Kathryn Bigelow hasn’t made a feature film since 2002’s Harrison Ford starrer K19: The Widowmaker, unless you count the “blink and you’ll miss it” Mission Zero with Uma Thurman. The Hurt Locker returns her to real roots as a character-driven action director, and she gets some terrific performances out of relative unknowns Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie in this film about the war in Iraq.

In our interview, she discusses fictionalizing real war stories, what The Hurt Locker does that other Iraq films haven’t, and the everlasting legacy of Point Break.

How did this project come together?

It really predominantly came from his account and his first hand observations. I worked on the shaping of the script with him but he wrote it. We kind of shepherded it together onto the screen.

Were these characters amalgams of people he ran across in Iraq?

Yes, composites. I mean, it’s definitely fictionalized.

At what point did you read this and think “This is going to be my next movie.”

Well, it was literally within days of when he came back and he told me these stories. Before he’d even started to write it. At that point I just thought it was an opportunity to be topical and relevant, and yet it’s just inherently so dramatic. Given their “day at the office” so to speak is as terrifying an experience that I could think of.

What sort of military research did you do for the film?

I spent some with EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) techs at Fort Irwin, since I wasn’t in Baghdad, and then I went to Kuwait and Camp Arifjan and spent time with the EOD techs there. That gave me a fair to kind of extreme understanding of what their life is like. I don’t mean to simplify it, but the idea of making life and death decisions multiple times on any given day under tremendous stress… first of all, what they look for in a young tech is the ability to work under those conditions. And to be able to keep your head and keep your cool, and not to mention the aptitude and the IQ tests that precede your being invited to this really elite group.

The actors trained at Fort Irwin, Fort Hood, and in Jordan with live ordnance and EOD techs. Jeremy (Renner) was really incredibly proficient by the time we started shooting.

Did you ever strap on one of those bomb suits?

I didn’t myself… it’s 80 pounds and steel plated. I did lift it and was very close to it a lot. You know, it’s a pretty daunting experience. It almost becomes a character in and of itself. It’s a bit other-worldly.

The piece is structured in that they are kind of at two ends of the spectrum at the beginning, in term of protocol. Sanborn, the Anthony Mackie character, being more familiar with the sort of good-natured spirit of the Guy Pearce character, and then suddenly being saddled with this individual that seems very much of of a cowboy. Then we come to realize that whatever methodology one chooses, his methodology is obviously very effective. So, by the time we reach that sniper sequence in the middle of the movie, they’ve sort of come together in a way and found an uneasy or easy alliance, based on respect and trust and survival.

Films about the Iraq war haven’t really connected with audiences yet. Why do you think that is? Are we afraid to look at ourselves?

Well, first of all, there hasn’t been one. I mean they’re about soldiers reintegrating into the homefront. That is somewhat unprecedented. I mean, war is inherently dramatic, look at Black Hawk Down. Also, directly referencing in-theater combat is Fahrenheit 911, and that was a hugely successful movie. So, I think that’s a misconception.

The film opens with the quote “War is a Drug.” Could you take that further and say guns are a drug? Violence are a drug? Undercover cops and policemen seem to face some of the same problems as the characters in this film.

You know, these are high threat professions and I think… there’s a certain type of psychological profile that is adept at those kinds of occupations. It’s not really for me to analyze, but I think it definitely a type of psychology, your survival depends on that psychology, and how you function under extreme pressure and extreme stress. There’s a price to that kind of bravery and heroism, you pay a high price to be able to survive.

Although their are a lot of familiar faces in this film, your leads are very fresh faces. How did you find them?

Since the threat level in that environment is so extreme, providing an actor for whom an audience has a pretty limited history then the question of whether or not that person is going to survive is what contributes to that tension in the whole film. We’re used to a certain kind of language. You know, it’s X actor, and nothing’s going to hurt him. So I think that when you realize anything is possible, then you begin to have a more accurate picture of what it might be like to be on the ground in that conflict right now.

When you’re in the casting process you’ve got the characters pretty well defined in your head, and you begin to look for great talent. In this case, having gone to Kuwait and done some scouting there, I was in the mess hall and probably looking at about 800 faces of soldiers. There’s just a quality they have that is both accessible and capable and available, and having that in my head and trying to find actors… I can’t imagine better actors than these playing these roles. I think Jeremy just gives an explosive, breakout performance, as do Anthony and Brian. They have such heart and such truth in these roles.

I wanted to ask you about the lasting legacy of Point Break. I’m not sure if you saw Hot Fuzz…

Oh yeah, I loved it. I loved it.

That was so central to the plot and there’s either a musical or a quote-along or…

A play. It’s been everywhere, it’s been in New York… it’s now in San Francisco, and it was in Los Angeles. There’s even a character that plays me. It’s bizarre.

Does it surprise you?

I don’t know if it surprises me but… it’s very surreal. The permutations of once something has left your hands and enters the zeitgeist and how malleable it really is.

It has a life of its own.

Completely. I know! It’s alive!

On the flipside, Strange Days and K19 didn’t really connect with audiences.

I’ll leave this question to the analysts, that’s not for a filmmaker to answer.