Director Tim Fehlbaum and Actor John Magaro talk about approach, training and detail in regards to their new film from Paramount: "September 5".
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Our job is to tell the story of these individuals whose lives are at stake.
00:17It's not okay if we made it worse.
00:21It's a manhouse down here.
00:23They know the whole world is watching if they shoot someone on live television.
00:30Whose story is that?
00:33Is it ours or is it theirs?
00:39September 5th, it's all about like tides.
00:41It's about sociology.
00:42It's how we react in traumatic or intense situations.
00:47Can you talk about looking at that, but looking at this detail from our modern context, but
00:53within the 1972 structure?
00:55Yeah, I mean, I think that's a fine observation.
00:58Thank you for this.
01:00I think with science fiction film, it's a little bit the same as it is with historical
01:06movies.
01:07They're good or interesting in a way if they say something about the present through that
01:13historical or futuristic context.
01:15So with September 5th, we tried to provide a way for the audience to offer a way of reflecting
01:25on how we consume the media and the news today through the historical lens of how in 1972,
01:32a bunch of sports broadcasters, also like people in a way getting back to what you said,
01:37ordinary people being in extraordinary situations that had to make the switch from reporting
01:43on the Olympics to reporting on the crisis.
01:47What the hell are you guys doing?
01:48We're going to get a live shot of the apartment.
01:51Get the viewers right into the act.
01:52Who are the hostages?
01:53Uh, Bader just, he confirmed that one of them died.
01:58Marshall Weinberg, I read the wire, but who's inside that apartment?
02:02We don't know yet.
02:03Then we find out.
02:04Who are they?
02:05What's their background?
02:06Do they have a family?
02:07There's no point in aiming this thing at the building if the viewer doesn't know the people
02:10inside.
02:11Room.
02:12The headquarters on the line again.
02:13Can't hold him back any longer.
02:14All right.
02:15Don't Mason.
02:16Okay.
02:17I got the bird live at noon.
02:18All right.
02:19Now, John, can you talk about taking that because you have to look at the hierarchy,
02:23but looking at the choices this man makes, but also how he reacts because it's about
02:28action and reaction in different ways with him.
02:30Can you talk about approaching that with Jeff?
02:32Yeah.
02:33I mean, a lot of that was in the conversations with the real Jeff Mason.
02:38He made it very clear that he was doing his job that day, that his instincts kicked in,
02:44that there was really no time to think or analyze.
02:48It was a unique situation.
02:52Like Tim said, it was ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.
02:55These are sports broadcasters who are now thrown into news coverage and doing it the
02:59best way they knew how.
03:03That was really the approach that I went in with, very workmanly, trying to leave emotion
03:13out of it and letting the script guide me.
03:17You don't want anybody to see their kid executed on the television.
03:21I don't know about the Israelis, but David Berger's folks are in Ohio, so I'm pretty
03:26sure they'll watch.
03:27Well, someone should tell them not to watch it, but we have a bigger responsibility here.
03:30What about the sponsors?
03:32The sponsors are not going to be concerned.
03:34Guys, we have two minutes.
03:36Okay.
03:37So is that what we're trying to achieve here, is ratings?
03:39No, we're just, we're following the story wherever it takes us.
03:45All right, then let me ask you this.
03:47Let me ask you this.
03:48Black September, they know the whole world is watching, right?
03:51That's why they chose the Olympics if, I'm saying if, they shoot someone on live television.
03:58Whose story is that?
04:02Tim, if I have time, I'll go back to John.
04:04It's about the psychology of the details, how you can feel like when they're putting
04:08those letters for the titles, how just that action adds to the dread, adds to the tension,
04:14adds to the energy.
04:15Could you talk about including those details and finding these things?
04:18Then pushing the camera outside, just that thing is a big thing.
04:23Could you talk?
04:24Yeah, I would agree.
04:25There's a famous designer who once said, like, the details are not the details, they make
04:28the product.
04:29And in a way, that's also the case in that film, because yes, it is this details about
04:35the technological apparatus and how we try to portray that as accurately as possible.
04:40But also, it's part of the bigger subject, because our movie is also about how technology
04:45has an influence on the media, and in that sense, has an influence on how we perceive
04:51world events, right?
04:53So it's crucial for us that this is portrayed accurately.
04:58Polizei!
04:59Ăśbertreibung abbrechen!
05:00What's going on?
05:01Auf!
05:02Auf!
05:03Kameras!
05:04Auf!
05:05Sicherlich!
05:06Auf!
05:07Auf!
05:08Auf!
05:09Auf!
05:10Auf!
05:11Auf!
05:12Auf!
05:13Auf!
05:14Auf!
05:15Auf!
05:16Auf!
05:17Auf!
05:18Auf!
05:19Auf!
05:20Auf!
05:21Auf!
05:22Auf!
05:23Auf!
05:24Auf!
05:25Auf!
05:26Auf!
05:27Okay, and I did not even think that was possible.
05:28Or with the eyeglasses, all these things add to it, but then you have to sort of be the
05:31shepherd.
05:32You're underneath, obviously, Roon and Bader, and you're keying to them.
05:36But then you're ordering almost everybody around and trying to do it in a diplomatic
05:40way.
05:41Can you talk about the energy of that, and how you had to focus yourself beyond the script,
05:45just psychologically?
05:47I mean, again, like, psychologically, that was sort of...
05:50There was no time for it, necessarily, psychological analysis at this point, because they were
05:56just doing their job.
05:57I think what it is was more about training.
06:00I think when you're trained to do this kind of job,
06:05and for me, that was studying in control rooms
06:08and seeing how that worked.
06:10You know, I'd go to CBS Broadcasting
06:12and I would see, you know, like Sean McManus,
06:17who's Jim McKay's son, is the head of the sports,
06:19and he's there, but then his directors and producers
06:21are in the control room doing their jobs,
06:24leading the production, keeping it going,
06:27because there's no time for breath
06:28when you're live on the air.
06:30So it was learning that dynamic and learning the skills,
06:34learning how it's done, learning the language of it,
06:37and really, you know, almost like a pilot
06:40who's in an emergency, just keeping your wits about you
06:43and continuing to call the show.
06:46The piece of what have been called the Serene Olympics
06:48was shattered this morning.
06:51The games are still going on.
06:52Within a few hundred yards,
06:53nine terrified living human beings
06:56are being held prisoner.
07:00You need to understand how sensitive the situation is.
07:04These are just local cops doing things
07:06they have never done before.
07:12We're making broadcast history.
07:14More people have seen this
07:15than watched Armstrong land on the moon.
07:16Now police are on the roof.
07:18Oh, guys.
07:20That's a TV.
07:22Or are they seeing what we're seeing?
07:25What are you talking about?
07:27Are the terrorists seeing this?