Unthinkable

Gregor Jordan came to the project as its third director. Peter Woodward wrote the script; Tarsem Singh signed on in 2006 and left, David Slade did the same in early 2008, and Jordan attached himself that May with Samuel L. Jackson. The film never reached American cinemas. Senator, which financed it, collapsed before release and no domestic distributor could be found, so it went straight to disc. A screening copy leaked beforehand and it became the fifth most torrented title on BitTorrent in the week ending 23 May 2010. In March 2024, 14 years on, it entered the Netflix top 10 in the United States. Two cuts exist, separated by one scene: the extended version tacks a sequence onto the ending that closes a thread the theatrical cut leaves open. On the commentary Jordan says he prefers the original ending, and admits he made the film for the Bush years and that it looks dated under Obama. The BBFC rated it 18 and gave the reason in one line: very strong images of torture. A good fit if you can take both sides of the argument defended in dialogue, by characters who sometimes speak like opinion columns. Not for anyone who wants to know where the interrogation stops; H is willing to put the children on the table too.