Wake up to “Countdown to Zero”

One of the most highly anticipated films of the year – the blockbuster American documentary “Countdown to Zero “ – has been referred to as a wake-up call for anyone hoping to live in a nuclear weapon-free world.

One of Hollywood’s most versatile producers, whose credits include “Inglorious Basterds” and “An Inconvenient Truth” – Oscar-winner Lawrence Bender – spoke to RT about the challenges of making the film, which features interviews with former heads of states, prime ministers and top nuclear experts.

“It was quite a challenge getting all these former heads of states into the movie. It took us about a year and a half to get [former Soviet] President Gorbachev, not because he didn’t want to do it, but because he’s a busy man on another continent. Getting [former] President Musharraf was also quite difficult – we were supposed to film him in Pakistan. The last minute we couldn’t get in – it turned out he was ousted…”

“For me personally, having former heads of states served two purposes: any President is usually charismatic, it’s part of how you become president, but also these are people who had their finger on the button; who had to make the final decision.”

“We interviewed people all over the world – China, Russia, London, [the] United States. Most people have no idea how many bombs exist, which countries and how many countries have them. We made this movie to wake people up, to make people understand that this is an issue that needs to be thought about, to raise it to the top of the political agenda and to create a world-wide movement for the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons,” Bender said in an exclusive interview with RT’s Valeria Paikova.