Zero Dark Thirty

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Zero Dark Thirty (disambiguation).

Zero Dark Thirty
An obscured view depicting a helicopter hovering over Osama bin Landen's compound in Abbottabad.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKathryn Bigelow
Written byMark Boal
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGreig Fraser
Edited by
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • December 10, 2012 (2012-12-10) (Los Angeles)
  • January 11, 2013 (2013-01-11) (United States)
Running time
157 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40–52.5 million[2][4]
Box office$132.8 million[2]

Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American political action thriller film directed and produced by Kathryn Bigelow, and written and produced by Mark Boal. The film dramatizes the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist network Al-Qaeda, after the September 11 attacks. This search leads to the discovery of his compound in Pakistan and the U.S. military raid where bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011.

Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a fictional CIA intelligence analyst, with Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Reda Kateb, Mark Strong, James Gandolfini, Kyle Chandler, Stephen Dillane, Chris Pratt, Édgar Ramírez, Fares Fares, Jennifer Ehle, John Barrowman, Mark Duplass, Harold Perrineau, and Frank Grillo in supporting roles.[5][6] It was produced by Boal, Bigelow, and Megan Ellison, and independently financed by Ellison's Annapurna Pictures. The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2012, and had its wide release on January 11, 2013.[7]

Zero Dark Thirty received critical acclaim for its acting, direction, screenplay, sound design, and editing, and was a major box office success, grossing $132 million worldwide. It appeared on 95 critics' top ten lists of 2012. It was also nominated in five categories at the 85th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress for Chastain, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Editing, which it won in a tie with Skyfall. It earned four Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Chastain, who won.

The film was accused of being pro-torture by U.S. senators John McCain, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin.

  1. ^ a b c "AFI|Catalog - Zero Dark Thirty". American Film Institute. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Zero Dark Thirty (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on June 12, 2019. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  3. ^ "ZERO DARK THIRTY (15)". British Board of Film Classification. November 28, 2012. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
  4. ^ "Zero Dark Thirty (2012) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  5. ^ Child, Ben (January 6, 2012). "Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden film to star Joel Edgerton". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  6. ^ "UPI takes territories on Kathryn Bigelow's 'Zero Dark Thirty'" Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine; Screen Daily; May 15, 2012.
  7. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (December 11, 2012). ""Zero Dark Thirty" premieres in Los Angeles". Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2020.