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'Good Kill' Takes A Searching Look At Drone Warfare

In the new film “Good Kill,” Ethan Hawke plays Tom Egan, a former Air Force pilot who’s now a drone operator in Las Vegas. Egan longs to go back into combat, but instead is relegated to firing at suspected terrorist targets from thousands of miles away.

Writer-director Andrew Niccol told Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti that he was drawn to make the film because he found drone operators to be an entirely new kind of solider.

“These guys have a very schizophrenic life: they fight the Taliban by remote control for 12 hours a day, and then go home to their wife and kids,” Nicchol said. “I always thought, ‘what does that do to the psyche of a soldier and what toll does that take?'”

[Youtube]

More Stills From The Film

Guest

  • Andrew Niccol, writer, director and producer of “Good Kill.”

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Zoe Kravitz (Vera Suarez) and Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)
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Zoe Kravitz (Vera Suarez) and Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)
Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) and January Jones (Molly Egan) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)
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Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) and January Jones (Molly Egan) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)
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Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) and Bruce Greenwood (Jack Johns) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)
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Ethan Hawke (Tom Egan) and Bruce Greenwood (Jack Johns) in Andrew Niccol’s "Good Kill." (Courtesy of Lorey Sebastian. Copyright © 2014 Clear Skies Nevada LLC. An IFC Films release.)