Netflix is back with its newest thriller-slash-drama movie, and boy, is it an intense watch. A House of Dynamite follows the US president and government as they navigate an official response to a nuclear missile that's heading for the country—launched by an unidentified enemy.
With just 18 minutes to work out who did it and how to respond, it's real edge-of-your-seat stuff. And, with a stellar cast that makes every moment feel uncomfortably real (Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Kaitlyn Dever, etc.), it's made us wonder: Is the movie based on true events? And if not, could a potentially world-ending disaster like this actually happen?
Is A House of Dynamite based on a true story?
To put your mind at ease, A House of Dynamite is a fictional movie. However, it's not as far-fetched as one might hope, according to Netflix's Tudum.
The film comes from Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, who told the platform that her latest project is “an opportunity to explore worlds few people know anything about.”
“It's a journalistic approach to filmmaking, where the distinction between entertainment and information is fused and fluid.”
Noah Oppenheim, of Jackie and Zero Day fame, was on board as screenwriter and revealed that the team did an “extraordinary amount of research” when preparing for the film. He said he spoke to “as many people” as possible who have worked in these rooms and situations, and have actually had these types of jobs.
They also had first-hand insight from Daniel Karbler, a United States Army lieutenant general who served as the commander of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command from 2019 to 2024. Karbler helped depict the realism of the situation, including how a response would be coordinated and who might be involved. He also offered up military jargon and acronyms—words and phrases that are used in the industry.
Karbler also told Tudum: “[The movie] does such a good job of capturing a piece that we never really capture when we are running through these exercises—being able to see the human reaction, which we don't practice.
“So what the movie really drives home, in addition to the authenticity about the process and all that, is just the human element and how different folks are affected, whether it's those young soldiers at Fort Greely to the STRATCOM staff all the way up to the President of the United States.”
To relax you even further, the Pentagon has also weighed in on the movie, releasing a statement declaring that there are some “inaccuracies.”
The main issue was from a scene with Jared Harris, whose character, Reid Baker, said that current missile defenses only have a 50% chance of intercepting a missile despite their $50 billion price tag.
In an internal memorandum from the Missile Defense Agency obtained by Bloomberg and dated October 16, the Pentagon said this was an inaccurate figure, and that actually, modern interceptors “have displayed a 100% accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.”
Well, that's settled then. We can all sleep well in the knowledge that, should there be an unknown missile heading towards the US, the government will sort it.
A House of Dynamite is streaming on Netflix right now.
