To T.J. Fixman, the writer of the Netflix movie “Carry-On,” an airport security line is ripe cinematic territory. In the movie, set on Christmas Eve, a Transportation Security Administration officer played by Taron Egerton is extorted by a mysterious terrorist into allowing a suspicious — and very dangerous — bag through security screening. Cue chaos throughout the airport, and later, in an airborne airplane.
The thriller has been the No. 1 movie on the streaming platform’s site in the days leading up to Christmas, with more than 42 million views.
At its heart is what philosophers call “the trolley problem,” Mr. Fixman said. “A trolley is moving down the tracks and it can either kill one person who’s driving the trolley or five people who are lying across the tracks. You have a choice: Do you let it kill one and save five people? The ‘What would you do?’ of it all was interesting to me.”
To write the script, he interviewed people who worked at airports and in law enforcement, including a friend who was a transportation security officer. The movie’s producers also hired a counterterrorism expert and a former police captain as consultants.
Which is not to say everything plays out according to the T.S.A. handbook. “We deviated when we needed to take creative license for the sake of the movie,” Mr. Fixman said.
The T.S.A., which is known for it creative social media posts, noted one discrepancy that might jump out at anyone who has ever passed through a security line: “Wow we just saw a movie where nobody going through T.S.A. had water in their bag and we NEED to know what kind of signs they have at that airport,” it posted on Threads.
A spokesman for the agency said the film had a number of inaccuracies, but he wanted to highlight one aspect the agency felt it got right: “The T.S.O. is the hero!”
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Where did the movie’s premise, centering on a T.S.A. agent and in-flight terrorism, originate?
In 2011 or 2012, I was stuck in a hellish security line at Vancouver International Airport and the Air Transport Security Authority — that’s their T.S.A. — they were just in a scramble and dealing with angry travelers and screaming and all the jazz. It seemed like such a thankless but important job that I felt bad for them. I remember thinking these people are in charge of our safety, and no one is ever happy to see them. And that became the genesis of this idea about a contained thriller with a trolley problem at its center, essentially.
I got through security, and I actually sat down at the food court with my iPad and wrote the story right there.
Why set the thriller during the holiday travel season?
The airport is the place you suffer through to get to the place you want to be. No one ever likes going to the airport. Everyone’s in a rotten mood. No one’s at their best.
I was really just drawing on the anxiety that everybody feels when they travel. There’s a sequence where we’re seeing what T.S.A. deals with on a daily basis from people who are just not at their best. Everyone is stressed. Everyone’s multitasking kids and presents and bags, and they took too much with them, and it doesn’t always result in the best personal interaction, right? You end up seeing a lot of yelling. It’s a relatable place for a movie.
Have you ever gotten flagged by security?
I had never been flagged until the day, about a year and a half ago, when I was on my way to New Orleans, with my then-girlfriend’s engagement ring.
I was secretly planning to propose during the trip. I had my ring in my bag, but I also forgot to take my drone out of my bag. It was one of those sort of small personal drones; I’d forgotten to take the batteries out.
T.S.A. security pulled me aside, and an officer told me they had to inspect my bag. I thought to myself, “Please tell me that I’m not about to have my surprise wedding proposal destroyed by the T.S.A.” My girlfriend was a couple of people behind me in the security line, thank God. And I remember telling the officer that there was a ring and asking him not to pull it out. And he didn’t; he was very cool about it.
Check or carry on?
Carry on. I want to be in and out very quickly.
So, Jason Bateman plays the bad guy, the nameless Traveler. Why?
I imagined the Traveler as someone who doesn’t look like a villain. He’s supposed to be the guy you don’t see coming. I think it was inspired casting. There are plenty of actors who look evil and could play evil, but I think you want the guy that you could have a beer with.
Where did the idea for contraband bingo originate?
I interviewed a person who used to work for the T.S.A., and she said they played it, though I don’t think it was with actual bingo cards. It seemed so fun to me. They have to see some wild stuff even on a regular day.
The passenger screening in the movie seemed far more relaxed than in real life.
We just tried to capture all the little inconveniences that just become big ones. I have actually been stuck behind someone who only brought their school identification, something we show in the movie. Once I saw someone trying to get a hunting knife through security.
How realistic was the ending, which features a hatch from the passenger cabin of the plane to the cargo hold, and a huge airtight refrigerated chamber?
There’s no hatch from the passenger cabin to the cargo hold. I don’t think there are fridges that tall inside the cargo hold, either. Could Jason Bateman’s plastic gun get through? Maybe.
We really wanted to end with a thrill. So we definitely heightened things a bit for the sake of drama, but I feel like the alternative would have been a little bit of a letdown. So I’m OK with it. The third act gets wild, but it’s a lot of fun.
What does the movie say about flying?
We have been squeezed so much by airlines. I mean that emotionally as well as physically — the very notion of flying has become nerve-racking. We’re just slammed into a plane like cattle. The food is bad. There’s tons of people where we’re already stressed. And I just think airports have become a tinderbox, and it turns reasonable people into stressed, angry people. This movie is a reflection of that.
Name your second-favorite airport- or airplane-based movie.
“Die Hard 2” was certainly was an influence. I first saw it when I was a kid and about a thousand times since then. And I think that it did a good job of showing the frustrations of traveling in a very 1980s, 1990s way. People were still smoking on the plane. It’s a whole mess!
The post The Writer of the Netflix Hit ‘Carry-On’ Talks About the ‘Trolley Problem’ and the T. S.A. appeared first on New York Times.
