13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Short description
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi dramatizes the September 11, 2012 assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and a nearby CIA annex. When the compound comes under attack by armed militants, a small team of security contractors stationed at the annex decides to move in and help the people trapped there, even though they receive no order to act. The fighting stretches across a single long night, with the men trying to reach and protect their countrymen while the situation around them remains confused. John Krasinski plays Jack Silva, and James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, Max Martini, Dominic Fumusa and Matt Letscher are among the credited cast of thirty-four.
Michael Bay directed the film, the twelfth of the fifteen features he has made in chronological order, arriving between Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight. Chuck Hogan wrote the screenplay, and Bay produced with Erwin Stoff. The film was shot in Malta and Morocco and cost about 50 million dollars to make, going on to take roughly 69 million dollars worldwide. It runs 144 minutes.
Audience response has been warmer than critical response. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from about 179,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 7.3 out of 10, from a much smaller base of around 4,000 votes. The film critics' rating stands at 5.5 out of 10 from 224 reviews, noticeably below the marks given by viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- Michael Bay wanted to shoot on film, while cinematographer Dion Beebe insisted on digital shooting. Bay eventually agreed with the cinematographer – due to the large number of scenes in the film taking place at night, and due to the tight shooting schedule.
- Michael Bay later said that during filming in Malta, he had to work with a film crew that was completely unfamiliar to him. The director attributed the coherence of the international creative team's work to the fact that terrorism does not recognize borders or nationalities, so such a tragedy could have happened not only to Americans.
- In a radio interview on Mark Levin's program on January 18, 2016, Mark Geist, whose role in the film was played by Max Martini, stated that the mines with which Islamists shelled the outpost had a blast radius of 6.5 meters, meaning that people in the impact zone had no chance of survival.
- In a radio interview on Mark Levin’s show on January 18, 2016, Mark Geist recounted that during filming, he once took the place of the actor playing him, and the director didn’t notice until Geist looked directly into the camera.
- The original version of the film has a runtime of 4 hours.
- The film tells the true story of three former special forces operatives who, for 13 hours, repelled attacks by Islamic radicals on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, during which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Press Secretary Sean Smith, and others were killed.
- The film features Mercedes-Benz C-Class W205 models, which were not released until 2014.
- This is the third film by director Michael Bay based on real events. Previously, he directed "Pearl Harbor" (2001) and "Pain & Gain" (2013).
- An emblem in the form of a stylized skull is visible on the body armor of John Krasinski's character. The same emblem was worn by soldiers of the unit in which Chris Kyle, the hero of "American Sniper" (2014), served.
- The film's premiere was scheduled for December 23, 2015, but was postponed to a later date to avoid competition with the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015).
- John Krasinski and David Denman previously starred together in the popular television series "The Office." Krasinski played Jim Halpert, and Denman played Roy. David Costabile appeared in an episode of this series titled "The Banker" (2005).
- Glen Doherty, who died in the attack on the US outpost in Benghazi, was friends with Brandon Webb, who trained Navy SEALs in sniper shooting. The famous sniper Chris Kyle was trained by him.
- As producer Erwin Stoff told, mock-ups of the diplomatic outpost and the annex where CIA personnel were located were built using the same blueprints as the buildings in Benghazi. In 2016, Stoff reported: "...we simply obtained the original plans and satellite imagery, and we communicated with the direct participants in those events. So we recreated all the buildings to within a centimeter."
- CinemaScore, a company that researches audience perception of new films, gave the film '13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi' an 'A' rating.
- Initially, the filmmakers offered the role of Tyrone 'Rone' Woods to Mark Wahlberg, but the actor was forced to decline due to commitments to other projects.
- Press Secretary Sean Smith, played by Christopher Dingli, was an avid fan and player of "EVE Online" (a massively multiplayer online game) under the nickname "Vile Rat," or "Nasty Rat." He was the stuff of legends among other players. Following his death in Benghazi, many game fans expressed their sincere condolences to Smith's family.
- The characters play the computer game "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," which actually came to market two years after the events depicted in the film.
- Pablo Schreiber, who played Tanto, wanted to perform all his own stunts. Apparently, this is why director Michael Bay decided to play a prank on him—while giving instructions before the shoot, he didn't warn Schreiber that an explosion would go off behind him. This scene, featuring the actor's genuine reaction, made it into the movie and onto the official poster.
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