Academy Award for Best Picture

2009

The Hurt Locker

Release dates

September 4, 2008

 (Venice)

June 26, 2009 

(United States)

Starring

Jeremy Renner

Anthony Mackie

Brian Geraghty

Christian Camargo

Evangeline Lilly

Ralph Fiennes

David Morse

Guy Pearce

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war film about a three-man Explosive Ordnance Disposal (bomb disposal) team during the Iraq War. The film was produced and directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a U.S. Army EOD team in Iraq. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty.

The Hurt Locker premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy during 2008. After being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was picked up for distribution in the United States by Summit Entertainment. In May 2009, it was the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on June 26, 2009 but received a more widespread theatrical release on July 24, 2009.

Because the film was not released in the United States until 2009, it was eligible for the 82nd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for nine Academy Awards. It won six Oscars, including Best Director for Bigelow, the first woman to win this award, and Best Picture. Boal won for Best Original Screenplay. The Hurt Locker earned numerous awards and honors from critics' organizations, festivals and groups, including six BAFTA Awards. However, it received criticism by some in the military for various inaccuracies.