– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

“I’m Kathryn Bigelow, and I’m the Director of "A House

of Dynamite.

So here we are with Deputy National Security Adviser Jake

Baerington, played by Gabriel Basso.

And he’s in a hurry because he’s just learned that there

is an incoming nuclear ICBM to North America.

And he’s getting this information and trying to get

to the White House, which is where he works.

So he’s in a hurry and he’s trying to communicate with

our general from Stratcom, played by Tracy Letts,

"By moving to DEFCON 2,

sir, we are potentially risking a spiral of alerts."

And what’s interesting about this scene is, of course,

the movement and the urgency of it.

But the fact that you have two different philosophies,

You have a more hawkish approach

that the general is providing, and then you

have a more dovish approach, a wait

and let’s try to analyze this in a more careful fashion that

Jake Baerington is putting forward.

"That's your job, not mine.

You have someone you can call who will tell us just what

the hell’s going on?

Don’t let us hold you back."

So what’s interesting here, I think,

is all the different sets that we had to create as a seamless

movement from A to B. Well, you start with the security

kiosk, and that was a build.

And then he gets through the security kiosk.

And then.

And then he’s going through the White House briefing room.

He’s on his way to the White House Situation room.

And that’s in the middle of a briefing.

And that was also a build, but in another part of the studio.

And so trying to make it a seamless integration,

then we needed an exterior to make that work.

And so we went to a golf museum,

which was built in the same period as the White House was

built. And it has pillars and it has a portico that’s

actually architecturally very similar.

And so we did a couple of beats there to get him from

the kiosk to the press briefing room. But we’re

intercutting that with Stratcom,

which is Strategic Command located

in Omaha, Nebraska, which is the home

of the nuclear umbrella for America.

And that’s where the general is speaking from.

Throughout all this, the clock is ticking down.

The ICBM is on approach, its inclination has flattened.

So they now know this is not a test launch of anybody’s

equipment.

It’s absolutely on course and on track for impact

in the continental United States.

So it’s a very heightened moment exploring various

options and various trajectories.

And so trying to put all these different locations together

in a way that makes it feel seamless.

And then we see our flight pilots

who are going to ready the B-2s,

a B-2 is a particular bomber of which

carries nuclear warheads.

So if we were to, in this situation, retaliate,

that would be one method of retaliation.

We shot at a studio in New Jersey called Cinelease,

and we had three of their stages,

and each stage was a different set.

One was Fort Greely interior, one was Stratcom interior

and one was White House Situation room interior.

And our production designer, Jeremy Hindle,

was truly brilliant in his replication

of these locations.

He and I visited the White House Situation

room and stratcom only for minutes.

We couldn’t take pictures, but even based on having been

there a few minutes, he was able to replicate it to such

a great extent that military personnel that we’re familiar

with those locations, they thought we had shot there.

I mean, it was kind of that accurate.

"Sir, our GBIs will be airborne momentarily.

This is what we do."

"Jake, you’re still there?"

"Yes, sir."

Well, this is all happening live.

It’s almost like a theater piece where the other actors

that you see on the screen in the teleconference call,

they’re on the set as well, in different sets a ways away,

but they’re there so that their response is live

to the people, let’s say, in the room of Stratcom,

that’s a simultaneous situation.

And that was actually fairly complicated to set up.

But it was very helpful to the actor

to have it be live and have that response

time be immediate.

"Once the kill vehicle separates,

our mid-course intercept system has a success rate

of 61 percent."

"So it's a coin toss?

That’s what $50 billion buys us?"

"We are talking about hitting a bullet with a bullet."

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
nuclear /ˈnjuː.kli.ər/ B1	adjective - relating to the nucleus of an atom or to energy produced by nuclear reactions noun - energy produced by nuclear reactions
director /dɪˈrek.tər/ A2	noun - a person who manages or guides something, especially in film or theater
security /sɪˈkjʊə.rə.ti/ A2	noun - the state of being safe from harm or danger
adviser /ədˈvaɪ.zər/ B1	noun - a person who gives advice, especially to government or business
incoming /ˈɪn.kʌm.ɪŋ/ B1	adjective - arriving or entering
icbm /ˈaɪ.siː.biː.ɛm/ C1	noun - an intercontinental ballistic missile
hurry /ˈhʌr.i/ A2	noun - a need to do something quickly verb - to move or act quickly
learn /lɜːrn/ A1	verb - to gain knowledge or skill
general /ˈdʒen.ər.əl/ A1	noun - a high-ranking military officer adjective - affecting or involving many people or things
communicate /kəˈmjuː.nɪ.keɪt/ A2	verb - to share or exchange information, ideas, or feelings
urgency /ˈɜː.dʒən.si/ B2	noun - the need to act quickly
approach /əˈprəʊtʃ/ A2	noun - a way of doing something or dealing with a situation verb - to move closer to something
build /bɪld/ A1	verb - to make or construct something noun - the structure or shape of a person's body
room /ruːm/ A1	noun - a space in a building for a particular purpose
situation /ˌsɪtʃ.uˈeɪ.ʃən/ A1	noun - the set of circumstances or state of affairs
location /ləʊˈkeɪ.ʃən/ A2	noun - a place where something is or happens
impact /ˈɪm.pækt/ B1	noun - a strong effect or influence verb - to have a strong effect on something
option /ˈɒp.ʃən/ B1	noun - a choice or possibility
bomber /ˈbɒm.ər/ B2	noun - an aircraft designed to carry and drop bombs
intercept /ˌɪn.təˈsept/ B2	verb - to stop or catch something before it reaches its destination

Key Grammar Structures

• So here we are with Deputy National Security Adviser Jake Baerington, played by Gabriel Basso.

  ➔ Present Simple/Passive Voice/Relative Clause

  ➔ Uses "are" to indicate the present state, "played by" shows the passive voice and the relative clause "played by Gabriel Basso" describes Jake Baerington.

• And he’s in a hurry because he’s just learned that there is an incoming nuclear ICBM to North America.

  ➔ Present Perfect/Subordinating Conjunction

  ➔ Uses the present perfect tense "has learned" and the subordinating conjunction "because" to show cause and effect.

• But the fact that you have two different philosophies, You have a more hawkish approach that the general is providing, and then you have a more dovish approach...

  ➔ Noun Clause/Comparative Adjective

  ➔ The clause "the fact that you have two different philosophies" functions as a noun, and "more hawkish/dovish" are comparative adjectives.

• And so we went to a golf museum, which was built in the same period as the White House was built.

  ➔ Relative Clause/Past Simple

  ➔ The relative clause "which was built in the same period as the White House was built" provides additional information, and the past simple tense is used.

• Throughout all this, the clock is ticking down.

  ➔ Prepositional Phrase/Present Continuous

  ➔ "Throughout all this" is a prepositional phrase showing time and "is ticking down" is the present continuous tense.

• It’s absolutely on course and on track for impact in the continental United States.

  ➔ Prepositional Phrase/Parallel Structure

  ➔ Uses prepositional phrases "on course" and "on track" with parallel structure for emphasis.

• So it’s a very heightened moment exploring various options and various trajectories.

  ➔ Adjective/Gerund/Parallelism

  ➔ "heightened" is an adjective describing "moment", "exploring" is a gerund, and "various options and various trajectories" exhibits parallelism.

• If we were to, in this situation, retaliate, that would be one method of retaliation.

  ➔ Conditional Clause/Modal verb

  ➔ Uses a second conditional clause ("If we were to...") and the modal verb "would" to express a hypothetical situation and its consequence.

• He and I visited the White House Situation room and stratcom only for minutes.

  ➔ Coordination/Prepositional phrase

  ➔ Uses coordination ("and") to link two nouns and a prepositional phrase ("for minutes") to specify duration.