17 Jul 2010

AFGHANISTAN / JEREMY RENNER

Actor Jeremy Renner of Academy Award-winning film “The Hurt Locker” visits UN de-mining projects in Kabul, Bamyan and Bagram to highlight efforts to remove landmines from the war-scarred country. UNMAS

Posted at: July 17, 2010 12:01 am

Duration: 07:49

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: AFGHANISTAN / JEREMY RENNER 
TRT: 7:49
SOURCE: UNMAS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 25-28 JUNE 2010, KABUL / BAMYAN / BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN

SHOTLIST:

25 JUNE 2010, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

1. Wide shot, UN armored vehicles arriving at Kabul Airport/UN airbase.
2. Med shot, Jeremy Renner steps out of UN vehicle
3. Various shots, Jeremy Renner walks out UNAMA Airbase, steps into vehicle
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"I've been on a helicopter, not on a UN monster like this though. This thing seats 20!"
5. Wide shot, helicopter
6. Various shots, Jeremy Renner steps into helicopter
7. Med shot, Renner looking out the helicopter window
8. Wide shot, from helicopter, flying over Kabul
9. Wide shot, from helicopter, flying over mountain and valley

25 JUNE 2010, BAMYAN DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Oh it's nice out, gorgeous! (How was the ride?) It was awesome, beautiful actually."
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:
"Hi, nice to meet you. Team leader, fantastic!"  
12. Med shot, Renner shakes hand with another de-miner and introduces himself
13. Wide shot, team of de-miners. 
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"I think we've come a long way but I think there's a long way to go. My opinion on the politics of it? You know I stay out of politics, I'm more of a man of action, that's why I like what we're doing here, and what the United Nations is doing. Action! Mine action that is, specifically. I believe that in my life personally, about taking action, and not just talking about it, doing something about it, and that's why I'm here, to be educated in that."
15. Med shot, Renner trekking up to lookout point accompanied by local guides
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:
"Because of the United Nations Mine Action Service a land that was once riddled with ordnance, or bombs if you will, grenades, things left by previous wars, because that's being cleared out now we've replaced grenades with healthy crops. This is gorgeous. Stability in the region. I could live here, couldn't you?" 
19. Various shots, wheat field in Bamyan region 
20. Wide shot, region with farmlands and snowy peaks in the distance

26 JUNE 2010, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

21. Wide shot, Renner walking up to destruction site with bomb disposal technicians
22. Med shot, Renner looking into bomb pit
23. Various shots, mines and ordnance 
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Fire in the hole, fire in the hole, fire in the hole!" 
25. Wide shot, stockpile destruction detonation
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:  
"It's pretty awesome. The fun I can consider and laugh about it cause it's the fun side, and cathartic really. Because its safe when it goes off over there, but its not safe when a kid picks that up or steps on it, you what I mean? So that to me feels good, really good. And then you know I get a little kick from the adrenaline rush on it, pretty great. But it's something you don't want to step on or be near when it goes off, that'll put you in the hurt locker, wouldn't it?"
 
JUNE 27 2010, MINE FIELD, BAGRAM DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN

27. Various shots, Renner is helped into a de-mining suit by members of the Afghan Technical Consultants 
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:  
"Watch your feet. It's not everyday you get to walk on a minefield."
29. Med shot, Renner scanning horizon surrounded by Afghan de-miners.
30. Wide shot, mine field
31. Various shots, mine sweeping
32. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"I'm imagining what this place will look like in a few years. It'll be cleared in a month and a half. Who knows, maybe in two and a half years it'll be all crops and families, that's fantastic. Might have to make a visit back." 
33. Various shots, Renner meeting local elders and landowners
34. Various shots, Renner meeting with a mine victim who lost his leg in an explosion 35. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Thank you for allowing me to come and educate me on your land and hopefully we can in some way help clear this land so you can have it back, and be safe."
36. Med shot, elders showing gratitude
37. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Why I like the program so much? There's no politics involved, it's something that's actionable, it's tangible, you see the results very quickly."

