“September 5” is making the festival rounds before its U.S. theatrical debut on November 29th, 2024. Having premiered as the opening film at this year’s Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti Extra section, the movie detailing the Israeli hostage crisis during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich recently screened at the Denver Film Festival as the closing night film. Actor Ben Chaplin was on hand to accept the festival’s Excellence in Acting Award for his performance as Marvin Bader, legendary ABC Sports producer who helped cover the hostage crisis in real-time.
Chaplin, along with actors Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro, leads an ensemble cast worthy of notice this awards season. “September 5” is a tight, 90-minute thriller that feels more apropos today as the events surrounding the movie continue to play out across Europe and the Middle East. Before the movie’s screening at the Denver Film Festival, I caught up with Ben Chaplin to discuss his character, the film’s setting and relevance, and Chaplin’s career in theater, television, and film.
NBP: “September 5” brings the audience back to the 1972 Olympic games when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by a Palestinian militant organization called Black September. In the film, you play ABC Sports producer Marvin Bader, and the film is presented from the perspective of the TV sports crew and their coverage of the hostage crisis. How did this role come to you, and what was the experience like working with director Tim Fehlbaum?
Ben Chaplin: It came to me the old-fashioned way. The script was sent to me by my agent. I was in Los Angeles at the time. It was kind of the end of lockdown and there were still some COVID restrictions around flying and stuff. I think this was the last film I did where we had COVID tests. I loved the script, and John Magaro and Peter Sarsgaard were already attached, so I knew the cast was good. Then I met Tim (Fehlbaum) on Zoom and thought he was passionate and really interesting as soon as I spoke to him. He was so into it, so obsessed with it, knew everything about this story, and had researched it thoroughly. I think that all that comes across in the film is the amount of work he and his design team put into it. Along with Moritz Binder, the other writer, the amount of work they did to make the script precise and accurate. There’s obviously some poetic license in terms of dialog and so on, but it was incredibly accurate in terms of how things went down.
You mentioned John Magaro. When his character Geoff goes against orders for confirmation about the hostages’ status, it’s an intense moment between you and John. A few intense moments for your characters in this movie. What were those scenes like to film?
Hopefully, you’re always prepared. I suppose on the days that seem particularly intense, you’re definitely a bit more primed. You wake up in the morning, go to work really early, and you know those scenes are coming. So it’s almost like an unconscious preparation. I wouldn’t say that you look at me and think I look different, but I’m coiled. Some actors prepare differently; they like to work up to that. I tend to arrive ready and early because I think that comes from being a theater actor, and there’s no warming up. It’s live and happening every time you do it. Doing things that are low budget, you don’t always have a lot of time, so you better be ready. But, when you’re with good actors, it’s quite easy. Getting yourself into that position isn’t easy, but bouncing off another actor who’s doing great work, you feel it from there. If you, as an actor, ever have a weak moment, you’re immediately put right back in it by the other actor, and vice versa. So, the other actors always kind of reinforce its reality. To me, the more intense the scene, the better because you start, and then it’s always a bit shocking. But when you start repeating it, there’s a finite number of repeats before you’re just actually kind of imitating it.
Most of “September 5” takes place in the TV studio and control room. We witness history unfold through technical direction and camera angles. It almost feels claustrophobic at times. Did you feel filming it felt claustrophobic for you? Do you feel like that adds to the power of that moment?
Yeah, I think it does. That’s another credit to the designer (Julian R. Wagner) and Tim, an absolute stickler for design. They actually got all the equipment, and most of it was functioning. It was bought from far reaches of strange collectors online. They really put the studio together for us to work it. My character’s not really a broadcast person, but I still had to hit the occasional thing. It just all worked. All those screens worked. We actually shot it in Munich, and I went to the village just before we started shooting, which was very powerful. It’s a really rather beautiful design, and I think students live there now. The Israeli athletes’ apartment was so small it was so vulnerable. It is such a soft target and a small place to be held hostage.
There are some parallels in this film to Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” the ongoing Israel/Gaza conflict, as well as recent events surrounding Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam. Do you think “September 5” has a message that could resonate with how American media portrays such world events?
I think this is the core of the film. I’m not sure that I 100% knew it from reading the script. I realized when I screened the film in a screening room in Paramount how relevant it is. The big question of what responsibility do we have when we’re covering a live, terrible event, and what unforeseen circumstances happen as a result? We’ll never know the alternative reality, unintended, unforeseen, but now it’s manipulated to be foreseen better. I think it’s the vital question of our age, actually. But who knows if there’s an answer that certainly needs to be mitigated against. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do think this film has posed an extremely important question that is still relevant. That is not just about Israel and Palestine, but it’s about journalism and coverage of any war.
Switching gears a little…I saw “The Truth About Cats and Dogs” in theaters when I was probably too young to see such a movie. That’s probably when most Americans became aware of you and your career. Looking back on your time in that film, how do you think it holds up?
Michael Lehmann, the director, had to negotiate with the censors over having the masturbation scene making it PG-13. I remember the core of his argument was that if you don’t think a 13-year-old is doing this, they’d be insane. It didn’t make it any less embarrassing, though.
I’m also a big fan of the TV series “Mrs. Davis” that you had a role in. Is there any hope for a second season of the show?
BC: You’re the first person to bring “Mrs. Davis” up to me! That was so much fun to shoot. Betty Gilpin is a genius and I absolutely adored working with her. I mean, I would do it for free; I enjoyed doing that so much. It has a great director, a great cast, and an insane script. I thought the pilot was incredible. Very fun and demanding at the same time. It was just one of those things that was very well-liked but not much seen. I don’t think there will be more but I thought it was highly original.
On that note, here at the Denver Film Festival, you are receiving the Excellence in Acting Award. What does this honor mean to you after such a great career on stage, television, and in film?
Any recognition is a lovely thing. It can be quite a weird job that’s up and down during periods of unemployment, doubt, overly high and overly lows. What’s not to love about getting an award, and what’s not to love about getting an award as a representative for an ensemble? I’m collecting it by myself even though I did 1/10 of the work. I’ve never been to Colorado, so this is really nice. And we need to support independent films and festivals. This film has Paramount, so it doesn’t seem like an independent film, but it wasn’t funded by Paramount. It’s really nice that it’s getting recognition. It feels like the little film that could.
What do you hope audiences take away from “September 5” when the credits start to roll?
I think it goes back to pondering the question about the responsibility of journalism. The importance of it, its bravery, and its consequences. I think that’s really the question of this moment when we have no shared objective facts. It seems to be unsustainable. I don’t know how you change it, but I think it’s important to pose constantly. I think that people need to stop consuming information lazily and think about the source of what they’re reading. Not just accept it as fact because it’s convenient or just confirmation bias. One other thing, and I hope that Marvin Bader’s family wouldn’t mind…I just sort ofloved the guy that I was playing. I hope that people take away that Marvin was a good man and a mensch.
“September 5” opens in select theaters on November 29th and expands nationwide on December 13th from Paramount Pictures. You can watch the trailer below.
You can follow Matthew and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter @matthew_creith
