Shoot at Sight

Gun-toting Pakistani police and US Marines staked out the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) on Tuesday,where Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow was shooting for Zero Dark Thirty. All academic and administrative activities came to a halt as PECians grabbed their notebooks and made their way to catch a glimpse of the “Hollywood crew on campus”. For Bigelow and team including Take One Productions and Chandigarh’s Darshan Aulakh Productions,the day started at 5.30am,with the cast and crew sitting for make-up and costume,setting up cameras,and converting the auditorium into the US Embassy in Islamabad.

An energetic Bigelow moved about her work swiftly while co-producer and writer Mark Boal took time to chat with curious students hovering around the sets. Hollywood actor Jessica Chastain (last seen in The Help),practised her lines and moves,as she walked up and down with a “marine” in fatigues.