Zero Dark Thirty: The Shooting Script

by Mark Boal

The hunt for Osama bin Laden preoccupied the world and two American presidential administrations for more than a decade. But in the end, it took a small, dedicated team of CIA operatives to track him down. Every aspect of their mission was shrouded in secrecy. Though some of the details have since been made public, many of the most significant parts of the intelligence operation—including the central role played by that team—are brought to the screen for the first time in a nuanced and gripping new film by the Oscar®-winning creative duo of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, and Edgar Ramirez. The Newmarket Shooting Script Book

Genres: Film, Drama, Mystery, Action, War, Nonfiction, Media Tie In

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2013

About the author

Mark Boal (born 1973) is an American journalist, screenwriter and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Hurt Locker (2009). His screenplay won six other major awards as well.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've rarely felt so conflicted after watching a movie. I was expecting a clear statement about how the director felt, and there wasn't one. I read in some online review that it's upset left- and right-wing people in the US about equally much.

If your politics are left-oriented, you'll be distressed to see that information acquired using torture is claimed to have been of key significance in the process of tracking down Osama bin Laden. You'll be appalled that the torturers don't come across as subhuman or evil. They're presented as likable people doing a horrible job which they believe is necessary. You'll be particularly creeped out to find that the movie is often manipulating you into feeling that you're rooting for them. You won't like the triumphalist ending, where you're graphically shown the successful conclusion of the long hunt for the world's most wanted criminal.

If your politics are right-oriented, you'll be uncomfortable to see that captured terrorists are presented as brave men hopelessly trying to stand up to people who systematically degrade and humiliate them using cruel, extra-legal methods. You'll be shocked to discover that you feel sympathy for them when they're shown afterwards, broken and changed by the torture and docilely cooperating with enemies they hate and despise. You'll disapprove of the suggestion that bin Laden, by the time he finally was caught, was no longer important. You won't like the bathetic ending, where a dozen US Special Forces operatives, armed to the teeth, storm into a house and gun down bin Laden and three other people in cold blood, to a soundtrack dominated by the screams of terrified children.

No, I just don't know what to think. Nice work, Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and interesting story. The screenplay remains suspenseful throughout.

[Sarah Boselovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainly read this to help complete my 2025 A-Z challenge. It was interesting given that it was a script. Now I want to watch the movie again.

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The many year hunt for OBL came to a conclusion when he was killed in a safe house in Pakistan by US special forces. One woman spent her entire CIA career chasing him. A very hard task.

[Michael Pritzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and quick read, but for some reason seemed shorted. I guess I went in thinking it would be a narrative chronologically written. It was a movie script?! I think it made it a "to the point" book. I rented the movie and it was fun to have kind of figured out how movies are put together. The movie actually seemed longer than the book, but both were excellent to consume.

[6burrier_kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! A great outstanding demonstration of team work and strategy. This book is about hunting down Binlanden for all his plans and attackts on The United States of America. A must read book and great lessons to be learned.

[Sev Mardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty hard to get through but a great story nonetheless. It was emotional intense and I cannot even imagine what soldiers have to go through. It really shone some light on the trauma.

[S D]

If you actually lay out how they caught Bin Laden, it's kind of insane