Senate To Probe CIA Records Of Contacts With ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Filmmakers

Following its criticism of Zero Dark Thirty as “grossly inaccurate” in a letter to Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, the Senate Intelligence Committee is reviewing CIA records of contacts agency officials may have had with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, Reuters reported today. But the committee has no plans to interview the filmmakers. The CIA’s acting director Michael Morell also criticized the movie as “not a realistic portrayal of the facts” in a letter posted on the agency’s website. Senate panel investigators will attempt to determine whether the agency gave filmmakers “inappropriate” access to secret material and whether CIA personnel are responsible for the portrayal of “enhanced” interrogation practices in the movie about the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. Bigelow and Boal have repeatedly denied being given any access to classified information. Sony said in a statement: “As the studio distributing Zero Dark Thirty in the United States, we are proud of this important film. Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and their creative team have made an extraordinary motion picture and we fully support bringing this remarkable story to the screen.”

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