Kathryn Bigelow’s latest geopolitical thriller is terrifying viewers on Netflix this weekend.
A House of Dynamite imagines a scenario where a mystery nuclear weapon is headed for Chicago, with the US government having just 18 minutes to respond.
The movie, starring Idris Elba, was assisted by a team of experts including technical advisor Dan Karbler, the former STRATCOM chief a staff – a role he also plays in the film.
Speaking with Netflix, the 60-year-old said: “Noah [Oppenheim] did a tremendous job on the script. He obviously did a lot of research.”
The active lieutenant general then went on to share just how realistic A House of Dynamite is.
Karbler said: “Folks should realise that we actually practice many, many different scenarios in conducting nuclear operations, almost 400 a year between [STRATCOM] and the Pentagon, other combat commands, and other agencies.”
Rather alarmingly, he noted: “The last president to ever practice was President Reagan. Other presidents since then have never practised. They all get briefed on the nuclear football and what the strike advisor has that we see in the movie, but they don’t practice it.”
Karbler added to Netflix: “[The film] does such a good job of capturing a piece that we never really capture when we are running through these exercises — being able to see the human reaction, which we don’t practice. So what the movie really drives home, in addition to the authenticity about the process and all that, is just the human element and how different folks are affected, whether it’s those young soldiers at Fort Greely to the STRATCOM staff all the way up to the President of the United States.”
A House of Dynamite is streaming now on Netflix.
