Is the World Ready for Movies About 9/11?

By Linda Orlando

It’s been more than four years since terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center towers and killed thousands of people. For many, the events of that day are still emotionally wrenching. So far, Hollywood studios have wisely avoided telling the tragic tale of the innocent victims who died that day and the heroes who saved so many lives. In the months and years following the attacks, filmmakers and studios even went so far as to remove images of the Twin Towers from posters, movie trailers, and even some films completed pre-9/11, such as the latest Spiderman epic. Films depicting terrorists and themes of counterterrorism were delayed to avoid public backlash and accusations of insensitivity.

But now many filmmakers think enough time has passed for the attacks to be reenacted on screen. Earlier this year, the Discovery Channel aired a docudrama titled, "The Flight That Fought Back," telling the story of the taking of Flight 93 in rural Pennsylvania. The film depicted the crash of the flight that killed 40 people after passengers overtook the terrorists and caused the plane to crash in a rural spot rather than a heavily populated area. Because the Discovery Channel’s film attracted large audiences and little criticism, filmmakers began to feel that the 9/11 moratorium could be lifted.

The official report of the 9/11 Commission last year said that after hijackers took over United Airlines Flight 93, the passengers tried to take control of the cockpit and crashed the aircraft on purpose before it could reach the hijackers’ intended target. Outside London, British director Paul Greengrass has begun shooting a movie about the crash of Flight 93, produced as a joint venture by Universal Pictures and Working Title Fimls. The $15 million film, title simply "Flight 93," is scheduled to be released in theaters near the end of April 2006. It will have the feel of a documentary, re-enacting in real time the events that took place both inside the plane and on the ground as the flight crashed.

On the other side of the Atlantic, American filmmaker Peter Markle is wrapping up a movie in Los Angeles that is being produced by Fox Television Studios for the A&E cable network. Oliver Stone, no stranger to controversial movie material, is shooting an as-yet untitled film. A television miniseries is in the works describing the 9/11 Commission’s findings, and Mike Binder’s "Reign O’er Me" will deal with grief related to the 9/11 attacks. The book 102 Minutes is being adapted into a movie. Markle’s film, currently in post-production, is scheduled to air on January 30th on A&E. David Gerber, executive proucer, said "It’s a human story, a tragic story, and, in some ways, an inspirational story. These people were unbelievable."

Experts and analysts in the movie industry say that it’s not surprising that filmmakers have begun working on stories about that day. "It's probably the most dramatic story of my lifetime. It is a seminal event for people who are younger than the World War II generation," said Delia Fine, A&E's vice president of film, drama, and music. "You need the years to sort of let the emotion go, to be sensitive, but to let the culture as a whole experience it fresh without it being exploitive," said David Madden, Fox TV Studios' executive vice president of scripted programming. "If you tried to do it in 2002, it would have been too raw, too fresh."

Kristin White-Gould was one of the passengers killed when Flight 93 crashed. Her daughter, Allison Vadhan, of Atlantic Beach, NY, said that although the films might take dramatic license with the story, their intent is to provide possible answers to the unanswered questions in the minds of the public. She said that the producers of the Greengrass film were meticulous in their attempts to portray the characters in the story as real people, with the story being as realistic as possible.

"They seem to be extremely particular about every last detail—would they stop for a Starbucks…would they stop for a New York Times, what kind of book the passenger might be reading," she said. Vadhan is glad the movies are being made, because she doesn’t want the world to ever forget the thousands of people killed that day. "A lot of us have a lot of pain we always have to live with, whether there are movies or not," she said. "Every which way, keep them coming, keep 9/11 in the minds of the next generation."

Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Company, said that because everyone in the world was touched by the attacks, it’s a story that everyone can relate to. Because of that, he feels that films made now about 9/11 can be profitable. Yes, he really said that. Profitable.