Rebecca Ferguson reveals 'insane' House of Dynamite detail that surprised and alarmed her

There can't be too many subject matters that induce more dread and panic in an audience than the idea of nuclear apocalypse – and that threat is the focus of Kathyrn Bigelow's new film A House of Dynamite, which lands on Netflix this Friday.

The political thriller is the Oscar-winning director's first film in more than eight years, and explores the same half-hour period from three different perspectives after it emerges that a nuclear weapon sent from an unknown source is headed straight for the US.

The film features a star-studded cast – including a key role for Idris Elba as the US President – and one of the most impressive performances comes from Dune and Silo star Rebecca Ferguson, who plays a senior officer in the White House Situation Room.

In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com ahead of release, Ferguson explained just how keen Bigelow had been to make her film feel "authentic and real", revealing that former Situation Room chief Larry Pfeiffer was on hand to answer questions every single day on set.

So were there any details that especially surprised or alarmed her?

“Where to begin?" she answered, before mentioning the minuscule amount of time it would take between noticing an unknown threat and its catastrophic impact.

"I think the biggest thing that really surprised me is the people in the Situation Room – and in the other rooms in the White House – are more equipped with information and know what to do than the President," she continued.

"The President isn't given a sit down and a briefing [about] what to happen. Because he's so busy that... the options are handed to him in case of an emergency, at the point of emergency, and then he makes the decision. One entity makes the decision. One.

"How is this an option? How do we [de]escalate the amount of nuclear weapons that we have? Like, how do you keep a world safe by sending nuclear weapons? You know, it's the insanity of it. It goes beyond me."

Speaking about the reactions to the film she's observed so far, she said she'd been struck by viewers responses to "the flabbergasting reality about the amount of nuclear warheads that are out there".

"And I think one of the biggest things is that people haven't understood that one person has the power," she added. "One human being sits on the power to start a nuclear war and when that hits, it hits hard."

One of Ferguson's costars in the film is Jason Clarke, who is no stranger to appearing in dramas about nuclear annihilation thanks to his role in Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning Oppenheimer.

Of course, that film explores the advent of the nuclear age, while the new one is more concerned with its impact into the modern day, but they make for a fascinating – if rather bleak – double bill.

"It was great," Clarke said when asked about starring in both films, adding that although they both deal with the same "existential as well as immediate impact" they were "completely different movies".

"And with two of the finest directors, certainly of my lifetime, and an exceptional cast," he continued. "It was kind of like a full circle, which was nice – it examines it from a different point.

"I mean, Oppenheimer left us with Oppenheimer's own... what it had done to him as well. And this film – which is what Kathyrn does extraordinarily, I think – doesn't leave it with the movie. It leaves it with the audience.

"I very rarely felt a piece that just leaves it with you. What do you think about it? Not what we we think about it – we made it. Here it is. And it's not just a cerebral feeling. It's a take your breath away. And the response so far has been just incredible."

A House of Dynamite is released on Netflix on Friday 24th October 2025.

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