Nick Broomfield is not a man to shy away from controversial subjects. After all, this is the man who bought us the Aileen Wuronos documentary Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer, Biggie And Tupac and Kurt & Courtney.
But his next project is so fresh in the news that it’s likely to cause a storm – he’s tackling the alleged November massacre of 24 Iraqis by US Marines in the town of Haditha, with young children included among the dead.
Broomfield plans to use dramatic reconstructions instead of his usual documentary techniques. And he’s been talking to people on both sides of the conflict, including insurgents. "We talked to members of the insurgency because I felt the insurgency is almost like a concrete wall. It's like, who are these insurgents?"
The director has also been conducting interviews with Marines, including some involved in the incident. "These are 18-year-old kids, a lot of whom are gang members, never even finished high school, went straight into the Marines, went through Fallujah and just got into that killing zone," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "They're not bad guys; they're just doing what they're trained to do."