This is interesting in light of the "just like a movie" discussion we had

last month.



http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011009/re/attack_hollywood_dc_1.html



            U.S. Filmmakers Mull Terror Scenarios for Army



            By Steve Gorman



            LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Some of Hollywood's top action

filmmakers -- men behind such

            octane-fueled thrillers as ``Die Hard'' and ``Delta Force

One'' -- are helping the U.S. Army dream up

            possible terrorist threats America might face in the future and

how to handle them.



            The counter-terrorism brainstorming sessions are the latest

focus of the Institute for Creative

            Technologies, formed in 1999 at the University of Southern

California to develop advanced training

            programs for the Army, institute officials said Tuesday.



            Like previous enterprises the institute has undertaken on such

subjects as U.S. peacekeeping and

            natural disasters, the counter-terrorism project brings together

producers, writers and directors from

            the film and TV industries with experts from academia and the

military, Institute officials said.



            The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to

describe any of the scenarios

            discussed by the latest panel at its first meeting earlier this

month, just days after the Sept. 11 aerial

            assaults on the Pentagon (news - web sites) and world Trade

Center that left at least 5,000 people

            dead.



            But one official confirmed a report in the entertainment trade

paper Daily Variety that participants

            included ``Die Hard'' screenwriter Steven E. De Souza,

television writer David Engelbach

            (''MacGyver'') and movie director Joseph Zito, whose credits

include ``Delta Force One,'' ``Invasion

            U.S.A.'' and ''Missing in Action.''



            Also joining the panel were directors Spike Jonze (''Being John

Malkovich''), David Fincher (''Fight

            Club,'' ``Seven''), Randal Kleiser (''Grease,'' ``Honey, I Blew

Up the Kid'') and Mary Lambert (''The

            In Crowd''), as well as screenwriters Paul De Meo and Danny

Bilson (''The Rocketeer.'')



            The institute originally was formed under a $45 million U.S.

Army grant as a partnership among

            academics, video game makers and creative talent in Hollywood to

design advanced ''virtual reality''

            and simulation training systems for the military.



            One multimedia ``mission rehearsal'' displayed on the

institute's Web site involves a group of Army

            troops in Bosnia who are confronted by a large, hostile crowd

after a U.S. military vehicle accidentally

            runs down a Serbian boy in the street. The situation is

fictional.



            ``The group looking at counter-terrorism is really an extension

of the kind of efforts we've been doing

            for about two years,'' one institute official said. ``The

benefit of the entertainment group is that they

            think more creatively. They think outside the box.''



            He said the team was asked ``what kind of things could possibly

happen, and how could they be

            prevented.'' Results of the discussions will ultimately be

presented to the Army.



            ``It's very dynamic, and everybody agrees we don't sleep well

afterward, because we're very keyed

            up,'' said one institute official who sat in on the first

session.



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http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html