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. ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html