JUNE 28 2010, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

38. Zoom in, Habibia High School
39. Med shot, Renner entering classroom and shaking hands with schoolmaster. 
40. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:  
"Essentially I'm here because, when I sit in classrooms, when I grew up, when I was younger, the education for risk was when you cross the street, you look both ways, so you don't get hit by a car, right? Then I come here and I see you have to be educated by this, by minefields, so different from what I come from. And a reason for me being here is to spread that knowledge so more people are aware of this, and the program that you guys are doing." 
41. Med shot, students listening to Renner
42. Various shots, mine education posters
43. Med shot, Renner putting his arms around students 
44. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Sadly this is my last day in Afghanistan, in Kabul. Behind me is another example of what happens when fields are cleared of mines. Adults plant crops, kids play. Pretty kickass!"
45. Wide shot, Jeremy kicking a soccer ball into the net

STORYLINE:

Jeremy Renner, who starred in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning war drama, "The Hurt Locker," spent five days visiting United Nations (UN) demining projects in the Afghan cities of Kabul, Bamyan and Bagram last month.

The trip gave Renner a behind the scenes look into what the UN is doing to tackle the landmine issue and learn more about Afghanistan from a wide spectrum of people on the ground.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"I think we've come a long way but I think there's a long way to go. My opinion on the politics of it? You know I stay out of politics, I'm more of a man of action, that's why I like what we're doing here, and what the United Nations is doing. Action! Mine action that is, specifically. I believe that in my life personally, about taking action, and not just talking about it, doing something about it, and that's why I'm here, to be educated in that."

So far this year deminers have cleared or cancelled 63 minefields and three battle areas, destroying more than 11,000 anti-personnel mines, over 400 anti-tank mines and nearly 400,000 explosive remnants of war in the process.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:
"Because of the United Nations Mine Action Service a land that was once riddled with ordnance, or bombs if you will, grenades, things left by previous wars, because that's being cleared out now we've replaced grenades with healthy crops. This is gorgeous. Stability in the region. I could live here, couldn't you?"

At a mine field, Renner had the opportunity to destroy a stockpile of landmines.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:  
"It's pretty awesome. The fun I can consider and laugh about it cause it's the fun side, and cathartic really. Because its safe when it goes off over there, but its not safe when a kid picks that up or steps on it, you what I mean? So that to me feels good, really good. And then you know I get a little kick from the adrenaline rush on it, pretty great. But it's something you don't want to step on or be near when it goes off, that'll put you in the hurt locker, wouldn't it?"

During his visit, the Hollywood star donned a Kevlar suit and ventured onto a minefield with Afghan deminers near the US airbase in Bagram.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"I'm imagining what this place will look like in a few years. It'll be cleared in a month and a half. Who knows, maybe in two and a half years it'll be all crops and families, that's fantastic. Might have to make a visit back."

Renner spoke with landmine survivors about their experiences.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor: 
"Thank you for allowing me to come and educate me on your land and hopefully we can in some way help clear this land so you can have it back, and be safe."

UN Mine Action reports that despite huge progress in the clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance the magnitude of the challenge remains significant with over three million Afghans still affected by mines everyday and new hazards continue to be found each year.

Renner also joined high school students during a mine risk education session and took time to kick a football around with them.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Renner, Actor:  
"Essentially I'm here because, when I sit in classrooms, when I grew up, when I was younger, the education for risk was when you cross the street, you look both ways, so you don't get hit by a car, right? Then I come here and I see you have to be educated by this, by minefields, so different from what I come from. And a reason for me being here is to spread that knowledge so more people are aware of this, and the program that you guys are doing."

"The Hurt Locker" which picked up six Oscars including best picture last year, follows a group of soldiers who disarm roadside bombs on the streets of Iraq.