How CIA shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative

[TLK]

Very interesting article. Click on the link for the full article. I think the most damning part is that Boal/Bigelow flatout denied any sort of Governmental intervention in their movie-making. Obviously, they were lying.

Newly Declassified Memo Shows CIA Shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative

 

Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup for the CIA this century outside of the actual killing of Osama bin Laden. But the extent to which the CIA shaped the film has remained unclear. Now, a memo obtained by Gawker shows that the CIA actively, and apparently successfully, pressured Mark Boal to remove scenes that made them look bad from the Zero Dark Thirty script.

 

The CIA's whitewashing effort is revealed in a cache of documents newly released under a Freedom of Information Act request about the CIA's cooperation with Bigelow and Boal. The documents include a 2012 memo—initially classified "SECRET"—summarizing five conference calls between Boal and the CIA's Office of Public Affairs in late 2011. "The purpose for these discussions was for OPA officers to help promote an appropriate portrayal of the Agency and the Bin Ladin operation," according to the memo. (Hundreds of pages of CIA documents about the film were released last year; the memo obtained by Gawker was approved for release late last month.)

 

During these calls, Boal "verbally shared the screenplay" for Zero Dark Thirty in order to get the CIA's feedback, and the CIA's public affairs department verbally asked Boal to take out parts that they objected to. According to the memo, he did.

 

 

 

[Alpha]

[dashrendar44]

Very interesting article. Click on the link for the full article. I think the most damning part is that Boal/Bigelow flatout denied any sort of Governmental intervention in their movie-making. Obviously, they were lying.

Newly Declassified Memo Shows CIA Shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative

 

Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup for the CIA this century outside of the actual killing of Osama bin Laden. But the extent to which the CIA shaped the film has remained unclear. Now, a memo obtained by Gawker shows that the CIA actively, and apparently successfully, pressured Mark Boal to remove scenes that made them look bad from the Zero Dark Thirty script.

 

The CIA's whitewashing effort is revealed in a cache of documents newly released under a Freedom of Information Act request about the CIA's cooperation with Bigelow and Boal. The documents include a 2012 memo—initially classified "SECRET"—summarizing five conference calls between Boal and the CIA's Office of Public Affairs in late 2011. "The purpose for these discussions was for OPA officers to help promote an appropriate portrayal of the Agency and the Bin Ladin operation," according to the memo. (Hundreds of pages of CIA documents about the film were released last year; the memo obtained by Gawker was approved for release late last month.)

 

During these calls, Boal "verbally shared the screenplay" for Zero Dark Thirty in order to get the CIA's feedback, and the CIA's public affairs department verbally asked Boal to take out parts that they objected to. According to the memo, he did.

 

ZDT was such an obvious CIA's PR team sponsorised ad, I don't know how people can be astonished about that fact.

Edited May 6, 2013 by dashrendar44

[A Marvel Fanboy]

It as always part of the CIA plan.

[Jake Gittes]

Those sound like pretty minor issues to me. Couldn't care less if there was a dog in the opening scenes or not. Maya would be an interesting character whether she participated in the torture or not. Don't know what the drunken firearm abuse scene would have added to the movie. The CIA is still made to look pretty bad in the torture scenes, and the film is still great.