The Pentagon has distributed a memo denying that a plot point in the Netflix movie A House Of Dynamite is plausible.
In the film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), the President of The United States (Idris Elba) and his staff frantically work to stop a nuclear missile heading for Chicago. At one point the defence secretary, played by Jared Harris, laments that the government’s multi-billion-dollar missile defences only have a 50 per cent chance of interception.
A Missile Defense Agency (MDA) memo, reportedly dated October 16 and obtained by Bloomberg News, said that in real life their current interception technology has “displayed a 100 per cent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.”
The memo was sent to “address false assumptions, provide correct facts and a better understanding” of the current system, so that leadership at the agency “has situational awareness and is not ‘surprised’ by the topic, which may come up in conversations or meetings.”
The memo acknowledged that “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.” However, it adds that their testing tells “a vastly different story” than the film.
In an interview with MSNBC, the film’s screenwriter, Noah Oppenheim, defended its accuracy. “I’m not a missile defence expert, but I did talk to many missile defence experts who were all on the record.”
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He said. “We just asked them a ton of questions. How does it work? What are the processes? What are the procedures? So, what you see on screen is hopefully a fairly accurate portrait of the reality that exists.”
A House Of Dynamite is currently on Netflix. While promoting the film in September, Idris Elba confessed he “doesn’t have the courage” to go into politics after being linked to the role of London Mayor.
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