A group of Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli athletes' quarters in the OS village in Munich on September 5, 1972. When the drama was over, eleven Israelis, five terrorists, and one policeman were dead.
What happened there was the beginning of something new, says actor Peter Sarsgaard to TT.
It's what makes our film highly relevant today, to how we view and consume news, and to how journalism has changed.
Sports journalists broadcast live
"September 5" is about the dramatic hours when the world saw the events unfold in live broadcasting. Sarsgaard plays Roone Arledge, the man who led ABC's sports department in Munich.
When the extent of what happened became apparent, ABC began broadcasting live simultaneously as the US was alerted to the hostage drama. Sports journalists had to become general reporters, and anchor Jim McKay became the one who conveyed the information from the studio.
McKay, who passed away in 2008, "is himself" in the film, no actor portrays him.
It was extremely important to be able to use the real old TV broadcasts with him, when he sits and updates the news. It wasn't easy, but if we didn't get the real TV images with him, I didn't want to make the film, says director Tim Fehlbaum.
"He was the benchmark"
For Peter Sarsgaard, McKay was the most important person on the actors' daily schedule.
He was the benchmark, he was a truthful and direct person. He communicated, believed that it would resolve itself, that what happened would mean something. The end made him extremely upset.
Sarsgaard means that all similarities with today are intentional and warns against the notion that a live broadcast would be more truthful than what is taped.
It's an illusion. Just how you set up the camera is a stance. There is no objective camera. Using our film to ask questions about journalism today is highly relevant. Today, we trust too much what we see, the fact that something is broadcast live doesn't necessarily make it true.
"Happens all the time"
In Munich, reporters discussed how they would handle it if someone was killed in live broadcasting, how would they tackle it?
Should they broadcast it, not least considering the hostages' families back home in Israel? Today, it happens all the time. A bus explodes, a children's hospital is bombed, on CNN the same images are shown over and over again, and it makes us tolerate more violence. Every time these images roll before us, the less we feel, says Peter Sarsgaard.
Age: 54 years.
Family: Wife Maggie Gyllenhaal, two children.
Lives: In New York.
Occupation: Actor.
Previous roles in selection: "Boys don't cry", "Empire", "Kinsey", "Jarhead", "An education", "Lovelace", "Blue jasmine", "Jackie", "Black mass", "The lost daughter", "Memory".
Currently: In "September 5", which has its Swedish cinema premiere on April 4.
