00:00It all felt very believable.
00:05This really could happen.
00:16Zero Day is about the aftermath of a devastating cyber attack that kills thousands of people
00:23and that puts a nation already on edge right up to the precipice.
00:30And in the aftermath of that attack, the country forms the Zero Day Commission, which is a
00:35body charged with investigating who's responsible for that cyber attack.
00:40When it comes to choosing someone to run this commission, to have these powers, President
00:45Mitchell makes the wise decision to choose a true bipartisan.
00:49I enlist the most trusted individual, our previous president, George Mullen.
00:56It is with great humility and a ferocious sense of purpose that I have accepted President
01:00Mitchell's request to lead the commission.
01:02A few years ago, Mike Schmidt and I were out and I asked him, what ideas do you have?
01:07What keeps you up at night?
01:08I'm like, well, I always came back to this idea.
01:12What if the person who had the weight of the country on their shoulders had something that
01:17made them not what we thought they were?
01:22It seemed like such a spectacular, high stakes setup.
01:26A former president brought back in to adjudicate an incredibly high stakes matter and then
01:32to realize that he, like the rest of the country, is coming undone.
01:39That was the kernel that became Zero Day.
01:43This commission that's formed has more power than anybody has ever had in the history of
01:47the country.
01:48You're just going to grab people off the streets without warrants.
01:51Actually, you are.
01:53All of the things that we have in place to check people's power are all paused and so
01:57he can do and the commission can do whatever they want.
02:01It can be dangerous, stepping over the line, going too far.
02:06This show raises the question of what would unfettered government really look like?
02:12What would all powerful government do?
02:18If you're going to give this kind of power to anyone, you want to give it to someone
02:24who is least likely to be a autocrat or potential tyrant.
02:30You have to do it.
02:32Who else do you want with their finger on the trigger?
02:35And they see someone who on the outside people really trust, but as the viewer, you see what's
02:43going on in his mind.
02:46One of the big questions of the show is, is the man that they remember still the George
02:50Mullen of today?
02:51We never get a warrant for this.
02:53We don't need a warrant.
02:54I'm sure you're listening carefully, George, because the following information is a must
02:58for a George Mullen.
03:00I can't understand.
03:08I love the juxtaposition between environment and character.
03:12I want to know what's going on internally, and I want to see the world they inhabit.
03:19Robert De Niro is one of the great actors of our time, and he's able to sort of summon
03:23all of that complexity.
03:25This cast is crazy.
03:26I mean, the cast is amazing.
03:30It's a spectacular lineup.
03:32Because this cast is so rich, it is now really a character piece.
03:38You can either agree with him or not, but you could see his dilemma.
03:43For me, thematically, Zero Day is about what is truth in a post-truth world.
03:48You want the audience asking at every moment what to believe and what not to believe.
03:53I think what's exciting and propelling about this show is that it feels like something
03:59that could actually happen.
04:00And if there was something terrible, how would the federal government respond to that, and
04:05are we prepared to deal with it?
04:09I hope you know what you're doing.
Comments