FILM · 2008 · USA
The Hurt Locker
- Directed by
- Kathryn Bigelow
- Runtime
- 131 min
- Studio
- First Light, Kingsgate Films, Voltage Pictures
34 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (34)
- #001
The bomb disposal suit worn by Jeremy Renner was a genuine, functional suit.
- #002
Kathryn Bigelow claims that none of the scenes shot were left out of the final cut.
- #003
The film was shot in Jordan. Because of filming at a US military base in Kuwait, access was denied for a week.
- #004
In every scene where James wears the bomb-resistant Kevlar suit, it is actually Jeremy Renner on screen. Temperatures on set routinely exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). Producers initially planned to use doubles in some shots to reduce Renner's risk of heat stroke. However, director Kathryn Bigelow felt that none of the doubles could replicate Renner's distinctive walk. Even in extreme long shots, it really is him.
- #005
It was James Cameron who convinced his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow to direct this film. She had initially planned to do another project and was unsure whether she would make this one. Cameron read it and told her to make it, and the film earned her an Oscar nomination and the Best Director award. In fact, the film was nominated in nine categories against Cameron's Avatar (2009) and won six awards, including Best Picture. Cameron himself said: "I wouldn't bet against her."
- #006
During filming, numerous handheld Super 16 mm cameras were used to shoot the scenes in a documentary style. About 200 hours of footage was shot at a 100:1 shooting ratio.
- #007
The two biggest actors, Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce, have less than 10 minutes of screen time before being killed.
- #008
With a gross domestic box office of 12 million dollars, it became the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner, since box office results are regularly counted even without adjusting for inflation. The film had actually closed in theaters by the time of the Oscars, which tends to boost a film's numbers. DVD showings, rentals and significant campaigns helped the film beat Avatar (2009), which was then the highest-grossing film of all time.
- #009
While carrying an Iraqi child on set, Jeremy Renner tripped and fell down some stairs. Filming was halted for several days while Renner's ankle healed.
- #010
With this film, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Oscar, the BAFTA and the DGA Award for Best Director. It is also the first film directed by a woman to win the Best Picture award.
- #011
Kathryn Bigelow cast Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty because of her vivid memories of their impressive performances in Dahmer (2002), Half Nelson (2006) and Jarhead (2005), respectively.
- #012
The robot shown in the first scene is an HD-1 ANDROS built by Northrop Grumman's Remotec division for counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Device) missions. Many of the shots in the first scene are video taken from the HD-1's camera.
- #013
The large bomb disposal suits weigh 80 lbs and are made of Kevlar and ballistic plates.
- #014
Jordan is such a safe place that the actors initially did not want security guards as originally planned. There was no Jordanian army providing security for the film. Security and set dressing were initially provided by a private company.
- #015
As of 2010, it was the lowest-grossing Best Picture Oscar winner when adjusted for inflation (with 14 million dollars in ticket revenue).
- #016
Director Kathryn Bigelow had the rare luxury of getting the final cut of the film.
- #017
Producer Nicolas Chartier caused a controversy in February 2010 by sending emails to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asking them to vote for this film for the Best Picture Oscar; "not a '500 dolar million film,'" is a clear reference to fellow Best Picture contender Avatar (2009). AMPAS rules prohibit members from sending emails disparaging rival films. In the end, the Academy did more than deny Chartier an Oscar win; it revoked his invitation to the awards ceremony, after which the film received the Best Picture Oscar.
- #018
During the first week of filming (in Jordan in the summer), there was a heat wave. It was so hot that cinematographer Barry Ackroyd fell ill with heat stroke.
- #019
This is the first Oscar-winning dramatic feature film about the Iraq War and the first film about modern warfare since the Vietnam War to win the Best Picture Oscar. It is the first war film to win the Best Picture Oscar since The English Patient (1996). It is the first war film to win the Best Director Academy Award since Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002).
- #020
Several key American crew members were stopped and questioned and/or had their luggage searched by US airport security before going to and/or returning from Jordan. Even one of the producers was detained for questioning after returning to Los Angeles.
- #021
After Casablanca (1942) and Crash (2004), The Hurt Locker became the third Best Picture winner to have premiered the year before it competed at the Oscars.
- #022
Writer Mark Boal spent time in Iraq embedded with three-man bomb disposal teams whose job was to clear roads and houses, and first wrote it up as an article, but he saw a bigger picture there and brought the idea to Bigelow, who was equally excited by it.
- #023
The video feed from the robot camera uses some special effects to give it a rough look. One element is that the line order is reversed: the horizontal scan lines that make up a video image are not synchronized, so that even-numbered lines come before odd-numbered lines, meaning the even lines are displayed a frame ahead of the odd lines rather than a frame behind. This causes short horizontal lines to appear next to anything showing movement, a structure commonly seen in improperly encoded video. A second effect was the addition of faint horizontal lines across the whole image. Beyond that, the image is slightly blurry.
- #024
In the DVD commentary, screenwriter Mark Boal notes that the Beretta 92FS intended for use in the taxi scene got stuck in customs, which explains why the film switches to the correct model later on. Boal says getting the 92 seen here was difficult; he searched local bars trying to find a suitable handgun but had no luck. In the end, a Jordanian General gave the producers a used 92 (which was later converted to blank fire by armorer David Fencl).
- #025
The film is set in 2004.
- #026
Colin Farrell, Willem Dafoe and Charlize Theron were originally planned to star.
- #027
Because the film was shot in the Middle East (specifically in Jordan, the country immediately next to Iraq), the production had difficulty securing key crew members and department heads.
- #028
A production bus full of Iraqi refugees (hired as extras) overturned on the road to the production. No one was seriously injured. A few people were reported injured and one person broke his nose.
- #029
The opening quote on screen is taken from journalist Chris Hedges's book War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. Ironically, Hedges would later criticize the film deeply.
- #030
The three Ministry songs in the film (Fear (Is A Big Business), Palestina and Khyber Pass) come from their tenth album Rio Grande Blood, a politically focused record criticizing the war in Iraq and former President George W. Bush.
- #031
The bomb disposal robot had to be obtained from Northrop Grumman, which produces units for the US military and others.
- #032
As of 2018, this film had won the most Academy Awards (six) of any Best Picture winner since the 82nd Oscars expanded the Best Picture nominee field beyond five.
- #033
Crew members were American, Jordanian, Lebanese, British, Irish, German, Moroccan, Danish, Tunisian, Canadian, South African, Icelandic, Iraqi, Libyan, Circassian, Palestinian, Armenian, Swedish, Australian and New Zealander.
- #034
Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie appeared together again in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
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