Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Leonie Benesch presented September 5, Tim Fehlbaum’s drama of the Munich hostage crisis seen from a television control room, in Mayfair.
September 5, Tim Fehlbaum’s account of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis as seen from a television control room, held its UK premiere at Curzon Mayfair on Tuesday 4 February 2025. Peter Sarsgaard led the cast.
Sarsgaard was born at Scott Air Force Base in 1971, read history at Washington University in St. Louis and began acting in an offshoot of the Actors Studio. His first film role came in Dead Man Walking in 1995. Shattered Glass brought him a Golden Globe nomination, and Kinsey, An Education and The Batman followed before he won the Volpi Cup at Venice for Memory in 2023. In September 5 he played Roone Arledge, the president of ABC Sports.
Fehlbaum wrote the film with Moritz Binder and Alex David. It follows the ABC Sports crew in Munich on the day the Black September group took members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage, and the choices the control room made as it carried the crisis live. The production built a replica of the broadcasting facility. The film opened the Orizzonti Extra section at Venice in August 2024, and its screenplay had just been nominated for an Academy Award.
John Magaro, who plays the control-room head Geoffrey Mason, joined Sarsgaard with Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Fehlbaum and Binder. Paramount Pictures released the film in British cinemas two days later, on 6 February.