“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” Official Production Notes

PRODUCTION NOTES

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Kim: “I just wanted out of my job. I wanted out of my mildly depressive boyfriend. I just wanted to blow everything up.”

Shakira: “That’s the most American-white-lady story I’ve ever heard.”

Sometimes it takes saying “WTF” to discover the life you were always destined to lead. That’s exactly what happens to cable news producer Kim Baker (Tina Fey) when she realizes her routine existence is lacking in something – and decides to “blow it all up” by taking a crazy, WTF assignment in Afghanistan. There, amidst a mind-boggling array of adventurers, militants, warlords and madcap chaos, Kim finds something unexpected: the strength she never knew she had.

Based on the true adventures of war-reporter-in-the-making Kim Barker—and her acclaimed autobiography The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan – comes this hilarious and heartfelt portrait of a woman getting her life together in a global hot spot where everything else seems to be falling apart. Joining Fey on this wit-fueled journey across the world is a sparkling cast including Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott and Billy Bob Thornton.

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (military code for the letters WTF), is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, from a screenplay by Robert Carlock based on Kim Barker’s book The Taliban Shuffle. The producers are legendary “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey and Ian Bryce. The executive producers are Charlie Gogolak, Eric Gurian and Sam Grey.

“A Sort of Tina Fey Character …”

In 2002, reporter Kim Barker arrived for the first time in Kabul, Afghanistan – and she was completely, perhaps even ridiculously, unprepared for what she was about to experience. Dislodged from her ordinary American life, Kim was now embedded in an out-of-control battle zone rife with danger and corruption by day, and an over-the-top war correspondents’ culture of party-hopping and romantic entanglements by night. It was a sink-or-swim situation … and Barker’s head was barely bobbing above water. But unwilling to give up, Barker made a willful journey from clueless cub reporter to savvy, frontline observer. In the process of trying to make sense of the absurd – both in her personal life and the war zone around her—Barker bumbled right into her true self and calling.

Her story, related in a frank, wisecracking memoir that was like no other account of life in wartime ever written, was lauded by critics. Reviewers and readers alike were lured by the book’s fresh take, no-holds-barred honesty and the incisively comic pairing of a totally inexperienced American woman with an unseen land of veils, secret sex lives and a convoluted global conflict that even the experts couldn’t get a handle on.

As it turns out, Michio Kakatuni’s admiring review of The Taliban Shuffle in The New York Times unexpectedly inspired the film to come. Kakatuni praised the book’s “satiric verve” and the way it managed to be at once “hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating.” At the same time, she wrote prophetically that Barker “depicts herself as a sort of Tina Fey character, who unexpectedly finds herself addicted to the adrenaline rush of war.”

That twining of Barker with Tina Fey hit home with … Tina Fey, who intrigued, took a glance at the book. That look had her hooked. Riveted by Barker’s biting, zinger-filled account of how she learned to navigate the press corps, international politics and one of the world’s wildest social scenes, all while confronting her own constantly up-ended naiveté, Fey was provoked to both laughter and fascination. She loved how Barker arrived in Kabul a hapless rookie—having barely traveled, speaking only English and with no idea what was going on or even how to survive – and dared to figure it all out on-the-fly. Sensing the potential for that rare film that traverses back-and-forth across the borders between comedy and drama, Fey then brought the book to her good friend, Emmy-winning writer Robert Carlock, who worked on “30 Rock” and co-created “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”

“It's shamefully true that I heard about the review of the book and thought I could worm my way into the project,” jokes Fey. She goes on, quite seriously: “But what really attracted me is the story of a woman who arrives in Kabul expecting to spend three months … who ends up spending three years. Kim starts out a novice at reporting and a novice at the kind of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll lifestyle that reporters lead there. It’s a total awakening for her.”

Fey came aboard as a producer, at the center of a crack trio completed by comedy innovator and “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and producer Ian Bryce, whose films range from the award-wining comedy “Almost Famous” to the epic “Transformers” series.

She also decided to jump into the role of Kim, perhaps her most ambitious film role to date. Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa note that Fey’s decision to play Kim takes her into new territory. She still plays a relatable modern working woman, but one who goes far beyond the office confines of her famed portrait of comedy writer Liz Lemon on “30 Rock.”

