The truth hurts
Amazon Studios’ ‘The Report’ confronts the painful reality of CIA’s post-9/11 ‘enhanced interrogations.’
Writer-director Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report” joined the 2019 Envelope Live screening series this season at the Montalbán in Hollywood. The Envelope welcomes a select audience of Hollywood guild members and awards voters during the season to screen some of the year’s most talkedabout films, followed by Q&As with cast and filmmakers, moderated by journalists from The Times. For videos of these sessions, please visit latimes.com/ screenings.
The Times’ Glenn Whipp spoke with Burns and producer Jennifer Fox about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s post-9/11 “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
Burns said, “To this day, over 50% of our country will say” that lives were saved by the CIA’s post-9/11 use of techniques defined as torture by groups such as Amnesty International. A staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Daniel Jones (played by Adam Driver), led the investigation into the program, generating a 6,700-page report that debunks that notion.
Burns said at one screening for “400 or 500 people,” they asked viewers before the film if they thought the CIA’s interrogation methods had been effective, and 54% said yes. “After they saw the film, we asked them the same question and 14% believed that was true.”
One person who hasn’t commented on “The Report” is Feinstein (played in the movie by Annette Bening).
Fox said, “We were told that’s not how she works. I think … the normal process for her is to not be on a red carpet or in any way advocate for a film.”
Burns added, “Her response is, ‘I know what’s in the report.’ ”