Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim has pushed back against the Pentagon's claims that "House of Dynamite" gives a misleading picture of America's missile defense systems.
The criticism came from an internal memo by the Missile Defense Agency, dated Oct. 16 and obtained by Bloomberg.
In it, officials said the film's depiction of interceptors missing their target might make for good drama but doesn't match the real data.
"The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target, and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience," the memo said, adding that real-world results "tell a vastly different story."
The agency said U.S. interceptors "have displayed a 100% accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade."
Oppenheim, a former president of NBC News, said he "respectfully disagrees."
Speaking on MSNBC's "The Weekend," he said the team behind the film worked closely with defense experts before writing the script.
"I spoke to many missile defense experts, all on the record ... our missile defense system is highly imperfect," he said. "What we show in the movie is accurate."
In "House of Dynamite," missiles launched from Alaska fail to intercept a nuclear weapon heading toward Chicago.
Oppenheim said his research for the script involved extensive consultation with specialists who described the U.S. missile defense system as far from infallible.
Some experts have noted that the film's scenario simplifies the challenges the U.S. could face in an actual nuclear confrontation.
Nuclear physicist Laura Grego, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Bloomberg that the movie portrays a relatively straightforward situation.
"A robust defense should anticipate facing multiple incoming ICBMs and credible decoys, and direct attacks on missile defense elements, but none of those were part of the story in this film," she said. "The fictional threat is arguably about as easy as they come."
Director Kathryn Bigelow, who declined Pentagon involvement in the production, said independence was key to the film's approach.
"Our nuclear armory is a fallible structure," she told The Guardian. "Within it are men and women working thanklessly behind the scenes, whose competence means you and I can sit and have this conversation. But competence doesn't mean they're infallible."
The comments come as the U.S. continues to invest in missile defense technology. It currently operates 44 ground-based interceptor missiles in Alaska and California.
In 2020, the Pentagon awarded Northrop Grumman a $13.3 billion contract to develop a new generation of interceptors due in 2029, The Guardian reported.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump proposed a "Golden Dome" system that would use space-based weapons to intercept missile attacks.
"We'll have it done in three years," Trump told reporters at the time, according to CNN. "Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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