Kathryn Bigelow Interview: Will Knowing The Ending Deter Viewers?
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Thursday, 03 January 2013 16:00
- Published: Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:41
- Written by Lupe Haas
Why see a movie when we already know how it ends? Director Kathryn Bigelow of ZERO DARK THIRTY tells CineMovie that knowing the ending only amplifies the drama!
“Well certainly it doesn’t lend itself to spoilers!” She quipped about her film. “I think what was so strong and what struck me so much about this great play was how inherently dramatic the story is and was. That 10-year-long journey was riveting. That gave us a real glimpse… of what it would be like to hunt the world’s most dangerous man.”
After September 11, 2001, the lives of many Americans changed. For an elite few, their tireless patriotic efforts were engrossed in protecting those lives from terrorists, both foreign and domestic. ZERO DARK THIRTY tells the story of the men and women who found and captured Osama Bin Laden.
Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke and Kyle Chandler star in this dangerously accurate portrayal of the CIA agents at the center of this manhunt. Chastain plays the woman who was the true backbone in the investigation. It may be a surprise to many that main component to finding Bin Laden was a young woman (like the director of the film). If it weren’t for Maya (Chastain), the decade-long hunt and the discovery of Bin Laden’s whereabouts may likely not have panned out.
Chastain had guest what she thought her character would be like, since the woman’s name and story are protected by the government, as the hero is still undercover with the CIA today.
“I would ask a lot of questions about the character I was playing, about the CIA, but because I was never able to meet the real woman that it’s based on because she’s an undercover agent, I had to use my imagination to fill in the blanks where the research couldn’t answer the questions.”
Bigelow said that she did not pick this story because a woman brought the success of the hunt.
“I have to say that if that character at the center of that would have been a man, I would have been very happy and eager to engage in that story, as well. I think what was important to me was that this was a very strong character at the center of this hunt and that the movie doesn’t engage necessarily in gender politics about that character. She is not defined by a man, she is not defined by a love interest, she is defined by her actions, and I think that’s a character that is very inspiring.”
ZERO DARK THIRTY opens in limited theaters in Los Angeles and New York December 19 and expands January 11, 2013 nationwide. You may know the ending, but you’ll be surprised from beginning to end.