Barry Ackroyd on the Fearless Focus of 'A House of Dynamite'

Recorded at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival, this THR Presents conversation with cinematographer Barry Ackroyd offered a rare, inside look at how Kathryn Bigelow ’s House of Dynamite — now on Netflix — achieves its unrelenting real-time intensity. Speaking with THR’s European bureau chief, Scott Roxborough, Ackroyd traced the visual language of the nuclear-crisis thriller back to the documentary instincts that have shaped his decades-long career.

Ackroyd, who previously worked with Bigelow on intense, high-stakes dramas like The Hurt Locker and Detroit , discussed how their shared approach — which Bigelow calls a “journalistic approach to filmmaking”— was essential for capturing this “frighteningly plausible story.” Ackroyd views his work in the same way, noting