00:00Reports claim that the Pentagon is furious with war movie on Netflix.
00:05The Pentagon warns viewers, Netflix's A House of Dynamite is not real, and timing is raising eyebrows.
00:12The memo, first reported by Bloomberg News, doesn't just clarify that the movie is fiction,
00:17it urges personnel to actively correct what it calls false assumptions about the U.S. missile defense system.
00:24That might seem like an unusual move for a Hollywood drama.
00:27A single intercontinental ballistic missile is detected flying over the Pacific.
00:32Within minutes, two U.S. interceptors are launched from Fort Greeley, Alaska.
00:37The missile keeps coming.
00:39According to the movie, America is now out of options.
00:43And that's the problem.
00:45In the memo, officials point out that real-world interceptor systems have posted near-perfect accuracy in tests for several years.
00:52It also doesn't help that the film claims those interceptors cost the U.S. $50 billion, a figure the department disputes.
01:01The fictional defense secretary, played by Jared Harris, says the odds of a successful intercept are basically a coin flip.
01:08His deputy compares it to hitting a bullet with another bullet.
01:12As chaos unfolds on screen, the defense department wants to make sure no one watching mistakes it for reality.
01:20In a statement released to Bloomberg, the Pentagon confirmed it was never consulted during the movie's production.
01:26Still, the filmmakers are standing by their work.
01:29Noah Oppenheim, the film's screenwriter, said on MSNBC he respectfully disagreed with the Pentagon's assessment of the interceptor's capabilities.
01:38What we show in the movie is accurate, he said.
01:41He didn't name his sources.
01:43The pushback from the Pentagon is raising some questions.
01:46And not just about the movie.
01:49And why mention the interceptor accuracy data at all, unless there's concern the public might start asking questions?
01:56So far, Netflix has not responded to the defense department's criticism.
02:00But for now, audiences are watching.
02:03And the Pentagon is watching them right back.
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