Zero Dark Thirty: 1/3 of film is torture
According to some accounts, approximately one third of Zero Dark Thirty's runtime depicts a terrorist being tortured and waterboarded.
Where this was said
Post-9/11: 24, Zero Dark Thirty, and Torture Normalization
At 26:39 · chapter starts 24:10
After 9/11, the CIA allegedly saw an opportunity. A traumatized American public craving vengeance might be receptive to accepting harsh interrogation tactics — if they were made to seem necessary and effective [1] — Carter Roy "Fox's 24 aired two months after 9/11 and glorified torture as a necessary counterterrorism tool. Zero Dark Thirty — with unprecedented CIA …" 24:10 . Enter Jack Bauer, the hero of Fox's 24, which premiered just two months after the attacks and featured torture as a routine and effective counterterrorism tool. By 2005, the Bush administration's actual post-9/11 torture program had been publicly revealed. The hosts wonder: did 24 make Americans less surprised, and less outraged, by that news? Then came Zero Dark Thirty, which received extraordinary CIA cooperation — including access to the floor plan of CIA headquarters in Langley — and depicted waterboarding as instrumental in locating Osama bin Laden, despite torture not being officially used in the real operation. By some accounts, roughly a third of the film's runtime is a single extended torture sequence. The hosts observe that Homer Simpson torturing someone would have been played for laughs — perhaps the most effective kind of normalization of all.
24 and Zero Dark Thirty: CIA Torture Propaganda?
Fox's 24 aired two months after 9/11 and glorified torture as a necessary counterterrorism tool. Zero Dark Thirty — with unprecedented CIA access including floor plans of Langley — depicted torture as central to capturing Bin Laden, even though it officially wasn't. If the CIA wanted torture normalized, both productions did that job.
24 aired 2 months after 9/11
Fox's counterterrorism show 24, which prominently features torture, aired its first episode just two months after the September 11 attacks.
Princeton's Subliminal Simpsons Study
In 2002, Princeton researchers secretly inserted Coca-Cola subliminal frames into a Simpsons episode. The result: viewers were 27% thirstier than the control group. But here's the catch — subliminal messaging nudges you slightly; it doesn't rewire you. The Manchurian Candidate scenario remains science fiction.
Similar snapshots
Wife Gabby had 25 boyfriends on The Bachelorette
Robby's wife Gabby Windey was the Bachelorette on the TV show, meaning she had 25 male contestants, before eventually coming out and marrying Robby.
The Hawk is Will Ferrell's first lead TV series
Jimmy Tatro noted that The Hawk on Netflix is Will Ferrell's first TV series where he is the lead, despite Ferrell's long movie career.
Jimmy Tatro is working with Will Ferrell for the 5th time
Jimmy Tatro revealed The Hawk is his fifth time working with Will Ferrell, having gone straight from a movie with Ferrell's team into the series.
Reacher — 56M global viewers in one week
Reacher Season 2 attracted 56 million global viewers in a single week, making it one of the most-watched streaming shows in Amazon Prime Video history.
Motor City — no dialogue silent film
Motor City is a film with zero spoken dialogue, originally conceived by then-Warner Bros. president Greg Silverman so that global audiences could share the same experience without language barriers.
Motor City on Hollywood Blacklist since 2009
The Motor City script appeared on Hollywood's prestigious Blacklist of best unproduced screenplays as early as 2009 and was greenlit nine times with different directors before finally being made.
Held at Titan/Hawk audition — turned down 5 times
Alan Ritchson turned down the role of Hawk on Titans five times before finally accepting, having convinced himself he was destined for Shazam — which he ultimately did not get.
Thor audition — 'he doesn't have the craft'
Alan Ritchson's failed Thor audition was so poor the casting director broke protocol to call his team and say he didn't have the craft — a moment Ritchson describes as the career-defining crossroads that sent him to acting school.
7 years on the hamster wheel
Camila Mendes shot Riverdale for 7 consecutive years, 10 months per year, with only 2-month gaps between seasons, leaving no time to stop or rest.
