Kathryn Bigelow unveils nuclear thriller 'A House of Dynamite' at Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy — Kathryn Bigelow was interested in the U.S. nuclear stockpile: Who was guarding it? What would happen if a missile strike was imminent? And who would be making the decisions about what to do? Her new film "A House of Dynamite" takes audiences into those guarded rooms as U.S. government officials and military leaders attempt to manage a missile strike from an unknown aggressor that is 20 minutes from impact. It has its world premiere on Tuesday evening at the Venice Film Festival. "This is a global issue," Bigelow said before the premiere. "We are really living in a house of dynamite. My interest was to really get that information out there." Bigelow worked alongside screenwriter and the former president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim, to craft an authentic portrait of what might transpire in those 20 minutes. "One of the many things that makes Kathryn such an extraordinary filmmaker is her commitment to authenticity," Oppenheim said. "From the very beginning her mandate was, 'lets find out how this would really work, let's take people into these rooms where these decisions would be made and show how it would actually unfold." It helped that Oppenheim had covered the subject for decades as a journalist, and that he had his own arsenal of contacts who could help inform the story, including former Pentagon, White House and CIA officials. The film boasts a large ensemble cast, with Idris Elba as the U.S. President, Jared Harris as the Secretary of Defense, Tracy Letts as a general and Gabriel Basso as the deputy national security advisor. These are not just suits in situation rooms, either. The audience gets glimpses into their lives outside of work too. One person is running late, another is worried about a sick kid, and they're all dealing with the extreme stress of the quickly unfolding situation. "The movie could be performed as purely procedural, and we simply see people doing their jobs and nothing but their jobs. But the truth is, they're human beings performing these functions so humanity seeps out," Letts said. "I really think that's part of the beauty and strength of the film, reminding that ultimately these are human beings making these decisions." The story is not meant to be a precise portrait of any specific geopolitical moment, or administration, however. "The point is no matter what's going on in the world, and the world is always unstable in some way or another, we've constructed this weaponry that could end all life," Oppenheim said. "In countries like ours, one individual, the president, has the sole authority to authorize their use. We wanted to tell a story about that system, which is not really a reflection of any partisan, political situation, it's just the reality of the nuclear age." "A House of Dynamite" is Bigelow's first film since the 2017 release of "Detroit." Her most acclaimed films have been politically themed, from "The Hurt Locker," for which she became the first woman to win the best director Oscar, to "Zero Dark Thirty." In some ways, "A House of Dynamite" is a kind of natural counterpart to those. Her hope is that the film inspires a conversation about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation — "if we want to survive, which I can only assume we do," Bigelow said. The film will be released in theaters on Oct. 10 before streaming on Oct. 24. "A House of Dynamite" is one of three Netflix films playing in competition, alongside Guillermo del Toro's classically gothic "Frankenstein" and Noah Baumbach's Hollywood drama "Jay Kelly." The streamer still doesn't have a best picture win to its name, and Venice has proved itself to be a solid launching pad for awards hopefuls. The Venice awards, which will be decided on by the Alexander Payne-led jury, will be handed out at the close of the festival on Sept. 6.