Bird's Eye View

The Hurt Locker: An Interview with Kathryn Bigelow

The BEV team had the chance to see The Hurt Locker at a preview screening back in June. I came out trembling and experiencing an unexpected head-rush after all that sustained tension. It’s a masterpiece for sure, and like nothing we’ve ever seen. We are delighted that the grimey subject of war has been tackled by such an incredibly talented and innovative director, and we can but urge you all to go see it this weekend!

The Hurt Locker, dir. Kathryn Bigelow

We’re everso grateful to journalist Damon Wise for sharing his recent interview with our filmmaking heroine, Kathryn Bigelow. Read on for fascinating insights from behind the screen. For more background on the film first, go to our First Weekenders Page.

What attracted you to this project?

Mark Boal’s script is probably the most extraordinary script I’ve ever worked with, and all of that density you see on the screen was there. All the layers, all the detail, the characterisation, even down to nuances – the description of the location, the description of the environment and the understanding of the 300-metre perimeter in which the bomb tech must work. It was all delineated in the script. So it was a matter of having the great good fortune of that material, that writer, a tremendous cast – who took those characters and just beautifully brought them to life – and a great crew.

How did you find shooting in Jordan?

It wasn’t like a film set at all. Not at all. In fact, two of our locations were about 5km from the Iraqi border. I was like, ‘Let me get my crew and we’ll go over the border so we can shoot in Iraq.’ My security detail said, ‘We can’t let you do that – there are too many snipers. We can’t guarantee your safety.’ But we were close. We were really in the Middle East, and all the Arabic faces onscreen are real Iraqis, many of whom are refugees from the war. The attention to detail and authenticity was pretty profound. Those are not sets.

Director, Kathryn Bigelow

You use very few subtitles, and much of what the Iraqis say is not translated. Why did you choose to do that?

We were very conscious never to leave the perspective of the soldier, and if the soldier spoke Arabic, he or she would be using Arabic. Since they don’t, and there’s this constant mis-communication, all the way through the movie we’re very rigorous about that, until we come face to face with the few Iraqis that speak broken or even flawless English.

What kind of shoot was it?

It was a very difficult shoot. We shot for 44 days, we shot 200 hours of footage, we had four discrete camera units, always working within the environment, so there was never a prescribed sense of, ‘We go to A, then to B, then to C.’ It was about re-creating that bomb disarmament for real, and having the cameraman observing and recording that experience. It was as realistic as it could be without it being a documentary.

The film frequently subverts audience expectations by introducing new characters – some of them star names – who don’t always survive. Why did you decide to do that
My feeling was that they should be discoveries for the audience, and there should be a lot of fresh, original faces at the heart of the piece, so that you really have no preconceptions about who’s going to live and who’s going to die. I think that really intensifies the tension; there is suddenly absolutely no safe terrain. Not even the Green Zone – a suicide bomber in a tanker explodes in the Green Zone – so in other words there is just a threat everywhere.

Did you research the film, and, if so, what did you find out?

That everything is potentially a threat. This was the mantra of all of our technical advisors. We had former Navy SEALS, SAS, Blackwater contractors, soldiers… It’s not even the minute you step outside the Green Zone – even the Green Zone is dangerous. Everything is a threat. You can’t even lower your guard once, and that’s the litany they drilled into us about what it would be like to be there. Even things that seem most innocent and benign might not be. And what’s the psychological framework that enables you to be //constantly// on point? It takes a tremendous amount of stamina to sustain that.

How faithful did you stay to the stories you heard?

It was very, very important to us to be as respectful to this conflict as possible, and certainly what was inspiring to me was the fact that, y’know, war is messy, war is unscripted. And unapologetic, and unredemptive. And imposing a grid of redemption – having an epiphany happen in the last act so you can walk out feeling all right about yourself, thinking, ‘There may be blood on my hands, but this film apologises for me’ – I thought would be very false. There’s no arguing with the truth, and war doesn’t necessarily unfold into purely narrative lines, so the chaotic nature of the political tract was really critical to my accessing the material.

Are you personally fascinated by the subject of war?

I think war is inherently dramatic. Exceedingly dramatic. I think there’s probably no more dramatically underlined material that you can have beside war. I think it’s classical. It’s ageless and timeless, and with war comes a high degree of lethality, depending on the conflict.

Can you explain this ageless appeal?

(Laughs) I’m just a filmmaker! But perhaps it’s a necessity. I think there is a certain lure. There’s a particular author, Chris Hedges, who we quote at the beginning, and he’s a Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times journalist. We quote his line “The rush to battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” He wrote this incredible book, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, and he’s the first person I know of who’s articulated that kind of fascination. Not saying that it isn’t timeless or ageless, but that there’s probably a fundamental necessity for conflict. He articulated a psychology of addiction, or attraction, to combat, and that became, along with Mark’s script, the spine of the film, in the form of the character of James, who’s played by Jeremy Renner.

Why did you cast Jeremy?

I think he’s just amazing; he’s a cross between Steve McQueen and Sean Penn. I think he’s one of the greatest actors out there, and I feel lucky that we were able to work with him before he becomes huge. But, y’know, they’re all incredible. Their ability, collectively and individually, to bring truth to the screen – palpable truth – is pretty astonishing and inspiring.

Did you ever think about your previous films? Like Strange Days and Point Break, it’s a film about an adrenaline junkie…

I didn’t. I actually kind of blinded myself, to a certain extent, to other films, which I felt was very important for this. Just to be respectful to this particular conflict. It is ongoing, we’re making a movie about a conflict that is happening today, as we speak. I felt that we had to be exceedingly rigorous and respectful. And yet we’re making a piece of entertainment, one that I find particularly topical and relevant at the same time. So creating that fragile balance was the focus, rather than an aestheticised, artistic endeavour exclusively.

What would you like people to take away from The Hurt Locker?

I want people to walk away with as truthful an understanding of that experience as possible, and therefore have a more informed opinion about what this particular conflict is. Until The Hurt Locker, there had yet to be a war film about this conflict. There had only been reintegration-into-the-homefront movies [such as In The Valley Of Elah and Stop-Loss], not in-theatre combat films. So I would have to say that Hurt Locker is the first of those. And hopefully of many.

How do you feel about the Iraq war?

I really think it’s an underreported war. When Mark came to me with this script, I was just hungry. I was hanging on his every word, and I surprised myself with my curiosity. Then I realised what little information I had access to. There was New York Times article last year, saying there that had been over 4,000 deaths and only half a dozen photographs of dead soldiers had ever been published in America. It’s shocking.

The Hurt Locker is out in cinemas from this Friday August 28th. Do support it on its opening weekend and help ensure that the film lives in cinemas long enough to get the widest possible audience. It deserves it! See our First Weekenders Club page here.