How realistic Is Netflix’s A House of Dynamite?

A House of Dynamite, the new film from esteemed director Kathryn Bigelow, has caused quite a stir among some circles following its release on Netflix earlier this week.

The film has alarmed some for how it depicts a nuclear missile attack on Chicago bypassing America’s defence systems, leaving frantic staff at the White House with only 18 minutes to prevent disaster.

The film stars the likes of Rebecca Ferguson and Jared Harris as White House insiders struggling to manage the system, whilst Idris Elba plays a President facing the one stuation they have not been able to prepare for.

As with films like Dr Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s classic from 1964, the film is one that envisions how those at the top of government might react if the unthinkable happened. Kathryn Bigelow has discussed how the film was born from the anxieties of that era in which she grew up, where this was seen as a real threat to the world as we knew it.

“Since then, the threat has only escalated, and yet it has almost disappeared from public consciousness,” Bigelow states. “Multiple nations possess enough nuclear weapons to end civilization within minutes, and yet, there’s a kind of collective numbness, a quiet normalisation of the unthinkable. You've got all these warheads out there, and now there’s a bill on the table to make 2,000 more. Will that make us safer?”

So, how realistic is A House of Dynamite? Read on for more information.

How realistic Is Netflix’s A House of Dynamite?

As with her previous films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow began work on the film out of a desire to raise questions few people were aware of. In the weeks since the film’s release, however, the Pentagon have complained that the film is in fact deeply inaccurate, asserting that the missile interceptors that the US have to deal with such a threat “have displayed a 100 per cent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.”

In a memo, the Missile Defence Agency acknowledged that the failure shown in the film to bring down the missiles is intended first and foremost “to be a compelling part of the drama for the entertainment of the audience”. However, it went on to make clear that current testing “tells a vastly different story”.

This is something which writer Noah Oppenheim has since stated he would “respectfully disagree” with the Pentagon on. “Our missile defence system is highly imperfect. What we show in the movie is accurate,” Oppenheim has stated. “There have been so many near misses over the course of the last 50 years. It's remarkable that we are still here.”

Following the response from the US government, the filmmakers have been keen to stress the lengths they’ve gone to craft as authentic and as credible a depiction of such a scenario as possible.

Having been the former President of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim stated that he was able to draw on a range of contacts within the Pentagon, The White House, and the CIA, in order to create as much of a true-to-life script as he could. Much of the cast were themselves also chosen from actors with a background in the government or military.

“We did an extraordinary amount of research when we were preparing this film. I spoke to as many people as I could who've worked in these rooms, who've had these jobs.”

Bigelow was also able to get actual experts from the defence sector to act as consultants for the cast. These included Daniel Karbler, a US Army lieutenant general and former chief of staff of STRATCOM who acted as technical advisor on the film, and Larry Pfeiffer, a former Senior Director of the White House Situation Room who was able to coach actors on their performances.

“I was kind of prepared to just be the guy in the background,” Karbler told TIME Magazine, on his experience with the film. “But [Kathryn’s] like, ‘No, no—your chair is right next to me. You’re going to watch the playback and give me input’. She was very deferential to me in a lot of different areas.”

Rebecca Ferguson, who stars in the film, exclusively told RadioTimes.com how Larry Pfeiffer was on set every day of filming to take any questions that the cast had.

“So I could ask him the simplest questions,” Ferguson stated. “If DEFCON happens, where does that come? Do I get information before the room? When I call the president, which phone is... you know, every single detail down to how do I manage my emotions?

"And he would say, ‘You manage them by pushing them aside. You run a room. You never raise your voice. You never break down. If you need to, you leave the room.' And these are small things that I then offered up to Kathryn throughout the shoot. So we had everything there – you're surrounded by the best of the best.”

Bigelow has gone on to state that it is her hope the film will get people talking, and to ask questions about the current system we are living with. “I want audiences to leave theatres thinking, ‘Ok, what do we do now,’" she states.

“This is a global issue, and of course I hope against hope that maybe we reduce the nuclear stockpile someday. I felt it was so important to get that information out there, so we could start a conversation. That’s the explosion we’re interested in — the conversation people have about the film afterwards.”

A House of Dynamite is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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