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June 5, 2009 (from Cinema Blend.com)

Though it debuted at a film festival and will be following a very slow, small-scale release pattern, The Hurt Locker is as thrilling and entertaining as any giant blockbuster this summer. Kathryn Bigelow's war movie follows three bomb experts in Iraq as they count down the days until the end of their tour of duty. Jeremy Renner, as the biggest hothead but also the most talented in the bunch, is phenomenal in his role, and he and Anthony Mackie play marvelously off each other as initial rivals who eventually learn they have no choice but to work together.

Hopefully you've already seen the film's trailer, but if you want more of an idea of what the movie's all about, check out two newly released clips from the film below, sent to us by Summit. We've also got some new images added to our complete photo gallery, including the first image of Ralph Fiennes as a British soldier gone undercover. Click on either of the images below to see the full collection. The Hurt Locker comes out in New York and L.A. on June 26 (yes, opposite Transformers 2), and will be rolling out nationwide from there.

Source:

CinemaBlend.com

June 2009 (from American Cinematheque)

Rider on the Storm: An In Person Tribute to Director Kathryn Bigelow

Native Californian director Kathryn Bigelow began her artistic endeavors at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Whitney Museum Independent Study program, She later transferred into graduate work in filmmaking at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Her debut feature, THE LOVELESS, a quirky indie biker film set in the 1950s starring Willem Dafoe, was co-directed with Monty Montgomery in 1982. NEAR DARK (1987) was Kathryn’s first feature outing on her own. An indie box office success, it still remains one of the most beloved classic cult horror films from the 1980s -- romantic, twisted, iconoclastic. With her following pictures – such unusual character-driven, adrenaline-charged fare as BLUE STEEL, POINT BREAK, STRANGE DAYS and K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER -- it has became unmistakably clear that Kathryn Bigelow is not your stereotypical female movie director.

She has excelled at the hardboiled action movie genre and has fearlessly done it without sacrificing her uncompromising ideas about the impulses that spark her characters to acts of violence and heroism. Her new edge-of-your-seat suspense film THE HURT LOCKER, about a bomb disposal team in the midst of the Iraq War, is no exception and has already garnered ferocious word-of-mouth acclaim. Please join us in welcoming director Kathryn Bigelow In-Person for the entire weekend, wrapping up with a Sneak Preview of her newest, THE HURT LOCKER.

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Friday, June 5 – 7:30 PM

Director Kathryn Bigelow In-Person! Sneak Preview!

THE HURT LOCKER, 2009, Summit Entertainment, 131 min. Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together realistic action and intimate human drama in a landmark film starring Jeremy Renner (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), Anthony Mackie (WE ARE MARSHALL), Brian Geraghty (JARHEAD), and co-starring Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly ("Lost") and Guy Pearce. In the summer of 2004, Sergeant Sanborn (Mackie) and Specialist Eldridge (Geraghty) are part of a small counterforce trained to handle homemade bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The job, a high-pressure, high-stakes assignment that soldiers volunteer for, requires a calm intelligence that leaves no room for mistakes.

When Staff Sergeant James (Renner) cheerfully takes over the team, Sanborn and Eldridge are shocked by what seems like his reckless disregard for military protocol and basic safety measures. Is James really a swaggering cowboy who lives for peak experiences and the moments when the margin of error is zero – or is he a consummate professional who has honed his craft to high-wire precision? The men have only 38 days left in their tour, but with each new mission comes another deadly encounter. As James blurs the line between bravery and bravado, it seems only a matter of time before disaster strikes.

A gripping portrayal of real-life sacrifice and heroism, and a probing study of the soul-numbing rigors and potent allure of the modern battlefield. Based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq -- a squad whose members spoke of explosions as putting you in "the hurt locker." Discussion following with director Kathryn Bigelow and Stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and screenwriter Mark Boal.

Source: American Cinematheque

April 17, 2009 (from Entertainment Weekly)

Movie Preview

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Release date: June 26

Director Bigelow (Point Break) wants to make one thing clear: ''There have been no Iraq-war movies.'' She means that before this portrait of an elite military bomb-defusing unit stationed in Baghdad, there hasn't been a mainstream drama set in combat in the current war. To keep things as real as possible, Bigelow plopped her actors in Jordan, in 120-degree heat, at times near the Iraqi border. ''Every day we were just trying not to pass out,'' says Renner (28 Weeks Later), who spent much of his time attempting to act heroically from inside an enormous, bulky bomb-defusing suit. ''I was trying to MapQuest my self-respect and dignity constantly.''

March 4, 2009(from Variety)

'Brothers Bloom' to open Dallas fest

'Hurt Locker' will also screen at AFI event

By DAVE MCNARY

'The Hurt Locker' will be shown at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.

