The historic drama, September 5, has only been playing in theaters for a few months, and it’s never been released very wide so far. Those who have seen the movie have mostly been blown away by how it tells the story of the ABC Sports reporting team, who had to pivot when terrorists took the Israeli Olympics team hostage in the Munich Summer Olympics of 1972. Never had a hostage situation been covered live on television up until that point.
At the heart of the events is the relatively young director Geoffrey Mason, played by John Magaro from Past Lives, who is put in charge of the coverage by ABC Sports President Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard). The small ensemble cast also includes Ben Chaplin and Leonie Benesch, playing Marvin Bader (another television veteran) and Marianne Gebhardt, the German translator beneficial to keeping the Americans aware of what’s happening.
The screenplay for this tense drama was co-written by director Tim Fehlbaum along with co-writer Moritz S. Binder, neither filmmaker being particularly well-known here in the States. The Munich-born Binder came from a documentary background, which allowed him to do the necessary research to find out what exactly happened on that fateful date in 1972.
Cinema Daily US spoke with Binder over Zoom for the interview you can watch above, in which he told us how he and Fehlbaum came together to write the film, what was involved with researching the subject, creating new characters not based on real individuals, the important role played by co-writer Alex David, and also, his thoughts on any controversy surrounding the film and linking it to what is happening in the Middle East, which misses the point of the film.
September 5 is now playing in theaters in select cities. You can watch our previous interview with director Tim Fehlbaum and producer John Palmer here, as well as actors Leonie Benesch and Ben Chaplin. You can also read Karen Benardello’s review of the movie here.
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Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Screenwriter: Tim Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder, Alex David
Cast: John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Benjamin Walker,
Producer: Philipp Trauer, Thomas Wöbke, Mark Nolting, Sean Penn, John Ira Palmer, John Wildermuth
Production Co: BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion, Projected Picture Works, Constantin Film, Edgar Reitz Filmstiftung
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Drama
Language: English, German
Release Date (Theaters): December 13, 2024 (limited)
Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutes
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You can watch the trailer below: