There's a reason why Time named Kathryn Bigelow one of its 100 most influential people in 2010, and with a career that boasts The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, and Detroit, it's not hard to see why she was honored as the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director.
Still, Bigelow is no stranger to controversy after Zero Dark Thirty dramatized the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks. Her latest project is now streaming on Netflix, with the typically bombastic A House of Dynamite causing a stir as another political thriller. Boasting an all-star cast of Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, the Hollywood power alone is drawing people to this fictionalized version of the United States government's response to a nuclear missile attack.
In a time when the world is increasingly worried about World War III threats, and the Doomsday Clock sits closer to midnight than ever before, it appears the current administration is a little tetchy about Bigelow and Netflix turning such a serious issue into entertainment.
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A House of Dynamite follows the key 18-minute window after the missile has been launched, charting the response as officials try to figure out how to respond and who's responsible for the launch. One key scene features Jared Harris' Defense Secretary claiming that current defense systems have only a 50% chance of intercepting a missile and boast a $50 billion price tag.
The Pentagon has clapped back at these claims via an internal memo from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Dated October 16 and shared by Bloomberg, the MDA admits that although A House of Dyanmite "highlights that deterrence can fail, which reinforces the need for an active homeland missile defense system," it's accused of 'downplaying' the USA's capabilities.
The memo continues: "The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target, and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience."
Apparently, real-world testing tells "a vastly different story," with the MDA adding that Harris' character's 50% figure comes from early prototypes. It reassures us that today's technology has "displayed a 100 percent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade."
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Elsewhere in A House of Dynamite, the Deputy National Security Advisor (played by Gabriel Basso) claims the accuracy is slightly higher at 61%. Speaking to The Atlantic, screenwriter Noah Oppenheim maintains: "That’s based on data from controlled tests. So, you can imagine, those are under the best of circumstances. A lot of the folks we talked to felt that 61 percent was being very generous when it comes to the system that we have.
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"As we mention in the movie, there are fewer than 50 of these ground-based intercepts in our arsenal, so even if it were working perfectly, there are not a ton of them that we have available to use."
In a statement to Bloomberg, the Pentagon seemingly fired shots when it said it wasn't consulted on A House of Dynamite and how the film "does not reflect the views or priorities of this administration." It concluded that the missile system "remains a critical component of our national defense strategy, ensuring the safety and security of the American people and our allies."