Kathryn Bigelow unveils nuclear thriller ‘A House of Dynamite’ at Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Kathryn Bigelow was interested in the U.S. nuclear stockpile: Who was guarding it? What would happen if a missile strike was imminent? And who would be making the decisions about what to do?

Her new film “A House of Dynamite” takes audiences into those guarded rooms as U.S. government officials and military leaders attempt to manage a missile strike from an unknown aggressor that is 20 minutes from impact. It had its world premiere on Tuesday evening at the Venice Film Festival, where it was given an 11-minute standing ovation.

“This is a global issue,” Bigelow said before the premiere. “We are really living in a house of dynamite. My interest was to really get that information out there.”

Bigelow worked alongside screenwriter and the former president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim, to craft an authentic portrait of what might transpire in those 20 minutes.

“One of the many things that makes Kathryn such an extraordinary filmmaker is her commitment to authenticity,” Oppenheim said. “From the very beginning her mandate was, ‘lets find out how this would really work, let’s take people into these rooms where these decisions would be made and show how it would actually unfold.”

It helped that Oppenheim had covered the subject for decades as a journalist, and that he had his own arsenal of contacts who could help inform the story, including former Pentagon, White House and CIA officials.

The film boasts a large ensemble cast, with Idris Elba as the U.S. President, Jared Harris as the Secretary of Defense, Tracy Letts as a general and Gabriel Basso as the deputy national security advisor.

These are not just suits in situation rooms, either. The audience gets glimpses into their lives outside of work too. One person is running late, another is worried about a sick kid, and they're all dealing with the extreme stress of the quickly unfolding situation.

"The movie could be performed as purely procedural, and we simply see people doing their jobs and nothing but their jobs. But the truth is, they’re human beings performing these functions so humanity seeps out,” Letts said. “I really think that’s part of the beauty and strength of the film, reminding that ultimately these are human beings making these decisions.”

The story is not meant to be a precise portrait of any specific geopolitical moment, or administration, however.

“The point is no matter what’s going on in the world, and the world is always unstable in some way or another, we’ve constructed this weaponry that could end all life,” Oppenheim said. “In countries like ours, one individual, the president, has the sole authority to authorize their use. We wanted to tell a story about that system, which is not really a reflection of any partisan, political situation, it’s just the reality of the nuclear age.”

“A House of Dynamite” is Bigelow’s first film since the 2017 release of “Detroit.” Her most acclaimed films have been politically themed, from “The Hurt Locker,” for which she became the first woman to win the best director Oscar, to “Zero Dark Thirty.” In some ways, “A House of Dynamite” is a kind of natural counterpart to those.

Her hope is that the film inspires a conversation about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation — “if we want to survive, which I can only assume we do,” Bigelow said.

The film will be released in theaters on Oct. 10 before streaming on Oct. 24.

“A House of Dynamite” is one of three Netflix films playing in competition, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s classically gothic “Frankenstein” and Noah Baumbach’s Hollywood drama “Jay Kelly.” The streamer still doesn't have a best picture win to its name, and Venice has proved itself to be a solid launching pad for awards hopefuls.

The Venice awards, which will be decided on by the Alexander Payne-led jury, will be handed out at the close of the festival on Sept. 6.

For more coverage of the 2025 Venice Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

Tracy Letts poses for photographers at the red carpet for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Director Kathryn Bigelow poses for photographers at the red carpet for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Idris Elba poses for photographers at the red carpet for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Kathryn Bigelow poses for photographers at the red carpet for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Tracy Letts, from left, Greta Lee, Idris Elba, director Kathryn Bigelow, Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, Gabriel Basso and Jared Harris pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jared Harris poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Tracy Letts poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Idris Elba poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Kathryn Bigelow poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'A House of Dynamite' during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Film posters outside the Excelsior hotel ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

A view of the main cinema ahead of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Iran and the United States received a draft proposal late Sunday calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, two Mideast officials speaking condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

The proposal comes from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators hoping the 45-day window would provide enough time for talks to reach a permanent ceasefire. Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal, which was sent to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.

The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed Monday in an attack targeting him, Iranian state media said.

Strikes on cities across Iran have killed more than 25 people Sunday into Monday, while in Israel's Haifa two people were found dead and two others were missing in rubble a day after an Iranian attack.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday stepped up his threat to hit Iran's critical infrastructure hard if the country's government doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline.

Trump punctuated his threat with profanity in a social media post, saying Tuesday will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes from the United Nations and international law experts.

Here is the latest:

Israel claimed the killing of the intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Monday.

Defense Minister Israel Katz made the announcement.

“The Revolutionary Guard are shooting at civilians and we are eliminating the leaders of the terrorists,” Katz said. “Iran’s leaders live with a sense of being targeted. We will continue to hunt them down one by one.”

Katz added Israel had “severely damaged” Iran’s steel and petrochemical industries, as well.

