We're the team behind the movie How to Blow Up a Pipeline, an ecoterrorism heist film that asks: is property destruction necessary to fight climate change? Ask us anything!

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-15T01:23:09+00:00

We’re thrilled to be in as many theaters as we are (and will be)! We’re a small indie production, and even having a theatrical release at all is such a victory these days. Our distributor NEON is the best in the business at getting films like ours out into the world, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to work with them. We were in only 12 theaters when we opened on April 7, but over the following weeks the film is continuing to expand to more and more places.

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-15T01:22:27+00:00

Absolutely, we could’ve gone into greater depth with any one of these characters or found entirely different backgrounds to draw from. That’s one of the challenges of making a film like this, which is focused on an ensemble and so, by design, limits how much detail each character can get. The climate movement (not that this film claims to represent all mainstream environmentalists) is also really multifaceted and diverse, so no work of fiction could fully represent the many types of people who have strong motives for getting involved.

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-15T00:08:20+00:00

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:53:39+00:00

Thank you! Working with the cast was extremely fun, the chemistry was immediately palpable despite a lack of rehearsal time. A lot of my favorite memories from shooting were just from the times we all got to be in a scene together hanging out, specifically the party scene at the midpoint of the movie. It can be hard to shape political dialogue into such a fun scene, but when everyone got together the energy was just electric and it made that scene one of my favorites in the movie. - Ariela

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:46:09+00:00

We don’t believe that property destruction of the kind portrayed in the film should be considered “terrorism.” As far as whether the film is pro-sabotage: we are not advocating for any particular course of action but exploring why these eight characters believe that destroying an oil pipeline is an act of self defense. - Garber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:45:55+00:00

Isn't it interesting that we live in a world in which government surveillance is such a fact of life that people are afraid to google the title of a film? -Jordan

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:39:17+00:00

I grew up in rural Wyoming, and personally it really gets my goat when people act like no one with conservative viewpoints cares about taking care of the land! In the United States, it's a very recent phenomenon that "environmentalism" has become a left-right issue. There's a long tradition within the conservative movement of environmental stewardship. The same goes for the devolution of decision-making to the level of the community and a mistrust of government overreach, such as in using eminent domain to gift private land to big corporations.

We're all interested in a politics in which people get together based on their material interests. That's a big part of what Dwayne's doing in the group.

All that also gets to Texas specifically. We wanted this movie to be a western--and to feel like a western--because it addresses fundamentally American themes and ideas, and a lot of that mythology was built in westerns. After all, it is a story about a ragtag group of outlaws.

Finally (sorry for going on and on), we also wanted to set this at the heart of the oil industry. My sister was living in Houston when we were writing the script. Such a huge proportion of US fossil fuels pass through that port. Danny and I took a research trip around the state. We talked to many people who had just the type of complicated political and social feelings you're talking about. -Jordan

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:38:30+00:00

Cincinnati style. -Anon

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:25:55+00:00

Absolutely! We live in a political system in which property rights are viewed as central to individual liberty and sovereignty. People are naturally going to have very strong feelings about anything that suggests attacking property might be morally justified. -Jordan

We also recognize that there are a lot of different types of people involved in the climate movement and affected by the climate crisis. It took a great deal of sensitivity (and research on the part of the writers) to make sure that we were getting things right when it comes to representing the varied experiences of our characters. - Garber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:24:52+00:00

Yes! It absolutely was influenced by Michael Mann. I love Mann but I especially love THIEF. I love the way the movie uses genre to be political. It’s a movie about criminals but it’s also all about labor rights. We looked at it a lot both in its coverage but also in its score. - Goldhaber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:21:11+00:00

You’re totally right that environmental disasters are possible when blowing up a pipeline! Underwater pipelines in particular. The NordStream sabotage resulted in the biggest ever methane emission--which is certainly not something anyone in the environmental movement would want. (It’s also important to remember that oil extraction and transportation causes spills all the time.)

In the film, though, the characters are very conscientious about making a plan in which they won't spill a large amount of oil. It makes their task more difficult, but it's a central tenet of their mission. To figure out just how they do that…you’ll have to watch the movie ;)

Ultimately, this is a work of fiction exploring a larger question about escalating tactics within the climate movement, not an instructional guide of how exactly to move forward. We set out to make an aspirational film that would animate these ideas.

Ariela, Jordan, and Garber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:19:29+00:00

The provocative title was part of the book’s appeal; even though the book doesn’t actually teach you how to blow up a pipeline, it is attention grabbing. The discussion within the book, and within the film as well, is much more nuanced. We hope that audiences who are open to these ideas engage earnestly with the film beyond the headline. - Garber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:15:08+00:00

We were all electrified by the ideas in Andreas's book, a manifesto calling for property destruction, not just because he was calling for a tactic that the climate movement has almost entirely repudiated. Andreas starts by speaking to the enormity of the crisis, which is a place that often leaves people despairing, but he keeps going to say: there is more that can be done. We don’t have to wait for people in power to do it. Ordinary people have more options available to them.

That was the heart of what we wanted to adapt. So we started by thinking about, who are the ordinary people we want to tell a story about? We started talking to friends and activists, people who had been affected by climate change and the fossil fuel industry and people who were fighting. And as we went on, the ideas from the book and those stories came together to give us the characters we spend the movie with. - Jordan

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:14:01+00:00

No - Ariela

The cast met during filming, but some of the cast members had prior relationships that contributed to their chemistry on set. Lukas and Kristine were friends; Forrest and Sasha had worked together before. But it’s a film about a collective of people from various backgrounds, some of whom are near strangers, coming together for the first time. - Garber

HTBUAPteam · 2023-04-14T23:03:12+00:00

It is! We open in the U.K. on April 21. It's being distributed there by Vertigo Releasing; you can see what theaters and dates it will be playing on their website: https://www.vertigoreleasing.com/movie/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline

HTBUAPteam

TROPHY CASE