Bigelow``s Bin Laden film runs into trouble with US lawmakers

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 11 (PTI) Oscar famed Hollywood filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, making a movie about the hunt and killing of the world''s biggest terrorist Osama bin Laden, may have been been given confidential access by the Obama Administration for the venture, prompting a US lawmaker to question the move.

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, the award winning team behind the Iraq war film ''The Hurt Locker'' have been developing a project on the search for bin Laden since 2008.

Boal, a former magazine journalist who spent time with US forces in Iraq, wants to depict decade-long secret operations to kill or capture the al Qaeda leader.

Drawing attention of the administration to a media report that the Sony Pictures and Bigelow have been given access to confidential information, New York Republican Congressman Peter T King has said it is the duty of the authorities to inform public and lawmakers before declassifying such matters.

He called on the Pentagon and the CIA to investigate, saying that he was worried about the possibility that classified information was leaked to Bigelow and the Sony Pictures, which have acquired distribution rights to the movie.

"Administration''s first duty in declassifying material is to provide full reporting to Congress and the American people, in an effort to build public trust through transparency of government," King, who is also the Chairman Committee on Homeland Security, said in a letter to the Defence Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell and CIA Inspector General David Buckley.

King also cited reports that Bigelow had attended a CIA ceremony in honour of the team that carried out the raid, an accusation that was described as "false" by the Hollywood producer.