“This is definitely not Liz Lemon Goes to War,” says co-director John Requa. “Kim Baker is a really complex character who gives Tina a chance to spread her wings as a wide-ranging actress.”

“Tina is the funniest person I've ever met,” adds co-director Glenn Ficarra, “but this movie also allows her to take her skills to a whole new level.”

The real-life Kim Barker was thrilled by the synergy she felt with Fey. “It's so exciting to have Tina Fey playing me,” she muses. “I think we have very similar senses of humor, but also she really wanted to do the story justice.”

Fey’s biggest qualm about portraying Kim was not their different worlds; she was ready to dive headlong into the reality of a newbie war reporter’s life just as Barker had once done – and to explore the emotional frisson of a woman who moves through states that range from overwhelmed to adrenaline-jacked to desensitized to self-assured. Indeed, she was thrilled. “Helicopters and explosions are not typically part of my day-to-day,” she points out, “so that was interesting to me.”

Instead, Fey’s sole consternation was their mis-matched heights. “My only regret is that I can't pull off playing Kim at 5'10”,” Fey muses. “In the book, Kim describes how she towered over powerful men who’d proposition her and grab her butt. I’d love to portray that—but I'm only 5'4.””

What’s So Funny About Kabul?

With Fey’s support squarely behind the project, things began moving ahead quickly. The first major crux for writer Robert Carlock was to find a way to transport Barker’s mix of self-discovery, shrewd insight and bawdy hilarity to the screenplay. For amid falling bombs and failed peacemaking, Kim was also discovering a dizzying new life—dating, partying and reporting as a woman in a land where woman aren’t even supposed to show their faces. Carlock honed in on that contrast – the equal power and absurdity of Kim’s mission—and on condensing 400 provocative pages into a taut, lean script that brought out the humor and humanity in her journey.

“I really wanted to hone in on the book’s biggest themes, and the moments of comedy and terror,” says Carlock. “I wanted to capture that combination of living hard and partying hard, of seeing the ridiculousness in everything while being scared for your life. The book has a wonderfully dark humor because that’s how people cope with such situations and that was important to get on screen. I never saw it as a history lesson – it’s the story of a woman who throws herself into a world that changes her.”

In one of his biggest changes, Carlock narrowed the real Kim’s epic travels through Afghanistan and Pakistan to Afghanistan only to keep the story more tightly focused. “Pakistan is a big onion,” explains Carlock. “You can peel it forever; it is endlessly complicated. And we felt that having the film constantly shuffling between Islamabad and Kabul would be too disorienting.”

Adds Tina Fey: “Although Kim's time in Pakistan was fascinating, it was just too much to cover in one movie. This is a movie based on her life, so we changed her name from Barker to Baker, and Robert also made her a cable news producer rather than a print journalist—who wants to watch people typing?—and amalgamated her friends, colleagues and story subjects in a way that makes the narrative more cinematic.”

The film expressly takes no political stance on Afghanistan or the current wars in the region, but Carlock did want to capture the Catch-22-ness of it all – of reporters deliriously caught in the comic paradox of trying to latch onto some semblance of personal sanity amidst an impossible and insane situation.

Carlock’s greatest pleasure was the intensive research; he probed for months into both the lives of war reporters and the surreal atmosphere of embattled Kabul. “It was an exciting process,” he says. “Diving in and going off on tangents, I found myself talking to Kim's friends and colleagues in Jerusalem, fixers in Afghanistan, hooking up with Green Berets at Fort Bragg and meeting with SEALs for dinner. I came away with the feeling that in Afghanistan, everyone had the best intentions in an impossible situation. Our aim on screen was to be respectful to the reporters, the locals, the soldiers and all these people who take huge risks helping to do the work that Kim did.”

The directing duo of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa – who wrote the devilishly dark, anti-holiday classic “Bad Santa” and who have directed such films as “Crazy, Stupid Love” and the recent “Focus” starring Will Smith as a con man – could not resist the exuberant wit of Carlock’s adaptation. “We were amazed that the story was so much about character,” says Requa. “It’s about the journey of a woman and a window into a unique world that Carlock made incredibly entertaining. You don't get many opportunities to do a movie like—a dark comedy that's very funny yet also realistic about war, yet doesn’t make direct commentary about war. It reminded us of ‘M.A.S.H.’ and even ‘Three Kings’ to a degree.”

