GOP Rep Calls for Pentagon Probe Over Cooperation With Hollywood Movie About bin Laden Raid

A movie about Navy SEAL Team 6's hunt for—and killing of—Osama bin Laden is well underway, and the creative team behind The Hurt Locker (which took 2009's Best Picture Oscar and five other golden statues) is heading up production on the yet-untitled flick.

It's the buzz of Hollywood.

But the buzz in Washington appears to be an "alleged collaboration," as Homeland chief Peter King put it, between the filmmakers and the Pentagon, White House, and CIA—and it's generating some odd plot twists.

Twist #1: The Pentagon confirmed it's giving mission information to the film's screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow. Except why, wonderedNew York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, would "an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration" now be so accommodating?

Dowd's questions last Sunday prompted Rep. King (R-NY) to ask for an investigation. In a letter yesterday to the Department of Defense, King expresses "concern regarding ongoing leaks of classified information regarding sensitive military operations."

"The Administration’s first duty in declassifying material is to provide full reporting to Congress and the American people, in an effort to build public trust through transparency of government.  In contrast, this alleged collaboration belies a desire of transparency in favor of a cinematographic view of history."

Today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney deflected King's concerns:

"We do not discuss classified information. I would hope that as we face a continued threat from terrorism, the House Committee on Homeland Security would have more important topics to discuss."

Twist #2: Why is the Pentagon helping Bigelow and Boal when, Fox reported, a Department of Defense-sanctioned Army adviser pulled out at the last minute from work on The Hurt Locker after learning of several scenes the DOD hadn't authorized? (Could be important to note that President Bush, not Obama, was in office when The Hurt Locker was being made.)

Twist #3: The new movie's planned release date is October 12, 2012.

Just a few short weeks prior to the presidential election.

You might say the release date is a boon for Obama, given the movie is about what history may record as his most successful, universally lauded action as Commander-in-Chief.

Dowd also discussed this detail in her column:

The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama’s growing reputation as ineffectual.

The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made "The Hurt Locker" will no doubt reflect the president’s cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds. Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.

The word from Hollywood is that this film's release date merely represents the filmmakers' hopes to mimic the success of The Social Network, which won three Oscars this year and was released in October 2010. Incidentally, The King's Speech—released in December 2010—won four Oscars this year, including Best Picture. (But who's counting?)