Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson star in this thrilling drama about what many believe to be the most dangerous time in global history. Not unlike today, it was a time when the only mechanism for peace was mutually assured destruction, and people around the world felt tension on a daily basis. The story is inspired by a chilling event that happened in 1961 during the Cold War when the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world two times over and the United States had the nuclear power to destroy the world ten times over. As schoolchildren were taught to "duck and cover" under their desks and parents built bomb shelters in their backyards, each nation continued to add to its nuclear stockpile, waiting for who would strike first.

"K-19: The Widowmaker" is not a film about war but about the courage it takes not to go to war. It is about military muscle, mind and heart. It is also about a world in which technology is king and sacrifice in the name of national security is common. It exemplifies the duty a soldier feels toward his nation and his countrymen, and lays bare the burden of responsibility a leader feels for those under his command. And finally, it is about how easily tragedies can occur in wartime or anytime by accident, by machine malfunction, or by human error.

Inspired by a true story, the film follows the heroism of Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) who, at the height of the Cold War, is ordered to take command of the nuclear missile submarine K-19 away from its original commander Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson). Vostrikov's mission is to quickly ready the ill-prepared sub for her maiden voyage, no matter what the cost.

But Vostrikov, Polenin and K-19's loyal crew can never imagine all that is expected of them. Neither can they fathom what the price of failure might be for them and for the world when a nuclear reactor malfunctions, threatening a core meltdown and an explosion that will certainly kill all aboard. As they glide beneath the Arctic seas, it is the crew's collective bravery and Vostrikov's daring embrace of his duty toward his country and his men which will ultimately save K-19 - and stave off what surely would have been a nuclear disaster.

Bigelow: "I find that shooting on water - it's really just been coincidence. I feel very comfortable doing it, I've learned with great difficulty on Point Break that you have to be incredibly flexible when you're working with water, it's an unforgiving environment, and one which you can't control.

"So having cut my teeth on that, I felt I very comfortable with it. I don't think it's too challenging, in fact I find it very inspiring.

Neeson "Certainly on this budget, it was a huge amount of money and it’s a wonderful way for Hollywood, and America I guess, to acknowledge the former enemy and to show Russians not as the bad guy in Hollywood blockbuster movies, but to show and tell the heroism of this extraordinary act that these extraordinary men did.

"That's what attracted to me to it, as well as obviously getting the chance to work with Harrison and Kathryn. I fell in love with the script. It was just a story that had to be told and I was glad to be a part of it.

Ford: "It was quite a rare and unusual character for me. Here was a character who was not outfitted with the usual devices to gain sympathy and understanding, but you came to know this character in the midst of the circumstances that describe the events in the film. And in respect of the relationship with the character that Liam plays.

"But he's a hard man to know, he comes to change by dint of these circumstances but he represents a reality of military command that I found intriguing to deal with, and that is that military purpose is gained by the spending of men's lives. And there is a moral responsibility for military leadership that has always been interesting to me.

"And in addition the story over all was a great attraction to me, the chance to tell a story of another culture without American characters is extremely rare in American film? In fact I can't think of another film that does that.

"And to address the issue of a former enemy who is now an important ally in some tangential way. To offer the opportunity to see the Russians as they saw themselves.

"And to realise that, underneath the skin of their culture and their politics, they are much like us.

"I think we should answer in descending order of height.

Bigelow: "Filming on the submarine posed necessary challenges, meaning that it really created an environment perhaps not unlike what the submariners themselves might have experienced, although we got to leave the set at the end of the day.

"But shooting with all of the camera equipment, lighting, sound, cast, crew, in a set that was built to the specifications of the K-19, the exact dimensions, and to the extent we were able to, with all the exact equipment inside.

"So it was incredibly tight, and meant sort of crouched in some very awkward corner for about five and a half months. At least these two got to stand for most of it. But it was worth it, there was no challenge too great that I would not do again and again, to be able to make this movie.

Neeson: "It was interesting from the point of view of the choreography required. You're not free to move as much as you would perhaps in some other film or some other set. So you really had to focus on what you were saying and why you were saying it on another level.