But while Robert Altman’s irreverent comedy was set in a Korean War field hospital, and David O. Russell’s action-packed satire was set at the end of the first Gulf War, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” entered a wholly unseen world: that of the female war reporter in Afghanistan, a conflict not often seen at the movies, let alone in a comedy with a female lead.

“Robert found a way to write Kim's story so that it gives a fun view into what it is to be a war reporter today,” notes Glenn Ficarra. “In many ways, it’s the relatable story of a woman starting a new career later in life – but that’s set against a very real war, which is the genius of it.”

Fey and co-producers Lorne Michaels and Ian Bryce were excited to bring in a pair of directors already renown for defying genre and conventional notions of film comedy. “We needed a director who would not only get the specific tone of the comedy, but who could also create a visually beautiful world – and we got two of them,” points out Fey. “’Bad Santa’ was hilarious, so we knew Glenn and John understood comedy, but we also saw that they are art school guys who went to Pratt and have a strong visual sense, so they were a great match.”

Margot Robbie, who first learned about “WTF” while working for the directing duo on Focus, says, “I love their sense of irony and sarcasm, and they do it so well because it’s grounded in characters you truly care about. John and Glenn are like this wonderful married couple. They rely on each other and really flow well together. And they're hilarious.”

Working with double the usual number of directors was no issue for Fey, who is used to working in teams as a comedy writer and producer. “The more the merrier. A good idea is a good idea, no matter who said it. That said, I only talked to John; I never really met Glenn,” she quips.

In The Kabubble

As soon as she lands in Kabul, Kim is initiated into a ramshackle group of expatriate journalists – her only lifeline in navigating the dizzying culture shock of Kabul as well as the so-called “the Kabubble,” the frenzied, behind-the-scenes social scene forged by journalists, aid workers, diplomats and security contractors trying to survive the city in irreverent style.

Taking Kim under her wing is fellow female journalist Tanya Vanderpoel, a composite character based on several straight-talking, uninhibited reporters. Taking the role of the old Kabul hand who has plenty of advice for Kim on everything from getting stories to handling the local notions of sex life is Margot Robbie (“The Big Short,” “Wolf of Wall Street”).

From the start, Fey was looking for a polar opposite to take the part. “Tina wanted to join forces with someone other-worldly, a different species from Kim, someone confident, tall, blonde, seemingly created for being in front of a camera. I think I got three words into the script before I thought: Margot,” says Glenn Ficarra of the casting.

The lure for Robbie was her character’s fierceness. “She's wickedly smart, adaptable and very ambitious,” she observes. “But Tanya is also a young, female reporter who people don't always take seriously so she puts on a façade. She believes in ‘fake it, 'til you make it.’ If you do anything with conviction, people will buy it; that's her philosophy. What’s interesting is that, in the real world, Tanya and Kim would likely never have been friends, but in the Kabubble, they rely on each other.”

Part of the need for female friendship is that these women are so utterly outnumbered by the opposite sex. “The ratio of male to female reporters in Afghanistan is vast,” notes Robbie. “It’s truly a boys' club. They’re surrounded by dudes all the time, so they really have to hold their own.”

John Requa was thrilled with the enthusiasm Robbie brought to the role. “Margot is take-your-breath-away talented,” says Requa. “And she's not hard on the eyes, which is important because Kim needs to be intimidated by her appearance. We also liked the idea of there being an age difference between the characters because Tanya is where Kim wishes she had been at Tanya’s age.”

Screenwriter Carlock took great pleasure in watching Robbie bring out all the brazen confidence he saw in the character. “Margot projects strength and authority. Tanya’s seen it all so she becomes Kim's guide in this inferno, steering her through the steps of letting go of her former life.”

Robbie was especially fascinated by the way Western women working in Afghanistan have to maneuver a culture where most women are beholden to don the hijab – and are certainly not allowed to fraternize with males, let alone flirt with them. Yet, because of working women’s rarity, there’s also a surreal phenomenon in which female correspondents can draw intense sexual attention unlike anything back home. They dub it the “4-10-4” rule.

“4-10-4 implies that a woman who is a 4 in the U.S. becomes a 10 when in Afghanistan where there are so few available women, but is a 4 again back home,” explains Requa. “It's completely sexist, but the isolation of women and the bonding they do because of it plays a big part in the story.”

