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KATHRYN BIGELOW INTERVIEW
BY
CAPTAIN PLANTASTIC
Captain Plantastic here with an exclusive from the American Film Market.
“The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break,” “Near Dark”) deals with the most dangerous job in the world: the bomb technicians of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal(EOD) team.
Two films come to mind dealing with this subject: Hammer’s “Ten Seconds To Hell“ starring Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance, and “Juggernaut” with Richard Harris and David Hemmings along with the classic, BBC television series, “Danger: UXB” that captured the intense situations of these men where one mistake on the job was your last.
“The Hurt Locker” is destined to fall into that category of excellence.
I was lucky enough to see twenty minutes of “The Hurt Locker” - a tense and realistic movie about the EOD teams in Iraq that stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce .
Here’s what director Kathryn Bigelow has to say about the film:
CP- From what I’ve seen your picture’s very intense.
KB- I wanted to make this film where you get as close to the soldier’s p.o.v. and moment-to-moment experience where the audience is put into the soldier’s head seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears and feeling what he feels from the droplet of sweat on his brow to the harsh sun in his eyes to make it as realistic as I could. These men have a predatory, paranoid tension about them because in a city of bombs, safety is a fantasy.
CP- What are the characters in the movie like?
KB- They’re not ordinary soldiers, but volunteers who have the right stuff to join the elite ranks of the EOD. They’re highly intelligent. You have to be to get the job. To many of them, danger is a drug.
James is flawed and tragic, like the classic Greek hero. But, like in all mythology, there is no guarantee of invincibility.
Sanborn is the hardened veteran. A little more grounded, skilled and fearless.
Eldridge is the moral center of the film and shows us what its like to have life hanging in the balance every single day.
CP- Your Director of Photography, Barry Ackroyd (“Wind That Shakes The Barley,” “United 93.”) created some memorable and haunting images from what I saw.
KB- He painted a spectacular sense of canvas for the film . Throughout, there are sequences of struggle and chaos punctuated by periods of stillness and intimacy.
Imagine three EOD techs getting up from their mess tent and into this hostile Martian inferno alerted to several wounded techs walking back to the base out of a sandstorm bleeding and shaking like some modern day prophets of doom.
Still, even great warriors must rest and have peaceful moments like the scene where James stands under a canopy of stars calling home to his girl after a rough day. Its moments like these, that are treated with beauty and respect that allow the audience to recover and regroup. before the roller coaster of another day in the field that plunges them down again.
CP- Your film is very topical, especially in this day and age after 9/11.
KB- Indeed. New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid…they’ve all been hit by terrorist bombs or IED’s(Improvised Explosive Devices) and the threat of more bombings hangs over every world metropolis.
They have become a part of the fabric of everyday life. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the television and you can’t help but see the smoky aftermath of some explosion, with burnt wreckage and body parts strew across the street. Sadly, it’s the signature of our age.
“The Hurt Locker” looks at how brave men deal with danger, and in a sense, its themes are the universal and timeless subjects: trust, brotherhood, loyalty and honor.
In the past, bomb techs have worked in secrecy. They’ve been off-camera heroes toiling under the cloak of classified doctrines, because their jobs are so critical in the fight against terrorism.
CP- Mark Boal wrote the script. What’s his background?
KB- He’s a journalist who did ground-breaking reporting on the classified world of the U.S. Army’s bomb squad. His work is technically correct and factually accurate. Its depictions are real and true.
CP- Why do you think this was a story that needed to be told?
KB- Without politicizing or preaching, I wanted to make a film that will pay tribute to these brave men. They have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and in these times, they provide the only shield between us and the chaos and another bomb.
CP - Thank your for your time. I look forward to seeing the completed film.
KB- Thank you.
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