The AFI Dallas Film Festival has set Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom," starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi, as its opening-night feature on March 26.

Fest's centerpiece presentations are "The Hurt Locker," directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly, David Morse and Guy Pearce, and "The Burning Plain," directed by Guillermo Arriaga and starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

The eight-day festival is in its third year.

Event's Dallas Star Award will go to Bigelow, Brody and Robert Towne. Rita Hayworth will be honored posthumously. Hayworth's award will be presented to her daughter, Princess Yasmine Aga Khan, prior to a screening of "Gilda," while Towne will be feted at a presentation for the 35th anniversary of "Chinatown."

The festival's also celebrating director Henry Selick with the Texas Avery Animation Award, which honors lifetime achievement in animation.

February 27, 2009 (from Rope of Silicon & Summit Entertainment)

Summit Updates: Release Date for ‘The Hurt Locker’, Synopsis for ‘Eclipse’ and Clip from ‘Knowing’

Looking forward to June

BY: Brad Brevet

Summit Entertainment sent over an update today which included word Kathryn Bigelow’s festival favorite The Hurt Locker will hit theaters on June 26. I have been anxiously waiting for this movie since hearing some wild descriptions as to the harsh nature of it all so it is nice to finally get a firm release date for it.

The synopsis reads as follows:

Inspired by true events and recently declassified information, The Hurt Locker follows an elite Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal team in present-day Baghdad that fights an onslaught of bombs and snipers. Renner will play the leader of the team, while Mackie and Geraghty are members of it. Fiennes is a mercenary; Pearce is another member.

September 10, 2008 (from Variety)

Sluggish Toronto sees surprise buys

Summit picks up 'Locker'

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK, ANNE THOMPSON

There were signs of life in Toronto's sluggish acquisitions market on Wednesday as IFC made a surprise acquisition of all U.S. distribution rights to Steven Soderbergh's "Che," while Summit snapped up domestic theatrical rights to Kathryn Bigelow's war action-thriller "The Hurt Locker."

"Hurt Locker," which won't be released until next year and could be a summer title, distinguishes itself from the recent crop of failed Iraqi war pics in that it doesn't have political overtones but is a traditional war film.

September 10, 2008 (from The Hollywood Reporter)

Summit to unlock 'Hurt Locker' in U.S.

Kathryn Bigelow Iraq War actioner marks big Toronto deal

By Gregg Goldstein and Steven Zeitchik

Summit Entertainment has picked up U.S. rights to Kathryn Bigelow's suspense-filled Iraq War-based actioner "The Hurt Locker," during a Toronto International Film Festival that has been hurting for big sales.

The deal for the CAA-repped movie closed in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Sources involved with the deal place the price between just over $1 million to just under $2 million, with significant backend for the filmmakers and a wide release.

Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes star in Bigelow's tale of an Army squad that must defuse a dangerous bomb in a crowded Iraqi city.

Buyers have been following the title since it premiered in competition Sept. 4 at the Venice Film Festival.

Summit and several other distributors have been in talks with the filmmakers since its Monday night Toronto bow. All hoped the film's action elements would allow it to escape the curse other Iraq War films have faced at the boxoffice.

Buyer interest in "Locker" spoke to a hunger for quality films in a marketplace, and may be the start of a late-fest flurry in sales as distributors patiently wait for prices to fall.

"This movie is not about the Iraq War. It's an action-adventure movie that happens to be set in Iraq," said Voltage Pictures producer Nic Chartier, who has sold several international territories on the film.

September 4, 2008 (from Variety)

'Hurt Locker' gives Venice a jolt

Bigelow film follows elite bomb squad in Iraq

By Nick Vivarelli

The Iraq war dominated the day at the Venice Film Festival, where the world preem of Kathryn Bigelow's high-adrenaline bomb-squad actioner "The Hurt Locker" gave the Lido a jolt and emerged as the Iraq pic that may break through to American auds.

"We represent something that's very different from any other Iraq war film that we've seen so far," producer Greg Shapiro told Daily Variety on Thursday.

Shapiro has high hopes of closing a U.S. distribution deal at the Toronto Film Festival for the war drama, which received a 10-minute standing ovation after its Lido screening.

The story follows an elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team operating in and around Baghdad.

Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty star as the death-defying defusers, with Ralph Fiennes putting in a cameo as a mercenary. Guy Pearce also has a small role.

The indie pic, which was shot in Jordan and was produced by Shapiro and Nicolas Chartier's Voltage Pictures, goes out in Italy via Warner Bros. on Oct. 10.