Ford: "I think it helped create behaviour that's consistent with that physical reality. It was more of a positive than it was a negative. The biggest issue, which I think Katherine addressed very successfully, was to continually re-invent the visual environment so as not to become tedious. I think she did that very well.

Bigelow: "I didn't check if any cast members suffered from claustrophobia. We had a kind of wonderful boot camp ahead of time, and that would have signaled any kind of problems that we may have encountered.

"The boot camp consisted of about two weeks with the help and great assistance of the Canadian navy putting these actors, many of whom had just come from drama school, they were putting out 100 foot walls of fire.

"Really serious, wonderful drills that would enable them to prepare for a situation like this, searching and rescuing from smoke-filled rooms that literally were completely blacked out, and whole ruptured rooms which we actually submerged into the water.

"That would have created a situation that might have been difficult for someone with claustrophobia, but everybody was fine. They welcomed it.

Ford: "The older make up didn't bother me at all; I thought it was interesting and fun to do. I hadn't had the opportunity to play beyond my actual age, which is already considerable, before in a film. It was an interesting opportunity to explore the physical reality of age.

"What did bother me was the make up for radiation sickness. There's a brief moment where Vostrikov is in the hospital prior to the trial, being interrogated. And that was scary to look at.

"But Liam was just as cute as he could be.

Neeson: "When we were discussing how we'd show the effects of radiation sickness years on or months on with the two captains, when I found out that Harrison was going to go with a kind of sparse hair look, I thought I'd go for the Captain Kirk look myself.

"I just wanted to show the good effects of radiation. As an actor, it's a chance to dress up. We only put on false noses and false chins and get in touch with? dare I say it ? that childlike side of acting.

Ford: "I can't say that I remember saying anything in particular. I think that one of the predominant skills of acting is observation and understanding things by seeing them. I think that Lex has that capacity. And while he may be very young he has his father to look up to as well, he's in the film, and is a wonderful actor too.

"I don't remember any particular advice. I don't think you want to be
giving advice, there's a director at the helm who's fully capable of getting what she wants out of an actor by particular requirements. I'm never comfortable with generally advising people anyway.

Neeson: "I found as much as the guy I was playing, just treating these boys as his family. These submariners were his family. As the shoot progressed I found myself telling them, for example, to relax a bit. 'You might be doing just a little bit too much,' or 'what you're doing was absolutely fantastic. Just remember to breathe'. I found myself saying stuff like that, but they were kind of notes to myself as well.

Neeson: "I was almost back to full strength when I made K-19. I was still doing therapy at lunchtimes, I had a guy come to work on my foot. But I'm 300% now. Then I was 97%.

Ford: "Liam worked extraordinarily hard to get himself ready in a short period of time; it was remarkable to see how hard he worked at the physical therapy to get himself up and running again.

Neeson: "I've got a bunch of hardware on my body that makes me look like on X-ray Boris Karloff, but I'm great.

Ford: "I didn't notice any lessening in their willingness to extend us what help they had after the Kursk incident. It reminded us, and we were moved by the experience, just to remember how dangerous submarine service is in any country.

"We went with some of the survivors in St Petersburg to a church that was a particular favourite of submariners, because many of them were based in that city. The walls of the church are lined with plaques, listing the names of submarines and the seamen who went down with them. It reminds you just how dangerous it is.

Bigelow: "What the Kursk underscored was that even though we're making a movie about the K-19 and those particular 129 men and the particular potentially catastrophic accident they were facing, it reminds you that it's a kind of tribute to the heroism of submariners worldwide. It helped transcend just the particularity of that incident.

Neeson: "They had already brought up I think three or four bodies from the Kursk, and Harrison and I visited the plot in the cemetery that was set aside for as many bodies as they could bring up. Obviously the submarine was still at the bottom of the ocean.

"But they had photographs of some of the deceased, and they were like young boys, these young fresh faces. It was incredibly moving, and it just made us all the more committed to telling this story of K-19.

Ford: "I think there's so much drama and emotion involved in the story that I was not worried about that. The enemy is invisible, really the
enemy is nuclear weaponry and the potential for destruction. The enemy
is also a habit of mind that requires you to demonise the opposition. Part of that is made very clear by the screenplay.

Bigelow: "I would agree completely. I think this is a wonderful
reminder certainly for the times in which we're living to not make stereotypical assumptions about any particular culture or political body.

