VENICE, Italy – VENICE, Italy (AP) – Kathryn Bigelow tackles geopolitics in her new film “A Dynamite House,” which has its world premiere Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival .
The film is about an imminent missile strike on the United States, from an unknown aggressor, and how the White House responds.
“I grew up in an era when hiding under your school desk was considered a passing protocol for surviving a nuclear bomb,” Bigelow said in his director’s statement. “Today, the danger has only intensified. Several countries have enough nuclear weapons to end civilization in minutes. And yet there is a kind of collective numbness—a quiet normalization of the unthinkable.”
She added that she wanted to make a film that confronts this paradox – “to explore the madness of a world that lives under the constant shadow of destruction, yet is rarely talked about.”
It 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.”
“House of Dynamite” was written by former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, who won best screenplay at the 2016 “Jackie” festival.
“Dynamite House” 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 in its arsenal, and Venice has proven itself to be a solid launching pad for awards hopes.
The film, which will be released in theaters on October 10 before streaming on October 24, stars Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and boasts a large supporting cast including Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, and Greta Lee.
The Venice Awards, decided by a jury led by Alexandra Payne, will be presented at the festival’s conclusion on September 6.
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