AND THE WINNER IS…

Last week I conducted a Q&A in New York City with the actors Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie following a SAG screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (Summit, 6/26, trailer), the suspenseful drama about an elite Army bomb squad serving in Iraq — and likely best picture nominee — in which they both star.

From preparing my questions and listening to the actors’ insightful and often humorous answers, I learned some fascinating information about the making of the film and the men and woman who made it, which I think you might enjoy hearing as well.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AUDIO OF OUR CONVERSATION, which includes the following topics:

• How they prepared for their parts — Renner trained with real EOD crews at Fort Irwin in California; Mackie scoured blogs, Web sites, and message boards
• What it was like inside the 100 lb. protective bomb suit that Renner wears in the film — and how he put it on backwards the first time he wore it
• What it was like making the film over the course of three months in Jordan, only three miles away from the Iraqi border, in 120 degree heat, while the locals who were working on the film and observing its making were in the middle of their Ramadan fast — Bigelow always wore a head scarf, Renner was an obvious target as a white American, and Mackie says he felt “like a black dude at a Klan rally”
• What is was like working with what Renner nicknamed “ninja cameras,” the four tiny hand-held cameras that Bigelow and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (“United 93″) hid in various places around the massive sets, usually without informing the actors where they’d be before calling “Action!” on 12 to 15 minute takes
• What their housing and restroom facilities were like — Mackie describes them as “rough,” at times consisting only of a Bedouin tent (a sheet to provide shade) and a hole, respectively
• While most of the locals they encountered were “lovely,” some threw rocks at them, dropped two-by-fours with nails sticking out of them from rooftops onto their helmets, and fired gunshots at them from a distance
• What it was like making a war movie about a military unit, like the great classics of the World War II era (think Howard Hawks’ work), at a time when most war movies now focus on an individual
• What it was like making a war movie with a female director — Mackie, who also worked with women directors on numerous plays, Sherry Horman on “Desert Flower” (2009), and Tanya Hamilton on “Night Catches Us” (2009), says Bigelow “never apologized for being a woman,” and Renner, who also worked with Asia Argento on “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” (2004), Catherine Hardwicke on “Lords of Dogtown” (2005), and Niki Caro on “North Country” (2005), adds, “She’s tougher than all of us”

Photo: Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker.” Credit: Summit.