Is A House of Dynamite based on a true story? Inside the inspiration for gripping Netflix thriller
Blockbuster director Kathryn Bigelow’s new film is hitting Netflix this week, but what’s the inspiration behind the tense political thriller A House of Dynamite?
Netflix’s original thriller film A House of Dynamite is about to be released and it’s one of the streamer’s most highly anticipated new releases for 2025.
Directed by Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, the film follows several groups of people’s response to a devastating attack on US soil.
Hollywood stars Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba lead the all-star cast as various behind-the-scenes officials, experts and politicians working tirelessly to evade the threat of nuclear war.
But is the heart-racing thriller based on events that have actually happened?
Let’s take a closer look at what inspired Bigelow’s must-watch new film coming to Netflix this Friday (24th October).
Is A House of Dynamite based on a true story?
No, A House of Dynamite is not based on actual events and is a work of fiction.
None of the major characters depicted in the film are real, including Elba as a fictional President of the United States.
However, Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim did draw inspiration from the current global climate as well as extensive research into US defence to construct a plausible scenario of a deadly attack against the world superpower.
In an interview with the Guardian, the director explained: “Someone I know said the bomb for the audience is realising this is possible.
“I’m glad if people come away from the movie as concerned as I am.”
The 73-year-old filmmaker reveals she grew up in a time when the threat of nuclear war felt constant, and “duck and cover” drills were a frequent occurrence.
Now living through the turbulent 2020s, Bigelow wants audiences to reconnect with that terrifying possibility.
“Our world is combustible,” she warns. “And it’s extraordinary to me how that ever became normalised.”
The realism of the film is exemplified by Ferguson’s Captain Olivia Walker, a military communications officer working in the White House’s Situation Room.
“The roles that I had done thus far, they’ve all been characters. And what I haven’t done is to just be a normal human being,” she said of the role in an interview with Tudum.
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Ferguson’s extensive research for the role included illuminating conversations with Larry Pfeiffer, the former former senior director of the real Situation Room and an inspiration for Jason Clarke’s character Admiral Mark Miller.
“I felt from the beginning that there was enormous trust in her handing over this role to me,” Ferguson added.
“There was also the fact that I made it very clear to her that I wanted it to be correct. I wanted to do research.”
So, while the events of the film thankfully haven’t taken place in the real world, A House of Dynamite is a timely reminder that they could happen at any point.
A House of Dynamite will be released Friday, 24th October on Netflix.