Saturday, June 3, 2017

MOVIE DIALOG OF THE DAY ― ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012)

Connection to the previous post (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1): ALEXANDER DESPLAT wrote the music for both films.

RATINGS: IMDB ― 7.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 92%, ME ― 92%




George: [walks in to the meeting room, puts down his coat and walks around the table] I want to make something absolutely clear. If you thought there was some secret cell somewhere working al Qaeda, well I want you to know that you're wrong. This is it. there's no working group coming to the rescue. There's nobody else hidden away on some other floor. There is just us. And we are failing! We're spending billions of dollars. People are dying. We are still no closer to defeating our enemy. They attacked us on land in '98, by sea in 200 and by the air in 2001. They murdered 3000 of our citizens in cold blood. They have slaughtered our forward deploy and what the fuck have we done about it, huh?
[he slams the table]
What have we done! We have twenty leadership names, we have only eliminated four of them. I want targets. Do your fuckin' jobs, bring me people to kill. 

Mark Strong as George


Trivia (From IMDB):

The movie was originally about the unsuccessful decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden. The screenplay was completely re-written after bin Laden was killed.

James Gandolfini sent a note to Leon Panetta before the film came out, writing, "I'm very sorry about everything. I apologize. You're like my father, so you'll find something to be angry about, but please let me know." Months later, as the film was in the middle of awards season in early January, screenwriter Mark Boal told Gandolfini, "Leon Panetta would like your phone number because he doesn't know how to get in touch with you." The actor replied "He's the head of the CIA! He can't find me? Come on, really?!"

The climactic sequence devoted to the raid on Osama's compound runs about 25 minutes, only a few minutes less than the real-life SEALs assault.

"Osama bin Laden" is frequently called "UBL" for "Usama bin Laden". There is no standard system for transliterating languages that use non-Latin alphabets, such as Arabic or Pashto, into English. Since the events of September 11, 2001, "Osama" has been the most common rendering of his first name in the American press, but "Usama" has been more common in the intelligence community.

The bizarre, four-lens night vision goggles worn by SEAL Team Six are, in fact, authentic. They are cutting-edge GPNVG-18 (Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles), manufactured by L-3 Warrior Systems. The extra lenses provide more peripheral vision to the operator.

Originally conceived as a project about the battle of Tora Bora, Mark Boal completely re-wrote the script after Osama bin Laden was shot and killed. It took him five months and he was not paid for the re-write.

"Zero Dark Thirty" is not a military term that means 12:30 AM. "Zero Dark" is not midnight. It simply refers to an early/late time of the day (Depending on your perspective), often referred to in a negative light. It is similar to the phrase "Beer-thirty."

Chris Pratt went through vigorous training and boot camp to prepare for his role. He has also partake the famous "O-Course" in the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, but gave up when he attempted to swim through cold water.

This movie depicts a high-level CIA official (known in the film as "The Wolf" and played by Fredric Lehne) as a devout Muslim. This corresponds with a March 24, 2012, Washington Post article titled "At CIA, a Convert to Islam Leads the Terrorism Hunt," which (pseudonymously) profiles "Roger," the chief of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, and identifies him as an adult convert to Islam.

The stealth helicopters used in the actual mission were heavily modified Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks. Anti-radar cladding, like that of the F-117 stealth fighter, helped them avoid detection by Pakistani air defenses, and the extra blades in the main rotors and tail rotors produced less noise than the standard rotors.

Several important factors in the preparation and execution of the raid, as detailed in the book "No Easy Day," were glossed over or not mentioned in this film. These include, specifically, 1) the debate over whether to bomb the compound or conduct a special forces raid, 2) the construction of a complete training mock-up of the compound in North Carolina and repeated drills using the same SEAL teams and helicopters, as on the eventual raid, and 3) the presence of backup Black Hawks at a forward staging area during the mission, which proved to be vital to recovering the team after the crash of the stealth Black Hawk during the initial insertion. It is assumed these were left out for dramatic purposes.

In the film, Leon Panetta is visibly pleased when Maya uses the word "motherfucker" during an official CIA briefing. In real life, Panetta's prolific use of profanity is well known.

In an unusual step, acting CIA Director Michael Morell issued a statement about the film emphasizing that while the production team had met with the CIA, the film is a dramatization and is not historically accurate. Morell specifically contradicted the film's assertion that "enhanced interrogation techniques," also known as "torture," had been of significant benefit in locating Osama bin Laden. Director Morell stated, "That impression is false. We cannot allow a Hollywood film to cloud our memory."

