SALON

Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 4:30 PM UTC

Will torture questions hurt ‘ZDT’s Oscar chances?

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Will torture questions hurt 'ZDT's Oscar chances?This undated publicity photo released by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. shows Director/Producer, Kathryn Bigelow, left, and Writer/Producer, Mark Boal, on the set of Columbia Pictures' thriller, "Zero Dark Thirty." The makers of “Zero Dark Thirty” say authenticity was paramount every step of the way as they received insider access to tell the sweeping, meticulously detailed story of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jonathan Olley) (Credit: AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A few weeks ago, “Zero Dark Thirty” seemed well on its way to capturing the Academy Award for best picture. It was winning early critic awards and gaining the kind of momentum a movie needs to win Hollywood’s biggest prize.

Much was made about the authenticity of the film by director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who used insider access to tell the sweeping, meticulously detailed story of the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden.

Then last week, “Zero Dark Thirty” won five Academy Award nominations, including for best picture, and this past weekend, it was No. 1 at the domestic box office with a gross of nearly $25 million.

Yet what may be the film’s biggest challenge in the pursuit of Oscar glory is playing out from Hollywood to Washington as debate mounts over the film’s accuracy in its depiction of torture and whether the movie itself endorses the use of torture.

Lawmakers are also investigating whether the CIA gave Bigelow and Boal false information as to whether enhanced interrogation tactics led directly to the 2011 capture and killing of the al-Qaida leader in Pakistan.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences failed to nominate Bigelow for director, and on Sunday night, “Zero Dark Thirty” received only one Golden Globe Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — for best actress Jessica Chastain’s portrayal of a driven CIA operative.

Could congressional scrutiny over such an emotionally charged issue as torture be affecting “Zero Dark Thirty’s” awards momentum? Will the bicoastal backlash ultimately prevent the film from winning the best picture award when the Oscars are presented on Feb. 24? Could the dispute also have a bearing on other top honors to be given in the weeks ahead by producers, writers and directors guilds?

Among those raising questions about the film are Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., who wrote a letter to the CIA’s acting director, Michael Morell, asking him to share documents showing what the filmmakers were told. The fact that the subject of torture is so fresh and relevant in this country also complicates matters for the film.

At least one member of the motion picture academy, David Clennon, has said he will not vote for “Zero Dark Thirty” in any category because of the way it depicts torture.

Fighting back after days of silence, Bigelow responded to the criticism in an article for the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, in which she said torture was an undeniable part of the hunt for bin Laden.

“Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue,” Bigelow wrote. “As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work,” she continued. “Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn’t mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn’t ignore.”

Amy Pascal, the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed the film, has issued her own lengthy statement in support of the film, saying it does not advocate torture and would have been inaccurate without its inclusion.

“This film should be judged free of partisanship. To punish an artist’s right of expression is abhorrent,” she said.

But Oscar historian Tom O’Neil thinks punishment is exactly what’s happening here.

“Kathryn Bigelow paid a price for giving torture such a starring role in this movie,” said O’Neil. “Whether that’s a reaction to the controversy over its accuracy or it was a reaction to the use of torture at all … some people are being thrown by that.”

Previous films based on real-life stories like “The Hurricane” and “Mississippi Burning,” which looked like serious awards contenders when they came out, took hits as disparities arose between what’s on screen and what’s the truth, O’Neil noted.

“The characters were portrayed heroically, then we find out they weren’t that wonderful,” he said.

Omer M. Mozaffar, a religious studies professor at the University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago whose teachings include literature and history, wrote about even more detailed inaccuracies in the film on Roger Ebert’s website. Mozaffar, who’s originally from Pakistan, pointed out that certain supporting players were speaking the wrong language or had the wrong skin color for the region.

“As an audience member, I trust that what I’m seeing is the truth,” he said. “But it’s a two-sided coin. If the filmmaker is saying something is the truth, I’d hope that what they’re showing is the truth, but audience members must also remember that they’re watching a movie.”

Glenn Whipp, who covers the awards season for the Los Angeles Times, agrees that Oscar voters may feel a bit squeamish about “Zero Dark Thirty” at this point and go for something safe like Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” or “Argo,” which won Golden Globes for best motion picture drama and for director Ben Affleck.

“For academy voters, there’s two issues here: Some believe the filmmakers fudged the facts. And even if they didn’t get it wrong, there’s the notion that showing torture and acknowledging its role in the decade-long hunt for bin Laden all but endorses its use. That’s going to ding the film’s Oscar hopes,” Whipp said. “But Hollywood hates Washington grandstanding, and there’s a deep-seated belief among academy members that the complaints are coming from people pursuing their own political agendas.”

Whipp doesn’t think any perceived controversy surrounding the film was a factor in keeping Bigelow out of contention for best director.

“After all, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ was still nominated for picture and four other Oscars,” he pointed out. “It’s more of a case of the directors’ branch still being a boys club.”

Still, “Zero Dark Thirty” star Chastain said it takes a beautiful film to create such impassioned conversation.

“Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, what they’ve done with this film is end it with an unanswered question: ‘Where do you want to go?’” Chastain told The Associated Press. “They don’t say: ‘This is what we’ve discovered and this is what’s right and this is what’s wrong.’ They say: ‘This is what we’ve discovered. What do you think?’ And whenever you leave that opened, it’s going to create controversy because it’s not answered for you. That’s important.”

___

Associated Press entertainment reporter Nicole Evatt contributed to this report from New York.

More By Christy Lemire.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
289 points290 points | 61 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
256 points257 points | 10 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
199 points200 points | 1 comment
vote
Today in How Did I Miss This: Iowa GOP is pushing to cut the pay of the remaining Supreme Court Justices that voted for legalization of gay marriage.
94 points95 points | 10 comments
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
54 points55 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations