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EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow in recent weeks has been preparing and starting to cast an indie movie with the working title Kill Bin Laden, 
while another movie project about the hunt for the Al Queda terrorist leader at a major Hollywood studio stalled back in 2006. Given tonight’s startling news, it’s clear that these may be the timeliest film projects in recent Hollywood history. And judging from tonight’s showbiz phone calls coming into Deadline about Osama bin Laden’s death, I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie studios are anxious to bring these projects to the big screen as soon as possible, updated with the details behind tonight’s successful military mission. Have you seen those spontaneous cheering crowds that formed tonight outside Washington DC’s White House and in NYC’s Times Square as well as around major American cities and small towns? If a patriotic film about this story can tap into these feelings of first helpless horror and then widespread frustration and then successful closure, it could be a real winner at the box office.
Bigelow and Mark Boal, her collaborator on The Hurt Locker, have been mobilizing their film to go into production as their follow-up to that Best Picture Academy Award winner. Their movie as planned was based on an earlier unsuccessful mission to try to kill the Al Qaeda leader responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack on America as he hid in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But now they’ve certainly got a celebratory ending to that dramatic story with tonight’s announcement that the U.S. conducted a military operation that killed Bin Laden. Mind you, reps for Bigelow have told me previously that this movie isn’t specifically about the Al Qaeda leader. A lot of details about this film are stilll sketchy and secret, but I’ve heard that Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle chief Larry Ellison, is ready to fund it. I heard as recently as Friday that Bigelow and Boal were courting Joel Edgerton for the lead actor. Edgerton had been on the short list for two Universal Pictures movie projects in the works, The Bourne Legacy and Snow White And The Huntsman.
Meanwhile, back in 2006, Paramount Pictures optioned Jawbreaker, a book by U.S. intelligence operative Gary Berntsen about the December 2001 American-led military mission to hunt and kill Bin Laden right during the opening stages of the 9/11-prompted invasion of Afghanistan that the author as the CIA pointman had helped coordinate with Special Operations Forces. The heavily vetted book detailed how close those forces came to finding and executing Bin Laden in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora until they were pulled back after a decision was made to let Pakistan tribal leaders lead the search — a decision experts felt helped Bin Laden get away. The studio hired The Path To 9/11 scribe Cyrus Nowrasteh to rewrite a first draft by Berntsen’s co-author Ralph Pezzullo, and Oliver Stone had eyed it as a follow-up to his film World Trade Center. But the project stalled. I’ve learned that, when Stone’s movie version of the book didn’t work out, Paramount discussed using the hunt for Bin Laden subject matter for a relaunch of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan character made famous in books and movies like The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger, and The Sum Of All Fears. But that plan stalled as well.
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Will Trump take credit for this?
word on the street is that Trump is demanding to see Bin Laden’s long-form death certificate.
The most important thing for the families is that justice has finally been served.
Stuart Meltzer, who at one time worked at CAA and Miramax, was only 32 years old when the plane hit One WTC at Cantor Fitzgerald. He left behind two sons, the eldest was Jacob who was only 4 years old at the time.
God bless his soul … and the nearly 3,000 souls lost … finally in peace.
and killing some other guy makes the life of the family better in exactly what way?
He’s not just “some other guy”.
He was a sick asshole who murdered people. It may come as a surprise to you, but knowing he’s burning in hell must come as some comfort.
If, God forbid, something ever happened to your loved-ones Erik, you might not want to slap the “other guy” on the back and say, “Hey, man, shit happens.”
Vengeance. Retribution. Accountability. Relief. Snark aside, it matters, even as nothing else changes.
They know that they guy who murdered THEIR family members will never be able to inflict the same horror upon OTHER innocents. It’s really not that complicated.
except he isn’t personally doing any of this. I am sure that the 9/11 victim’s family feel some sense of closure; I would. But is inst as if things now go back to “normal” and there will no longer be a terrorist threat. All his followers will keep on keepin on. You will still be molested at the airport.
Now he is their ultimate martyr…except for those who will believe he isn’t actually dead. Let the conspiracies commence!
No, he just provided the money and the plan. You’re right, it’s not like he was responsible. Come on. It was a fantastic operation, undertaken unilaterally, with no U.S. casualties and a fat pile of intelligence which the U.S. can use to disrupt and destroy terrorist operations around the world. And, yeah, killing the guy that planned and funded the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil is a huge win and a bigger blow to his followers and pretenders.
I jeep telling this to everybody! I like you, you’re smart. Celebrating The assasination of someone that was an assassin doesn’t make us better than him. I understand about the innocents that passed away but don’t lose our hearts, people, with good or bad intentions he was a man and we’re celebrating the death of another human being.
“human”? don’t think so.
it’s estimated we killed or caused the deaths of between 200,000 and 500,000 innocent civilians on the way to killing this one man, who we hold responsible for killing over 3,000 on 9/11. do the means justify the end? NFW. but everyone accepts those deaths. collateral damage for our revenge.
Let’s all hold back on our comments until Matt Damon weighs in with his brilliance. Has the president “misinterpreted his mandate” Matt?
Please. All big name actors, shut up. No one takes anything you say seriously. Just learn your lines and cash your checks.
The most important thing for the families is that justice has finally been served.
Stuart Meltzer, who worked at CAA and Miramax, was only 32 when a plane plowed into One WTC at Cantor Fitzgerald. He left behind two sons, the eldest was Jacob who was only 4 years old at the time.
May God rest his soul … and the souls of nearly 3,000 people … in peace.
And at the cost of how many just as innocent Afghans lives fo avenge those 3000 lives?
Dont get me wrong, his deathh is a good thing, but it cost innocent lives just because of where they lived, so dont you dare take the moral high ground claiming vengeance
The only one who I somewhat feel bad for is the woman that was used as a human shield by some coward in Osama’s compound. The rest of the people who died with Osama deserved to die.
Yea, not gonna lie, I can’t wait for the film version of this operation.
In the meantime, while the official account is being written, let’s make some new Navy Seal movies. Go Navy!
Yes, a team of heavily-armed US commandos stormed a house while its occupants slept and managed to kill a 54 year old man on dialysis and a woman and two messenger boys. ABC and CNN are showing video from the house that shows a bloody MATTRESS in a bedroom — i.e. whoever was killed there was killed while they slept.
News people keep calling this place a “compound,” it was a house.
This mission was the result of successful INTELLIGENCE work — boring procedural stuff like talking to people and following them. Militarily-speaking, sending a group of heavily-armed commandos into a house while a handful of non-military personnel sleep is not exactly the stuff of Hollywood. These SEALS had a job to do and they did it, great, it’s stupid to try to overplay it as a stunning military accomplishment.
What makes you think you know the details of the operation, i.e., how many people were in the compound, how man armed men killed, how many taken prisoner for later questioning? Seriously?
Seriously, you should try reading a newspaper. I’m speaking from information readily available from news sources reporting information provided by the Pentagon. Three men and one woman were killed. Twenty-two people were in the house at the time, including families consisting of women and children, which is why Obama sent in a commando force instead of turning the place into a crater with a bunker-busting bomb.
Missing from the Pentagon language are words that indicate there was any organized armed resistance from inside the house — no indication of “protracted engagement” etc…a couple guys identified as “couriers” were killed, i.e. perhaps armed, perhaps not. Regardless, they were not soldiers. The strike happened around 1 a.m. local time and the footage from inside the house show a mattress covered in blood.
It’s clear what happened in that house was hardly a reenactment of Arnold in “Commando” and would hardly make for a decent action scene in any respectable Hollywood movie.
I don’t really understand your point. While I’m going to fact check your information and understand that this may not have been some operation worthy of cinematic duplication, your undertones imply that you are somehow sympathizing with the occupants in this house as if they were helpless victims of American barbarians on a mindless pillage and plunder operation.
Bin Laden was a terrorist and while the opposition in this operation may or not have been trained soldiers, they were armed and retaliated. The fact that there were not more casualties on either side is a credit to our military and does not diminish the victory of bringing this murderer to justice. I don’t think our main objective was to kill Bin Laden at the point of contact.
I love the expression “Heavily Armed Commandos.” No one in the community would refer to themselves as a “commando.” Brett, the operators who were responsible for the HVT hit on the compound were doing the job they were sent to do. If they were supposed to snatch and grab, they would have made it happen. If they were tasked with the mission of verifying and eliminating – I’m sure that was not an issue either.
I’m going to operate under the assumption that you don’t have any experience with being “heavily armed,” but it would behoove you to learn about how the Tier 1 operators your tax dollars pay for do business. Makes you sound like less of an ignorant. You will likely never get the whole story on how JSOC raid went down that night. Try to find anything these guys are doing that shows up with details – Pentagon language or otherwise. Last time you saw it, it was in Somalia – pirates, not Olympic Hotel. And even then, you still don’t have all the details.
But we do agree – Shame on the Bigelow/Boal attempts to bring this story into some kind of fictional nonsense. Hurt Locker was a joke to every operator in the community. We gave it as gag gifts when it came out on DVD. SN
You don’t get it. What makes you think that the U.S. Government has released all the information on the operation. You simply have no idea what happened there beyond what the Govt. has made public. If they captured a number of mid or upper level Al Queda personnel do you really think they would make that public? No.
If you’re not serving at a very high level in counterterrorism then you don’t know. You’re drawing conclusions based on incomplete information. Admit it and move on.
It wasn’t a house. I live in a house. that was a giant mansion complex with 18 foot walls topped with barbwire. And that is just for starters. does you house have barb wire topped fences? Any living quarters (that is not an actual prison) with barbwire topped walls qualifies as a compound in my book.
@ SN and goback — you guys are missing the point. First off, spare us your “tier one DEVGRU operators 1.21 jigowatts” jargon. If you want to showcase your close connections to the special forces “community” you need to go hang out at the Soldier of Fortune website. This is a movie industry site, and Brett N’s points are largely valid. The circumstances of the raid would make a fact-based movie of this a difficult sell. The popcorn-eating public generally don’t like seeing their heroes killing women and unarmed men in the climactic sequences of their action movies.
The special forces risked their lives and flawlessly executed a difficult mission of vital national security on Sunday — doesn’t mean it would make for a good movie.
Come to South Africa and see how most of us live behind high walls and barbed wire/electric fences on tops of them. And I am talking about a house/flat/apartment – not a compound!!!!
Harold and Kumar kill Bin Laden, anyone? I smell a hit!
As I heard Lara Logan on CBS News say that the mission that killed bin Laden was most likely similar to the Black Hawk mission in Ethiopia (in terms of surrounding the compound with Army Rangers) I immediately started imagining what it must have been like and how compelling it would be on the big screen. Bigelow and Boal surely have amazing contacts at the DOD and CIA thanks to “Hurt Locker” and will make a great movie but I hope they change the title. “Kill Bin Laden” is so lame.
Um, Jerry did you mean to say the Black Hawk mission in, er, Somalia? Geez. I thought people were more informed and less ignorant these days. Again, I see I set the bar far too high for humanity. Just this evening I was ordering dinner at McDonald’s (yes, I know, a dubious choice!) and the manager said “Osama is dead? I thought he had died a decade ago.”
Only in America.
You are such a massive douche and it is NO surprise that you eat at McDonald’s. Thank you for confirming you’re a fat, miserable know-it-all.
not to be a hater, really, or the fact police, but Black Hawk didn’t take place in Ethiopia. Close, but no cigar…
I hope every one of the small spec opps contingent takes credit for the kill shot and here’s to the movie having longer legs than the great TV Project Raid on Entebbe and every other terror-tale brought to justice movie ever made.
Wow. Two wars, trillions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of people dead – so glad Hollywood has it’s priorities straight and folks are already on the phone making money off this long term American tragedy. Cause that’s what really matters.
Oh, and I figure about as many people will watch this Katherine Bigalow film as the last one. Pretty much no one. I was hoping she’d make Point Break 2.
In the way that this man has been hell bent on killing anyone who does not share his world view.
Sorry, that was supposed to be a response. Not a random incoherent thought… Lol!
Now is the time for reserve. This is a foolish story and neither of these projects will see the light of day. There is no reason to tell this story because the reality of the extremist world is that there is no structure except for chaos. Instead of looking to exploit Bin Laden’s death, let’s figure out a way to celebrate those who have worked for 10 years to find him. Our politicians, past and present, may have exhibited fateful judgement, but those who responded are to be celebrated. Christiane Amanpour’s In Memoriam returned today to announce the loss of 25 soldiers last week. The loss of their lives should be sobering and should give us resolve to end these wars.
That’s actually not a bad a idea I want some real evidence of this death we speek of.
Both of these projects are as dead as OBL.
The real hot property is the, let’s call the over/under 47, JSOC pitches every lit agent and network executive in town is going to have to listen to tomorrow.
Wait, so Bigelow’s movie isn’t KILL BILL 3?
I’d rather see a movie that begins with the operation to kill Osama and then deals with the REAL drama, which is the emotional tug of war on the naval ship holding his body. Do they take the high road and bury him at sea (in accordance with Muslim laws that require the body be buried within 24 hours) or do we seek vengeance and avarice?
We took the high road, and as a result for the rest of American history, there will be conspiracy theories. But we did the honorable thing and proved that we are better than our enemies. That we afford dignity even to our boogiemen. It is a first step towards undoing the evils of Abu Graib, et al.
And there is a great drama within that story.
Most Americans will stop caring about this “victory” within a week. Killing Bin Laden was like the moon landing – we’ve waited 10 years and spent billions for it to happen, now it has we ‘ll realize our lives aren’t any better. Any Bin Laden films are going to to be watched by about 5 people.
The killing of Bin Laden is only worth a damn if it also kills the morale of his terrorist cells. I have my doubts on that. It’s a good thing he’s dead, but that it took 10 years at all is ridiculous.
That said, would I see a well-made movie about that? Sure.
Does anyone know if the Bigelow/Boal project is based on the book “Kill Bin Laden” by Dalton Fury?
We finally got Osama. God Bless America.
The best approach on the death of UBL.
This story should be told as a documentry seriously. No actors,no recreation of events but straight forward interveiws of those involved in this operation.
As someone who is a 9/11 historian,and suppetor of the 9/11 Memorial in NYC,I hope UBL’s death brings solstice,closure for the families who lost thier loved ones on Tuesday Sept11th ten years ago. And the Navy Seals out in San Deigo dudes you rock:)
Seal Team 6 is in Norfolk, Virginia – not San Diego.
You did your homework. Fanned!
Seal Team Six is based in VA but they were trained in San Diego.
Just a few months ago Seal Team Six conducted a botched rescue of a British hostage in Afghanistan where one of the members threw a hand grenade which killed the female hostage and then lied about it, saying a militant with a suicide vest killed her. Other members of the team were complicit in the cover-up. Their actions finally came to light after the British government demanded an investigation.
Just saying these men aren’t superheroes, they’re highly skilled and highly trained but also highly human and make mistakes and act dishonorably at times, like just about everyone else on the planet. Let’s thank them for their service and not do them the disservice of turning them into our own projection of flawless superhuman warriors.
Regarding these two possible Bin Laden films…I have just two words for filmmakers on this topic and the chances of success.
Green Zone.
Green Zone may not have been a box office blockbuster, but it was a helluva good movie. I saw it on cable and was shocked by how much I liked it.
Today would be a great day for Bigelow and Boal to apologize to Master Sergeant Sarver, thank him for the record-number of bombs he defused in Iraq, and pay him something for the inspiration his life story quite clearly gave them.
Hello?! 24: The Movie anyone?
And now White House officials are providing corrections to earlier reports: the woman killed was not in fact being used as a human shield and Bin Laden was not armed when he was killed.
Hmm, 24 Navy SEALS in a house full of women and kids, killing women and unarmed men. What happened in that house was ugly and not the stuff popcorn-eating people want to pay to see.