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Surprise! Hollywood a longtime friend of the CIA & PentagonWASHINGTON — Some Republican lawmakers were outraged when federal records released last week showed that the White House, CIA and Defense Department granted high-level access last year to a pair of acclaimed filmmakers researching an actionthriller about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The documents tell “a damning story of extremely close, unprecedented, and potentially dangerous collaboration” between the filmmakers and theObama administration, fumed New York Rep. Peter T. King, GOP chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
The Defense Department’s inspector general is investigating whether any classified information was improperly disclosed. But barring that, the episode is just the latest in an increasingly close, cooperative arrangement — spanning administrations — that gives Hollywood extraordinary access to military assets and CIA operatives. In turn, the Pentagon and CIA have exercised subtle and not-so-subtle influence on scripts and helped burnish their images on screen.
Peter Berg, who directed the recently released science fiction film“Battleship,” was allowed to use five Navy warships during production, and cast Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in a cameo role. Mabus later helped launch the film at a Washington screening for Navy brass and service members.
“An artist has got to be careful never to really arrive at a place where he thinks he’s at somewhere. You got to realize that you’re constantly in a state of becoming, and as long as you can stay in that realm, you’ll sort of be alright.” —Bob Dylan