{"id":12907,"date":"2011-09-10T08:51:47","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T07:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=12907"},"modified":"2012-09-11T23:09:45","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T22:09:45","slug":"interviews-september-11th-movies-ben-sliney-united-93-will-jimeno-world-trade-center-philippe-petit-man-on-wire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/09\/10\/interviews-september-11th-movies-ben-sliney-united-93-will-jimeno-world-trade-center-philippe-petit-man-on-wire\/","title":{"rendered":"Interviews: September 11th Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the events of September 11th 2001<\/a>, several films have come out about the events of that day.<\/p>\n

I’ve had the opportunity over the last few years to interview people directly connected with what happened and some key films related to it.<\/p>\n

The first major release to deal specifically with 9\/11 was United 93<\/a><\/strong> (2006), which dramatised the events surrounding United Airlines Flight 93<\/a>, after it was hijacked during the attacks.<\/p>\n

That year I spoke with Ben Sliney<\/a><\/strong>, the FAA<\/a>\u00a0national operations manager – the man responsible for grounding all air traffic<\/a> that day – who director Paul Greengrass<\/a> hired in an advisory capacity before letting him play himself in the movie.<\/p>\n

Later that summer I also spoke with Will Jimeno<\/a><\/strong>, the Port Authority Police<\/a> officer who survived the World Trade Center attack and was buried under the rubble for a total of 13 hours, along with fellow officer John McLoughlin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their story was the basis for Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center<\/a><\/strong> (2006), which starred Nicolas Cage as McLoughlin and Michael Pena as Jimeno, and we spoke about the day, his long rehabilitation process and the movie.<\/p>\n

Two years later James Marsh directed the documentary Man on Wire<\/a><\/strong> (2008) about Frenchman Philippe Petit, who conducted an illegal wire walk between the Twin Towers in August 1974.<\/p>\n

I spoke with Philippe about his extraordinary act and the subsequent film, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary.<\/p>\n

You can listen to the interviews here:<\/p>\n