Thirteen Days

A series of beautiful but devastating atomic explosions provides a vision of gorgeous, appalling destruction that hangs ominously over the political drama of THIRTEEN DAYS. It's October 16, 1962 and, it is not just another day at the office for Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Costner), the Special Assistant to President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood). O'Donnell soon discovers the President has just been handed a series of photographs taken from a U-2 spy plane over Cuba. They show deployed Soviet missile launchers capable of firing medium-range ballistic missiles that could hit all major US cities--except Seattle--within minutes.
THIRTEEN DAYS is a vivid dramatization of what happened in the Kennedy White House during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Seen through the eyes of O'Donnell, it is a close-up view of President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp), as they try to negotiate through a crisis which has many of their closest advisors ready to wage what all feared might have been the ultimate war. The script, by David Self, is based on interviews, CIA documents, and White House tapes. Director Roger Donaldson captures the extraordinary tension in the White House as he brings to life every heart-stopping moment.