you see it that way?
BIGELOW: I do kind of loosely thread it together. I think that what is fascinating to me is the military industrial complex, and also the various questions. Like, all these movies kind of start with questions for me. One is, in "Hurt Locker," what was the methodology of the insurgency in Iraq, in probably the bloodiest part of the war? And then "Zero Dark Thirty," why did it take 10 years to find Osama bin Laden? And in case of this one is, again, why that conversation seems to have gone silent about the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
INSKEEP: Some people have a story in them and really want to tell it, but as I listen to you, it seems that you go out trying to learn a story and then tell it.
BIGELOW: That's exactly it. That's why it's kind of wonderful, I think, to do what I do because I can find all the answers under the guise of making a movie.
INSKEEP: Kathryn Bigelow, it's a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.
BIGELOW: Thank you so much.
INSKEEP: Her new movie is called "A House Of Dynamite." If you do watch, have a cigarette and a drink ready. It's now streaming on Netflix, which we should note is a financial supporter of NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF ETHEL'S "THE BLUE ROOM AND OTHER STORIES: IV. TARANTELLA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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