Set for release on September 11th, the new book No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden is a firsthand account of the now legendary Navy Seal raid on a Pakistan compound that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden in April 2012. The book was written by Mark Owen, a pseudonym for an anonymous 36-year-old Seal, and despite the criticism from fellow Navy Seals that the book crosses the line of secrecy, it’s getting some serious attention from the most iconic director in the world.
The New York Post is reporting that Steven Spielberg is in talks with the author to bring the story to the big screen. As NYPost writes, “‘No Easy Day’ movie would add to an already busy field of bin Laden films. ‘Hurt Locker’ director Kathryn Bigelow is working on’Zero Dark Thirty‘, about the decade-long hunt for terrorist leader bin Laden, leading to his death in May 2011. The cast includes Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain and Taylor Kinney, with release set for Dec. 19. Meanwhile, the Weinstein Company has secured the US rights to ‘Code Name Geronimo‘, the John Stockwell-directed drama about the manhunt for the 9/11 terror-attack mastermind. According to reports, Weinstein will put the film in theaters in early fall, a move that would beat ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ — which was delayed after Sony decided not to put it out ahead of the presidential election.”
As far as the book’s controversial spilling of top secret details is concerned, Admiral Bill McRaven (who was Special Operations Chief at the time of the raid) said the author could face prosecution for revealing sensitive and classified information that could cause US forces harm. In an interview with The TODAY Show, former Navy Seal and fellow author Brandon Webb — who knows the author personally — reveals the writer is likely well aware of the risks associated with revealing too much in a book of this kind. Although he nor anyone with the U.S. government has read ‘No Easy Day’, he’s confident that the writer has kept these kinds of sensitive details out of the book: “I would be very surprised if there’s any type of sensitive or classified information in the book, because the consequences would just be really severe.”
You can watch the interview in full below, as well as check out the trailer for Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. To learn more about the fascinating work of the U.S. Navy Seals you can visit their website at SEALSwcc.com.