At the packed news conference, Bigelow, who is the only woman helmer in the Lido's 21-title competition, called "Hurt Locker" "a very topical film about an underreported war."

But politics are really peripheral.

"My interest was to give this conflict a human face and to enable the audience to actually experience what a soldier experiences, based on personal observation from the battlefield," she said.

Journo Mark Boal, who was embedded with an EOD team in Iraq in 2004 and penned the screenplay based on that experience, called "Hurt Locker" "primarily observational, as opposed to polemical."

"It's almost a dirty little secret of war that, as horrible as it is, there are some men who, through the intensity of the experience, come to find it alluring," Boal said.

Shapiro acknowledged that the market for Iraq war films is very tough.

Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah" and Brian De Palma's "Redacted," which both preemed in Venice last year, sparked little interest with auds. Boal also wrote the material on which "In the Valley of Elah" was based.

"Hopefully this film presents the war in a new and a fresh way that people haven't seen, so we're hoping that perhaps that will break the trend in America," Shapiro said.

Slotted just as Toronto opens, "Hurt Locker" provided further proof that Venice topper Marco Mueller has backloaded the fest, which lacked firepower during the first week.

The Venice fest ends Saturday.

July 2, 2008 (from Variety)

Toronto believes in Lee's 'Miracle'

By Jennie Punter

Spike Lee’s WWII pic “Miracle at St. Anna” will world preem at the Toronto Film Festival.

Based on the debut novel by James McBride, who also penned the screenplay, pic stars Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller as members of the all-black 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” division stationed in Tuscany, Italy.

Fest, which runs Sept. 4-13, will also world preem Steve Jacobs’ “Disgrace,” starring John Malkovich as a South African professor whose relationship with his daughter is tested after an attack; Vincente Amorim’s “Good,” with Viggo Mortensen as a literature professor whose novel is used for government propaganda; and Peter Sollett’s “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as indie music lovers on a latenight adventure.

The festival announced the North American preems of Paolo Sorrentino’s Cannes jury prize winner “Il Divo,” a biopic starring Toni Servillo as powerful Italian politician Giulio Andreotti; and Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq cat-and-mouse thriller “The Hurt Locker,” starring Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce and David Morse.

All six titles will screen in the Toronto fest’s Special Presentations program.

July 28, 2007 (from The Daily Star)

Hollywood movie about Iraq war to begin filming

Filming is set to begin next week on "The Hurt Locker," a Hollywood drama about the travails of a US Army unit beset by bombers and snipers in Iraq, entertainment media reported Tuesday. The movie, starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, follows an elite army explosive-ordnance-disposal team in present-day Baghdad. Actors Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pierce are also reportedly signed on to star in the film. Bigelow is perhaps best known for her critically acclaimed 1995 science fiction film "Strange Days," which starred Fiennes and Angela Bassett.

Filming will take place in Jordan and Kuwait for "The Hurt Locker," which is inspired by actual events as well as recently declassified information, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"It's the first movie about the Iraq war that purports to show the experience of the soldiers," said screenwriter Mark Boal.

"We wanted to show the kinds of things that soldiers go through that you can't see on CNN, and I don't mean that in a censorship-conspiracy way. I just mean the news doesn't actually put photographers in with units that are this elite ... Most war movies don't come out until the war was over," he added.

"It's really exciting for me, coming out of the world of journalism, to have a movie come out about a conflict while the conflict is still going on."

July 17, 2007 (from ComingSoon.net)

Renner, Mackie & Geraghty Join Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty are toplining The Hurt Locker, an Iraq War drama from director Kathryn Bigelow. Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce also have cameos in the film, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Written by Mark Boal and inspired by true events and recently declassified information, "Locker" follows an elite Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal team in present-day Baghdad that fights an onslaught of bombs and snipers.

Renner will play the leader of the team, while Mackie and Geraghty are members of it. Fiennes is a mercenary; Pearce is another member.

Bigelow, Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro are producing. The film is a Voltage Pictures/First Light/Kingsgate Films production.

Filming is scheduled to begin next week in Jordan and Kuwait.

March 13, 2007 (from Production Weekly)

Perfect combination for ‘Locker’

Charlize Theron, Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Willem Dafoe are attached to topline the Iraq-set action drama “The Hurt Locker”. Kathryn Bigelow is directing from a screenplay she co-wrote with war reporter Mark Boal, who recently co-wrote the story for Paul Haggis’ “In The Valley Of Elah,” starring Theron. “Hurt Locker,” follows the exploits of an elite bomb disposal unit. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb. Principal photography is scheduled for later this spring. Farrell and Fiennes are co-staring in Martin McDonagh’s “In Bruges,” currently filming in Belgium.