Jessica Chastain's agents originally declined the role of Maya. Producer Megan Ellison, who had worked with Chastain on Lawless (2012), gave Kathryn Bigelow Chastain's phone number so she could personally offer her the role. Chastain accepted.

Jordan and the Indian city Chandigarh (capital of Punjab & Haryana states), near the Pakistani border, were used as stand-ins to duplicate scenes taking place in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some second-unit film footage was also actually shot in Pakistan.

In "No Easy Day," the first-hand account of the attack and killing of Osama bin Laden written by a member of the SEALs team, the movie's lead character of CIA agent, Maya, is known only as "Jen."

Digital footage equivalent to 1.8 million feet film were shot at a similar notorious ratio of 100:1 (as with Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Hurt Locker (2008)). Co-editor William Goldenberg estimated that 1/8 of the total footage was on the climatic assault of Osama bin Laden's compound. The raid was shot at least twice, one on a normal moonlight illuminated compound, and another on night vision mode.

Rooney Mara was originally cast but had to drop out and was replaced by Jessica Chastain.

James Cameron, ex-husband of director Kathryn Bigelow, was in negotiations to direct the film but dropped out to produce Avatar 2 (2020).

Kathryn Bigelow decided to offer the lead role of Maya to Jessica Chastain after seeing an early cut of Coriolanus (2011).

The writer, director and producer and many of the production crew all worked on the earlier film The Hurt Locker (2008).

Of the many books she researched in preparation for her role as CIA operative Maya, Jessica Chastain found two of particular interest, namely, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" by Lawrence Wright and "'Osama bin Laden'" by Michael Scheuer.

In the Kuwait Lamborghini showroom scene, Dan asks if one of the cars is a Balboni. Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni, a limited-production named after a test driver, is the car with the stripe along its centerline.

In January 2013, on the brink of the movie's wider release, three politically active members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Martin Sheen, David Clennon and Edward Asner, announced they were organizing a public condemnation of Zero Dark Thirty (2012) for what they termed its "tolerance" of torture.

Jessica Chastain took all the photos from the suspects everyday after work and watched them on her wall, because she thought that was something Maya would do.

Joel Edgerton was originally cast in a leading role, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Jason Clarke. However, when the conflicts were resolved, Edgerton was able to return in another role.

Mark Boal stated that he wrote the script specifically for Kathryn Bigelow.

At one point, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce were considered for different roles. Hardy was replaced by Mark Strong.

This is Jeremy Hindle's first feature-film work as production designer. Hindle previously collaborated with Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser on numerous TV commercial shoots. Director Kathryn Bigelow lauded Hindle for his remarkably precise re-creation of the huge Osama bin Laden compound, built from scratch in the Jordanian desert, in less than three months.

Jessica Chastain permanently saved a voicemail from director Kathryn Bigelow, in which Chastain learned she had been chosen to play the role of Maya. The message came on November 21, 2011 at 1:04 p.m.

Although the breed of dog used in the film is listed as a factual error, (the breed of dog used in the actual capture of Osama bin Laden was a Belgian Malinois. The breed of dog used in the movie is a German Shepherd.) The director, Kathryn Bigelow, owns German Shepherds, which may explain the dog's appearance in the movie.

Jennifer Ehle plays a person given the fictional name of Jessica. The real person's name was Jennifer Lynne Matthews.

As the Jordanian informant enters Camp Chapman, a black cat can be seen scurrying across his path.

Just moments after the first SEALs' boots hit the ground inside Usama bin Laden's compound, there is a cut to Maya, and a clock shows the local time is 00:30, or "Zero Dark Thirty."

The reg number of the white jeep was IDF 0786. IDF is an acronym for Isreali Defence Forces. It is very unlikely for this number plate to be issued in Pakistan.

One of two, 2012 movies, to feature Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke. The other film was Lawless.

Callan Mulvey, Frank Grillo, Chris Pratt, and Mark Strong play a part in a superhero film. Strong starred in Kick-Ass (2010), Mulvey and Grillo appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and Pratt starred in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Joel Edgerton and Frank Grillo also starred together in Warrior (2011).

Eight actors have worked directly with Tom Hardy in other movies: Frank Grillo and Joel Edgerton in Warrior (2011), James Gandolfini in The Drop (2014), Jessica Chastain in Lawless (2012), Fares Fares in Child 44 (2015), Jason Clarke in Lawless (2012) and Child 44 (2015), Mark Strong in RocknRolla (2008) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), and Fredric Lehne in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Registration number of Osama bin Laden's courier's car is 0786.

At 1:10 into the DVD, a Sony ST-80F tuner and matching TA-88 amplifier, 1969 vintage, can be seen on the top shelf of the bookcase.

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