Venice Film Festival: Kathryn Bigelow premieres nuclear thriller A House of Dynamite

Kathryn Bigelow has returned with a gripping new thriller, A House of Dynamite, which takes audiences deep inside the guarded corridors of U.S. nuclear command. The film had its world premiere on Tuesday evening at the Venice Film Festival.

Kathryn explores nuclear tension in A House of Dynamite

Bigelow’s fascination with the U.S. nuclear arsenal began with questions about its human and operational aspects: Who is entrusted with guarding the stockpile? What happens when a missile strike is imminent? And who ultimately decides the course of action? A House of Dynamite explores these high-stakes questions, placing viewers in the tense twenty-minute window before a missile strike from an unknown aggressor.

“This is a global issue,” Bigelow said ahead of the premiere. “We are really living in a house of dynamite. My interest was to really get that information out there.”

To craft a realistic portrayal, Bigelow collaborated with screenwriter Noah Oppenheim, former president of NBC News. Oppenheim’s decades of journalism, covering defence and national security, provided a foundation of knowledge and access to sources, including former Pentagon, CIA and White House officials.

“One of the many things that makes Kathryn such an extraordinary filmmaker is her commitment to authenticity,” Oppenheim said. “From the very beginning her mandate was, ‘let’s find out how this would really work, let’s take people into these rooms where these decisions would be made and show how it would actually unfold.’”

The film features a large ensemble cast, with Idris Elba portraying the U.S. President, Jared Harris as the Secretary of Defense, Tracy Letts as a general, and Gabriel Basso as the deputy national security advisor. The story goes beyond the confines of situation rooms, revealing glimpses into the characters’ personal lives: a parent worried about a sick child, someone running late, and all grappling with extreme pressure.

“The movie could be performed as purely procedural, and we simply see people doing their jobs and nothing but their jobs,” Letts explained. “But the truth is, they’re human beings performing these functions so humanity seeps out. That’s part of the beauty and strength of the film, reminding that ultimately these are human beings making these decisions.”

Bigelow and Oppenheim emphasise that A House of Dynamite does not aim to depict any particular administration or political moment. “The point is no matter what’s going on in the world, and the world is always unstable in some way or another, we’ve constructed this weaponry that could end all life,” Oppenheim said. “In countries like ours, one individual, the president, has the sole authority to authorise their use. We wanted to tell a story about that system, which is not really a reflection of any partisan, political situation, it’s just the reality of the nuclear age.”

This is Bigelow’s first feature since 2017’s Detroit. Her previous politically and socially themed films, including The Hurt Locker, for which she became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director, and Zero Dark Thirty, provide a natural precedent for A House of Dynamite. The filmmaker hopes the movie sparks conversations about nuclear weapons, non-proliferation and the human stakes of such decisions.

The film is set for theatrical release on 10 October, followed by streaming from 24 October. It is one of three Netflix titles competing at Venice, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s gothic Frankenstein and Noah Baumbach’s Hollywood-set drama Jay Kelly. With the festival often serving as a launchpad for awards hopefuls, Netflix continues its search for a Best Picture win.

The Venice Film Festival jury, led by Alexander Payne, will announce the awards at the close of the festival on 6 September, making the atmosphere tense both on and off-screen.

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