“We will continue to crush the Iranian national infrastructure and lead to the erosion and collapse of the terrorist regime, and its capabilities to promote terror and fire at the state of Israel,” he said.

The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed Monday in an attack targeting him, Iranian state media said.

Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi died in the attack, which the Guard blamed on the United States and Israel.

It did not elaborate on where Khademi was killed. However, multiple airstrikes targeted residential areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, early Monday morning.

Khademi took over for Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, who Israel killed in the 12-day war in June.

The Guard’s intelligence organization wields vast powers within Iran and answers only to the country’s supreme leader. It often has been linked to the detention of Western nationals or those with ties abroad. It also has been accused of carrying out extraterritorial killings and attacks targeting opponents of the country’s theocracy.

Iran and the United States have received a draft proposal that calls for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a possible way to end the war, two Mideast officials told The Associated Press.

The proposal comes from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators working to halt the fighting, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

They hope the 45-day window would provide enough time for extensive talks between the countries to reach a permanent ceasefire.

Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal, which was sent late Sunday night to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.

It remains unclear whether the sides would agree to such terms. Iran has insisted it will keep fighting until it receives financial reparations and a promise it won’t be attacked again. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iranian bridges and power stations this week.

The news website Axios first reported terms of the proposal.

An Iranian drone attack damaged a telecommunications building in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the state-run WAM news agency reported.

The attack targeted a building of the state-funded du telecom company.

No one was injured, WAM reported, quoting officials in Fujairah.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service says there are no signs North Korea is providing Iran with weapons or other war-related supplies.

The spy agency’s officials told lawmakers Monday that North Korea may be taking a cautious approach to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the Trump administration, according to two lawmakers who attended the closed-door briefing.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal, but the NIS said Pyongyang has not sent an official condolence message over the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent years has embraced the idea of a “new Cold War” and attempted to expand cooperation with countries confronting the U.S., including an economic delegation sent to Iran in April 2024.

South Korea plans to send at least five ships to Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port in the coming weeks to establish new oil transport routes in the Red Sea.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said Monday the ships will be deployed in phases beginning in mid-April and the number of vessels could increase depending on contracts with Saudi partners.

Officials did not disclose the companies involved but said some domestic refiners may use non-Korean shipping firms.

South Korea also plans to send special envoys to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to step up diplomatic efforts to secure alternative fuel supplies, ruling party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol said.

The foreign ministry did not immediately reveal when the envoys would be sent.

Iran has executed another man convicted over charges stemming from the nationwide protests that swept Iran in January.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the man hanged as Ali Fahim in a report Monday.

It was unclear when he was executed.

Fahim had been convicted of allegedly storming a military base to seize weapons.

Amnesty International said Fahim and others convicted in the case “were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention, including beatings, floggings, prolonged solitary confinement, and death threats at gunpoint before being convicted in grossly unfair trials that relied on forced ‘confessions’ extracted under torture and lasted only a few hours.”

The Human Rights Activist News Agency had said Fahim and others had entered a Tehran base of the all-volunteer Basij militia, an arm of the Revolutionary Guard, after it had been burned, then had been forced into confessions.

Israel rescue services reported Monday morning several sites were hit by missiles launched from Iran toward multiple cities in the center of Israel.

In Petah Tikva, paramedics provided medical treatment to an injured woman in serious condition with a chest injury from shrapnel and evacuated her to the Beilinson Hospital.

Fire fighters in that city are handling cars on fire and continue searching to ensure there are no people trapped in the rubble.

In Tel Aviv, a man slightly injured by glass shrapnel was evacuated to the Ichilov Hospital.

Footage provided by rescue service Magen David Adom shows damage to residential buildings due to the attack.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military warned the public Monday morning of another missile barrage coming from Iran, the fourth-such alert of the day.

Israel’s Magen David Adom and Fire and Rescue services said early Monday that there are several reported sites of Iranian missile hits in the northern city of Haifa.

In one site, four people were slightly injured, including two children.

The missile attacks hit residential areas and a factory in the city.

The factory was hit by shrapnel from an interception.

It is unclear if all the reported hits were caused by shrapnel from interception or direct hits.

Video footage provided by Magen David Adom of the affected sites show active fire and bombed cars in what appears to be a residential area.

The missile strikes come a day after another attack from Iran also hit a Haifa residential area, killing two people and injuring others.

Two other people remain missing under the rubble caused by Sunday's strike and their fate is still unknown.

In the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi, authorities said a Ghanaian man suffered wounds from shrapnel after the interception of an Iranian missile over the city’s Musaffah neighborhood.

That’s near Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts U.S. forces and has been repeatedly targeted by Iran in the war.

Women hold Iranian flags during a pro-government gathering in a square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A picture of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs on the side of the road in the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Rescue workers search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit a crowded neighbourhood south of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A commercial plane is preparing to land at Beirut Airport as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)