Rendition Press Conference
Igal, how did you view your character?

Igal Naor: â??There were two sides to this man. On one side there was a normal family man with needs and pains. And the second part was his job, which was a dirty job. Not pleasant for him, but he has to do it. And I didnâ??t see any clash between those two. A normal person who is doing his job and living his life. There is no need to explain anything.

I am a family man. Two times in war. Iâ??m not ashamed to say it. Itâ??s very sad, but this is life, this is the truth. â??

Do you think what he finds out will change how he feels about his job at all?

Igal Naor: â??No, of course, as a human being whatever happens to you will affect your life and belief. I think he might commit suicide and in another way, as another man â?? he might leave his job and do something else. I wouldnâ??t condemn him for doing what heâ??s doing. This is human. No man doesnâ??t think about himself. He believes in what he does.â?

Omar and Igal, how hard was it to shoot the torture scenes?

Omar Metwally: â??Well, the first thing I have to say is that I was acting and I would never want to compare what I was doing to what that experience must be. I think there is no way really knowing, so you do as much research and read and talk as much as you can. Then you kind of just have to rely on your imagination and empathy and try to convey, if you can, just one small part of what that horror must be.

I was fortunate enough to have such great actors and a great director to work with. It was definitely a group effort.�

Igal Naor: â??It was a pleasure to torture him (laughing).â?

With the stories being so separate, where there separate units shooting different part of the film?

Gavin Hood: â??No. We shot pretty much single camera through the movie. We started in the States and started with Reese and Peterâ??s story. Then we went to Morocco and we shot Jake and Omar. But we were pretty much moving between shooting their story and Zineb and Moaâ??s story.

But, in a way, it was like shooting different short films and weaving them together. In a way, I think itâ??s a credit to the actors that they were absolutely immersed in their own stories. Some of them have said to me it was a bit of a shock to see all the stories come together Igalâ??s sort of â?¦because they were focused, as they should be, on their story. But it was great fun to work with these actors who are all very talented in very different ways, and then weave the stories together.

I liked the fact there was a Romeo and Juliet story as a love story, about two young people where the world is acting upon them. Then there is the other story, in a way, about these young men and Reese sort of being in between, and the world with young people sort of approaching 30 are being forced to make decisions that define who they are. Then another generation of stories, which is Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep, who have decided who they are and are acting out on their already formed beliefs. So, I like the three generations. Thatâ??s a credit to Kellyâ??s writing, because that was there. I felt it would be great to tackle those different stories and weave them together.â?

Jake Gyllenhaal: â??And then there is my story about the guy who is approaching 40 who is struggling with all the things a guy who is approaching 40 struggles with (laughing).â?

Itâ??s interesting that all these political films are coming out now.

Jake Gyllenhaal: â??I think we're pretty nearsighted when we think about time. Five years is not that long. Most of the movies that are political that we're talking about have appeared in a time that -- any film from the '70s or movie about a war was made five or six years after that war either ended or began. I think it takes people, particularly artists, and everyone, journalists, always, if someone said to you, â??Okay, right now, write it now.â?? You need perspective. You need time for opinions to come up or a point of view, and I think this is actually very quick. I think that's always really important because I think we just get very nearsighted.â?

How do we get past the Us versus Them attitude?

Gavin Hood: â??Look at this table. There are people at this table from Israel, from Morocco, from Algeria, from France, from the United States, from South Africa. I've always believed, and I hope it's at the core of my work, that we have far more in common with each other than we don't and that is the common, human need, as Igal so eloquently expressed it, for family connection, for friends. The only way we can go to war with each other is if we deny that those absolutely universally human needs actually exist in some other group. I think Igal put it better than I can. As long as we see each other as profoundly human, we might be able to get past the Us versus Them. And that applies to all sides. I would like to make it very clear as Moa [Khouas) pointed out, none of us in any way condone suicide bombing. It seems to me a tremendous manipulation of a young person to push them into such a space. â??

Page 4:Spoiler Alert - Page 4 Contains Questions Regarding Specific Plot Points