IR Interview: Tim Fehlbaum & John Magaro For "September 5" [Paramount]

The Inside Reel

Director Tim Fehlbaum and Actor John Magaro talk about approach, training and detail in regards to their new film from Paramount: "September 5".

Transcript

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!

04:59Übertreibung 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?

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