John Magarois the glue that holdsSeptember 5together.
Director Tim Fehlbaum chose Magaro because, he says, Hes one of the best there is.
DEADLINE: You werent even born then, but what did you already know about Munich 72?
John Magaro in ‘September 5’Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection
I dont know why I knew about it.
I mean, Ive always been a lover of history.
I was raised Jewish, so I think there was part of that in the air.
John Magaro andBen ChaplininSeptember 5.Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection
I remember hearing discussions about it.
So, I sawMunichagain.
DEADLINE: Yes,September 5is a fast-paced film about people adapting.
MAGARO: In a lot of ways its a vengeance movie, and this isnt.
I wouldnt say this is apolitical.
I just dont think its a political movie.
Its about journalism and journalists have politics.
But anyway, I knew about Munich.
I didnt know that it was the first time that the Olympics were broadcast globally.
I didnt know all that went into putting the Olympics together, even in that rudimentary form.
Its a full circus.
ABC Sports comes to town, sets up, builds a city, and then leaves.
Its kind of crazy.
DEADLINE: What were the circumstances of you landing the films key role?
MAGARO: I was shooting another film at the time in New Mexico.
It had some good life to it and people seemed to enjoy it.
DEADLINE: Like who?
MAGARO: Brad Pitt.
We worked onWar MachineandThe Big Short.
Working with Fassbender right now onThe Agency, hes doing that.
At that point,Peter Sarsgaardwas already attached, and Sean Penn was already on as producer.
So you see that and you immediately know it must be OK, there must be something here.
So, I sat down and started to read it.
By the end, I was really excited about it.
DEADLINE: Your character finds himself controlling the news broadcast.
MAGARO: Selfishly, as an actor, you also want your character to be good.
I saw that and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
It was a pretty quick decision.
I called right away and was like, Yeah, lets do this.
DEADLINE: What was the key stuff you learned from Geoff?
Did you meet in person?
MAGARO: Once I was cast, Geoff really wanted to talk to me right away.
We didnt meet until after, but we had a lot of Zoom sessions.
This was still during Covid, and he lives in Florida, and I was in New York.
So right away we got on Zoom and we started talking.
He also didnt really know my work, so hes like, who is this guy?
DEADLINE: So, he hadnt seenFirst Cow[Kelly Reichardts 2019 feature]?
MAGARO: [Laughs] I dont think that made it down to Florida.
In fact, he did say he went off and watched a couple things I did.
It mightve beenThe Big Shortor something like that.
So we just kept talking.
I was picking his brain.
I wanted to know what he went through on that day.
And sometimes talking to real people can be unhelpful, but this time it was really helpful.
When I was talking to Geoff, it didnt feel like he was protecting himself in the story.
It felt like he was protecting his team.
He was really concerned that everyone else got their due.
And unfortunately, in the story, obviously we had to tighten it up.
There was a director on the ground and then there was also Geoff as the producer.
And we had to sort of fuse those roles together just for narrative purposes.
But I tried to assure him that we would still give some sort of homage to that person.
Thats a tip of the hat.
DEADLINE: What was the essence of what Geoff told you about being there that day?
No time to think, no time to be emotional.
You just did your job.
And it wasnt until after that you went home and cried and let the tragedy wash over you.
Then he got me obviously into [real-life] control rooms, which was huge.
I couldnt have done it without that research.
DEADLINE: Is Geoff also Jewish?
MAGARO: No, hes not.
[Bader] certainly must have felt something beyond what Geoff could have felt in that moment.
But again, if you ask Geoff about it, he was just focused on doing his job.
It wasnt about being Jewish, it wasnt about being Arabic, it was about being a journalist.
I have to pick my hero and villain here, and thats how Roones brain operated.
MAGARO: That camera was so cumbersome.
It moves this way and that way on its axis, but it doesnt move the other way.
We crushed Peter [Sarsgaard] against the wall.
It was a real camera.
All that equipment was real.
These Germans, I dont know how they do it.
They found all this stuff.
I went down to the CBS broadcast facility on 57th Street.
They took me down to the basement where they have the retired equipment.
This stuff has gone into the place inBeetlejuicewhere the dead people go.
Our production designer had to find some random collector in Germany who had it.
He traced it down and then we had amazing technicians who got them all up and working.
Same with all the TVs, same with all the phones, I think.
DEADLINE: What else did you learn about Geoffs duties?
Like, Camera 5!
I mean, I hope what I offer is something unique.
DEADLINE: Did Geoff talk to at all you about the ethical pressures they felt?
MAGARO: Hes pretty much like steel about that.
He says it was tense, but he doesnt really acknowledge the pressure.
I think thats how that team thought about it in the moment.
DEADLINE: But views are exchanged in the film about ethical matters?
MAGARO: They did have those conversations.
They had the conversations about, can we show someone being shot on live TV?
Did they see this broadcast live on TVs in the apartments?
These were conversations they had, but again, they had to keep going.
There was no time to really wallow in those moments or hyper-analyse.
They arent psychologists, theyre not geopolitical scientists, theyre not humanitarians.
Theyre not even proper journalists.
MAGARO: And thats not a dis to them.
Its just they are sports journalists.
Everything that they had been trained to do could not have prepared them for that moment.
So why is the film not more political?
Because its sports journalists who are there.
