Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama Bin Laden thriller release date set for Fall 2012 amidst early controversy

After news broke about Osama Bin Laden’s assassination, Hollywood studios scrambled for rights to produce a film regarding the events and the terrorist’s notorious life.  Kathryn Bigelow and husband Mark Boal swooped in to take control of the production that has been given a release date of October 12, 2012.

The Untitled International Thriller has yet to cast any actors, with the exception of Joel Edgerton as one of Navy Seal Team Six’s members, but the filmmaking pedigree and experience should please moviegoers – Bigelow made arguably the best and only good Iraq War/post-September 11 war film in The Hurt Locker (2008), which won Best Picture among other awards.  Before Bin Laden’s death, Boal and Bigelow had been working on a project (“Kill Bin Laden”) regarding the failed attempts at tracking down and killing the terrorist, who fled through the Kandahar region of Afghanistan into Pakistan, so their attachment to this film is ideal.  It will surely be a polarizing, rousing film and ranks in the top ten of my Most Anticipated Films list.

However, the production has already come under fire for a couple reasons.  Firstly, reports (some of which denied later by the White House) claimed that Bigelow and Boal were granted special access to classified information to help them create the Bin Laden thriller.  Secondly, the release date, curiously just a month before the 2012 presidential elections, makes one wonder if the studio has political motivations for setting the release date.  The fact that Bigelow had visited the White House for research may be disquieting to some, but she has stated that the film will illustrate the successes, as well as failures, of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations as well as the national security agencies.  Therefore, the film will not favor the fact that Bin Laden had been found and killed during Obama’s term, but rather it will attempt to provide an impartial account, at least as far as American politics is concerned.  The film is still in pre-production so little has been discussed so far and moviegoers should be patiently optimistic with regard to the film.

Kathryn Bigelow’s “Untitled International Thriller” will assault theaters on October 12, 2012.

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