The unredacted Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's detention and enhanced interrogation program runs approximately 6,700 pages and includes some 38,000 footnotes. It doesn't exactly scream Hollywood.
But from an early stage, writer-director Scott Z. Burns was drawn to the Congressional quest to detail and bring to light the CIA's torturing of detainees in the wake of Sept. 11. He zeroed in, ultimately, on Daniel J. Jones, the lead investigator for the Senate Intelligence Committee, who toiled for five years on an investigation that culminated with the 2014 release of a 525-page summary . Its findings discredited the still widely held belief that torture techniques contributed to the capture of Osama bin Laden.
"The Report," written and directed by Burns and starring Adam Driver as Jones, is the story of that report and Jones' struggle to release it. At a time when false narratives come by the blizzard, the film is a heavily researched, star-laden, big-screen effort to set the record straight.
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Adam Driver in a scene from "The Report." (Atsushi NishijimaAmazon Studios via AP)
"Whatever narrative you want, you can find. They're all out there on the internet waiting for you. Whatever confirmation bias you walk into a situation with, you'll find the narrative you dreamed up waiting for you," says Burns. "I guess I still believe that there are facts. I want very much to live in a world where facts inform storytelling."
Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, "The Report" has stood out as something more akin to a '70s thriller — an inner-government "All the President's Men" that takes the audience inside a legal struggle that some, like the late Sen. John McCain, saw as a battle for the very ideals of American democracy.
"The Report," which Amazon Studios is releasing in theaters this weekend, is also a kind of cinematic counterpoint to Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty." That film, released two years ahead of the report's unveiling, suggested a link between information gleaned by torture to the Bin Laden raid. An ad for "Zero Dark Thirty" is seen momentarily in the background of "The Report" while Jones is striving to get his findings released — one more obfuscation standing in his way.
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Annette Bening, left, and Adam Driver in a scene from "The Report." (Atsushi NishijimaAmazon Studios via AP)
At the time, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and McCain condemned "Zero Dark Thirty" as "grossly inaccurate" and guilty of "perpetuating the myth that torture is effective." Feinstein wrote to the CIA , suggesting it had intentionally misled the "Zero Dark Thirty" filmmakers.
"Kathryn Bigelow and (screenwriter) Mark Boal, the narrative they have in their film is consistent with the CIA narrative that they provided to the White House, the Department of Justice, the intelligence committee and eventually the public," says Jones. "It was our report that uncovered that this narrative was, in fact, not accurate and largely fabricated — and fabricated for the purposes of cleansing the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques."
"The Report" doesn't have the muscular action of "Zero Dark Thirty." But it mines the investigators' hunt for the truth, combing through documents and evidence, for a dense but engrossing political thriller that navigates the ugly history of black site water boarding and its dubious effectiveness. The film, with Annette Bening playing Feinstein and Jon Hamm as Denis McDonough, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, also captures the wider battles within the government over the Senate's uncomfortable inquiry.
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Adam Driver in a scene from "The Report." (Atsushi NishijimaAmazon Studios via AP)
"The core part of it for Scott and the core reason that I worked with Scott on it is because he really cared about the report," says Jones, who now runs an investigative consultancy and a nonprofit called Advance Democracy. "How do you tell the story of the report, itself?"
Burns initially planned to use a pair of psychologists as his entry point but, after meeting Jones, settled instead on the Senate staffer. "The Report" is a portrait of obsession, chronicling Jones' ever-expanding findings which gradually overtake the walls of the team's subterranean office.
Driver was drawn to the project by Burns' previous work with Steven Soderbergh, particularly 2009's "The Informant!" about a whistleblower in the lysine price-fixing conspiracy. (Soderbergh, a producer on "The Report," also directed Burns' scripts for "Contagion," ''Side Effects" and this year's "The Laundromat.") As a former Marine, Driver also quickly recognized in Jones someone working for accountability from within a chain of command.
This Sept. 7, 2019 photo shows Scott Z. Burns, right, writerdirector of "The Report," posing with former FBI investigator Daniel J. Jones, left, and actor Adam Driver at the Omni King Edward Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
"Institutions like that are hard to live up to. Sometimes they can get in the way of progress. It's what can be challenging in the military, not acknowledging that certain things are problems," says Driver. "Sexual assault, for example, is a huge problem within the military. Some branches are more aggressive about combating it, and some choose to not address it at all. I don't know if that necessarily makes the institutions bad. It requires better leadership. That I really identify with."
Burns, who's also a writer on the next James Bond film "No Time to Die," previously directed the 2006 HBO film "Pu-239," about radiation poisoning at a Russian nuclear plant. He has made a career of digging deep into the weeds on complex issues and turning them into gripping entertainment. In "The Laundromat," for example, he crafted a byzantine farce based on Panama Papers investigative reporting .
