Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind the year’s buzziest awards-season films continues with September 5, Paramount‘s gripping period thriller directed by Tim Fehlbaum, and written by Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder and co-writer Alex David.
Set amid the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics, the film follows what happens when ABC, which was covering the games for U.S. audiences, was on air when news came down that members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Black September. The script keeps the POV of the ABC control room as events unfold, as producers and reporters and scramble to cover the fast-moving story with global implications — and sensitivities of the highest order — in real time, being the only TV network with live cameras filming the hostages’ location in the Olympic Village.
The writers used first-hand accounts including of Geoffrey Mason, the ABC Sports coordinating producer who had been in Munich and helped drive the 22 consecutive hours of live coverage. His character becomes central to driving to the film’s story, with John Magaro coming aboard to play him. Mason became a co-producer.
The cast also includes Peter Sarsgaard as Monday Night Football creator Roone Arledge, Benjamin Walker as Peter Jennings, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Georgina Rich, Corey Johnson, Marcus Rutherford and Daniel Adeosun.
The idea of the film’s focus on the broadcast more so than the political events unfolding before it, Fehlbaum says, ultimately is to raise questions “about the responsibilities and impacts of crisis reporting and our consumption of it.”
“By assuming this specific vantage point, we shine a light on this watershed moment in journalism and its influential legacy,” he says. “As was true then, today’s media landscape and the technology that facilitates it are constantly evolving, along with our ever-increasing appetite for a 24/7 breaking news cycle.”
The film, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, has been picking up honors including a Best Picture nom from the Golden Globes, and a Critics Choice nomination for the screenplay. It hits U.S theaters Friday before going wide January 17 on MLK Day weekend.
Check out the script below.
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