A House Of Dynamite Director Claps Back At MDA After Questioning Her Netflix Thriller

Kathryn Bigelow is not keeping silent after the US Missile Defense Agency responded to her newest Netflix thriller-drama, A House of Dynamite. The filmmaker clapped back after the Pentagon seemingly dismissed her work as a 'drama intended for the entertainment of the audience.'

Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite Is Not Just For Entertainment

A House of Dynamite director, Kathryn Bigelow, and writer Noah Oppenheim sat down for an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. The award-winning filmmaker reacted following MDA's statement about her movie.

'I just state the truth,' she told THR. 'In this piece, it's all about realism and authenticity.'

Bigelow seemingly clapped back at the MDA after the latter suggested that her thriller was just pure fiction meant for entertainment. The film showed how the US Defense failed to stop an unidentified ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) heading to Chicago. The ICBM was detected by its early-warning system in the Pacific.

Bigelow, an American film director, producer, and writer known for delivering politically charged and visually striking movies, took MDA's remarks about her newest Netflix project to heart. She did not want anyone to underestimate her work and even compared it to her previous projects like the 2008 war-action film, The Hurt Locker, and the 2012 political action thriller Zero Dark Thirty, which are 'work[s] of fiction that lean in hard on realism.'

Her recent film, A House of Dynamite, is no different. The thriller was released on Netflix on 24 October, and it sparked discussions about how the US will respond to a nuclear strike in the country.

The movie dominated Netflix's chart following its release, with 22.1 million views globally in its first three days. So, it's not surprising it reached the MDA's radar.

US MDA Refutes A House of Dynamite's Plot

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) released an internal memo on 16 October, just days after Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite was released in theatres. The agency refuted the portrayal in the film.

'The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,' the agency said in the memo obtained by Bloomberg. It added that the results from real-world testing 'tell a vastly different story.'

MDA also added that the US's missile interceptors 'have displayed a 100% accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.'

Writer Stands By A House Of Dynamite's 'Accurate' Take On The Issue

Noah Oppenheim, former president of NBC News, disagreed with MDA's statement. He did his research when he wrote the script, and what was written was the result of extensive research and interviews with people who are familiar with the defence system.

According to Oppenheim, the US Defense system is not as flawless as the MDA claimed. Oppenheim said he talked to 'many missile defence experts, all on the record, [and] our missile defence system is highly imperfect.'

Oppenheim supported Bigelow and stood by his work.

'What we show in the movie is accurate,' he added.

A House of Dynamite successfully combines realism, tension, and spectacle. It is a clear metaphor that the world is living in a combustible environment amid the development of nuclear weapons and the possibility of system failure.

A House of Dynamite streams on Netflix.​