"It's the research, to be honest. I really like research," says Burns, who dabbled in journalism before turning to film and television. "When I was in school, my favorite days were when we got to go on field trips. Screenwriting has provided for a lot of those field trips."
Burns had been set to direct 2013's "Side Effects" but struggled to find financing and eventually yielded to Soderbergh. "When I did that, Steven said to me: 'Write the next one for yourself,'" recalls Burns.
Shortly after entering office, Obama signed an executive order banning "enhanced interrogation" techniques, stating that only noncoercive methods may be used. The events of "The Report" can already feel like a long time ago. Burns cites the 14-1 Senate Intelligence Committee vote to open the CIA investigation as an example of non-partisanship unfathomable just ten years later.
Jones, though, believes the lessons of "The Report," still apply.
"Facts matter and truth matters. If you just keep pushing and pushing, those things come out," says Jones. "The tide will turn."
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the United States opposed and two abstentions, from the United Kingdom and Switzerland. U.S. allies France, Japan and South Korea supported the resolution.
The strong support the Palestinians received reflects not only the growing number of countries recognizing their statehood but almost certainly the global support for Palestinians facing a humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month.
The resolution would have recommended that the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, approve Palestine becoming the 194th member of the United Nations. Some 140 countries have already recognized Palestine, so its admission would have been approved, likely by a much higher number of countries.
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that the veto “does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties."
The United States has “been very clear consistently that premature actions in New York — even with the best intentions — will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people,” deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
His voice breaking at times, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the council after the vote: “The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination.”
“We will not stop in our effort,” he said. “The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near.”
This is the second Palestinian attempt for full membership and comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority’s application for U.N. membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn’t get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council’s 15 members.
They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a U.N. observer to a non-member observer state in 2012. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join U.N. and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.
Algerian U.N. Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council who introduced the resolution, called Palestine’s admission “a critical step toward rectifying a longstanding injustice" and said that “peace will come from Palestine’s inclusion, not from its exclusion.”
In explaining the U.S. veto, Wood said there are “unresolved questions” on whether Palestine meets the criteria to be considered a state. He pointed to Hamas still exerting power and influence in the Gaza Strip, which is a key part of the state envisioned by the Palestinians.
Wood stressed that the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution, where Israel and Palestine live side-by-side in peace, is the only path for security for both sides and for Israel to establish relations with all its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.
“The United States is committed to intensifying its engagement with the Palestinians and the rest of the region, not only to address the current crisis in Gaza, but to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and membership in the United Nations,” he said.
Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, reiterated the commitment to a two-state solution but asserted that Israel believes Palestine "is a permanent strategic threat."
"Israel will do its best to block the sovereignty of a Palestinian state and to make sure that the Palestinian people are exiled away from their homeland or remain under its occupation forever,” he said.
He demanded of the council and diplomats crowded in the chamber: “What will the international community do? What will you do?”
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have been stalled for years, and Israel’s right-wing government is dominated by hard-liners who oppose Palestinian statehood.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the resolution “disconnected to the reality on the ground” and warned that it “will cause only destruction for years to come and harm any chance for future dialogue.”
Six months after the Oct. 7 attack by the Hamas militant group, which controlled Gaza, and the killing of 1,200 people in “the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” he accused the Security Council of seeking “to reward the perpetrators of these atrocities with statehood.”
Israel’s military offensive in response has killed over 32,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and destroyed much of the territory, which speaker after speaker denounced Thursday.
After the vote, Erdan thanked the United States and particularly President Joe Biden “for standing up for truth and morality in the face of hypocrisy and politics.”
He called the Palestinian Authority — which controls the West Bank and the U.S. wants to see take over Gaza where Hamas still has sway — “a terror supporting entity.”
The Israeli U.N. ambassador referred to the requirements for U.N. membership – accepting the obligations in the U.N. Charter and being a “peace-loving” state.
“How can you say seriously that the Palestinians are peace loving? How?” Erdan asked. “The Palestinians are paying terrorists, paying them to slaughter us. None of their leaders condemns terrorism, nor the Oct. 7 massacre. They call Hamas their brothers.”
Despite the Palestinian failure to meet the criteria for U.N. membership, Erdan said most council members supported it.
“It’s very sad because your vote will only embolden Palestinian rejectionism every more and make peace almost impossible,” he said.
Algeria's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations Amar Bendjama speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour holds tears while speaking during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Representatives of member countries take votes during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour, left, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speak before a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Representatives of member countries take votes during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood votes against resolution during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