"And that we can always be reminded that these people are human beings, capable of great dignity and heroism, and that the real enemies are the proliferation of nuclear weapons which seems to find great difficulty being reduced or eliminated.

"And that this was only a potential accident with very responsible individuals. One can only imagine with the proliferation of nuclear arms, what would happen if you added intent to that. So I think it just further focuses a responsibility on the part of people around the world to be as rigorous as they can be, in at least maintaining a dialogue ? or hoping that those responsible can maintain a dialogue ? toward their reduction.

Neeson: "Without getting on my soap-box we have these wonderful romantic names for all these ? Scud missiles, Tomahawk, Cruise. What I love about our film is that it reminds us of the horror of nuclear weapons and the abomination to God and mankind and how we have the capability to destroy this planet many times over.

"Obviously in 1961 there was not a great deal known about the effects of radioactivity so I think Kathryn has brought that out, puts a human face on the potential of that destruction.

Bigelow: "Sadly neither of the captains were alive when we came to make the film. We set out to make as accurate a portrayal and as authentic a movie as we could, given that it wasn't a documentary. It was still a dramatic piece that would require some licence, some compressions.

"But over the course of approximately five years going back and forth to Russia and spending time with the naval community, I also spent time with nuclear physicists, visited the K-19 itself at its naval base in the Kola peninsula, and spent time with the survivors and their families. And with the wife of the captain who was deceased, whom Harrison plays.

"Piecing together the world in which they lived and gaining to the extent I was able to their trust ? Even though I'm an American and these are people who were very invested in the Cold War, the Soviet era and the politics of Russia? But finally getting across that we were making a tribute to them and their lives, and their courage.

"I was able to garner a lot of meaningful information about events, from the champagne bottle, to the doctor dying, to the nine individuals who died while the hull was laid, to the supposed mutiny that took place.

"Even down to the memoirs of the captain, from the point at 4.30 in the morning when the alarms went off and the nuclear reactor began to malfunction and overheat, and the rods were not able to cool it, he created a memoir both of his feelings and of the actions and events that took place. From that point he was in contact with Moscow about 72 hours later.

"We were very rigorous with that, even down to the dialogue. When the radio operator played by Lex Shrapnel, finally spoke to Moscow in answer to the captain's question about what to do with the men who were suffering and dying from radiation, to give them plenty of fresh fruit. That just recalls, it wasn't intended to be as cavalier as may think today.

"So little was known about radiation effects, but that also contributed to that mindset. Even down to the meeting in the cemetery at the end, this absolutely happened, and they were finally able to speak to one another having found one another after 28 years. So I would say, for a dramatic piece that must require some compression, it definitely fulfils a promise of authenticity.

Neeson: "We went over and met the survivors in December 2000. It was actually quite formal, in a room with a square of tables. There were about ten survivors, maybe more. Some of them were in their military uniforms, albeit very frayed around the edges.

"I'm an instinctive and intuitive actor anyway, from all the books of Russian history and warfare I'd read, but I was so moved just to be in this room with these men and just to see this pride and nobility and love they had for each other. I was very moved by that, and I know Harrison was too.

Ford: "I can't say it any better than Liam did. It was emotionally very informing, and you felt an even greater sense of responsibility to
get it right. I was interested in the detail of their stories. One of the interesting things is that because a submarine is compartmentalised there was a lot of detail difference in their stories.

"Immediately after the events they were separated by the military command, and sent to various places. They didn't really get a chance until many years later to compare their experiences. So it was useful to the definition of our script to hear all of the detail.

"But more important than that was to know how emotionally they felt during this period of time and afterwards. It was the defining moment of their lives and one felt a great sense of responsibility and honour to tell their story.

Ford: "Each film has a different set of challenges, but the primary challenge is to find out ways to help tell the story with definition through the character. So much as one may have a more frivolous purpose than the other, it's still relatively the same process.

"I've always enjoyed making different genres of film, and each of them have different craft requirements. I enjoy comedy and drama, and the pure entertainment that's represented by Indiana Jones.

"So I'm quite happy to go back for another Indiana Jones film, and to work with Steven which is always fun."