Adds Fey: “Kim has to come to terms with the fact that she’s suddenly a 10 in Kabul. She's what they call 'Kabul Cute.' At first the overwhelming attention is a shock, but she comes to enjoy it. And rather than finding herself in competition with the other women, they become a unit.”

It is Tanya who encourages Kim to pursue a liaison with veteran photojournalist Iain MacKelpie, leading to a dilemma over the wishy-washy boyfriend waiting for her back home. Taking the role of MacKelpie is beloved British comedian and Emmy winner Martin Freeman, well-known for his role in the original UK version of “The Office” as well as playing Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” series and Lester Nygard in “Fargo.”

Fey suggested Freeman for the role. “He has the perfect sense of humor to play a guy who is a bit of a jerk yet you want to root for him. That's a unique quality to have,” she says.

Crass as he may be, Freeman has empathy for MacKelpie. “He’s a guy who doesn't do a lot of editing before he speaks, and well, he doesn't particularly edit his actions either,” Freeman explains. “As a war photographer, he's put himself in risky situations, which has hardened him and taken off some of the shine, so he doesn't have a lot of airs and graces or patience for etiquette. He's an animal who wants to get straight to the job, get it done and leave, whether that's war or women.”

When Iain first meets Kim he naturally attempts to see how far he can push her limits – but he also finds himself a little stirred by her tenacity. “Iain has a reputation for trying to sleep with an awful lot of women,” admits Freeman, “and Kim is his kind of challenge because she's smart and funny and not impressed with his BS. Yet, she demands respect, so he has to treat her like a grown up.”

Fey enjoyed the off-kilter rapport with Freeman. “Iain's a smart guy, but a cocky guy,” Fey describes, “and he's rudely flirtatious with Kim. They dislike each other for a long time, but they end up together because that is just the weird nature of the place.”

At one point Iain attempts to woo Kim in song, a scene Freeman would prefer to forget. “For Iain it was no big deal,” recalls the actor, “but for Martin it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my adult life. I used to sing karaoke in my 20s, but those were songs I chose, and I was drunk enough not to care. The song John and Glenn gave me had a ridiculously high falsetto chorus, so I had to try to lobotomize that part of your brain that knows humiliation.”

Rising Australian actor Stephen Peacocke takes on the role of Nic, Kim's bodyguard and Iain's erstwhile rival for her affections. Frequently dismissed as the brawn without brains, Nic is more multi-layered than anyone foresees. Peacocke says Nic feels a bit of sympathy for Kim. “On the one hand, he's a typical hot-blooded young man who's got his eye on the prize and wants to be the first to charm this girl. But he also sees someone who's completely out of her depth,” he says. “When she pulls out a wad of American money in the middle of the airport, he knows he's got work on his hands.”

Peacocke notes that meeting Fey for the first time was just as nerve-wracking for him as for his character. “I was really nervous,” he recalls. “I had all the telltale signs. My heart was beating fast and I was thinking, 'How am I going to keep up,' but Tina was just lovely to work with.”

Providing another POV is Lebanese journalist Shakira Khar, another experienced female correspondent portrayed by Sheila Vand, known for her role in Ben Affleck’s “Argo.” Vand says she was drawn to exploring the invisible lives of female reporters. “I think you have to be so to sign up for something like this,” says Vand of her character's drive to report from Afghanistan. “It's similar to the lifestyle of an actor because you're frequently far away from home and have to make sacrifices, especially as a woman. It can be a cutthroat business, but these journalists go abroad to get the stories that get airplay and space; otherwise you're covering Black Friday at the mall.”

Vand especially was gratified to have the chance to portray a go-getting Middle Eastern female reporter, a character not often seen. She sees Shakira as daring. “Someone like Shakira has had to navigate more obstacles than Kim or Tanya to get where she is,” Vand points out. “There is something fascinating about a woman who breaks away from a conservative culture to do journalism.”

Different as they are from each other, Kim, Tanya and Shakira become an unstoppable triumvirate – and Shakira comes to root for Kim. “Their camaraderie is a necessity,” says Vand, “because if you don’t align yourself with other women in a place like this, you're really on your own. I think when Shakira looks at Kim, she sees a woman who can blossom like she did. She sees that Kim can own parts of herself that she couldn't back home because we're all like queens in Afghanistan.”

Rounding out Kim’s crew is her steadfast cameraman, known as Tall Brian, and played by Nicholas Braun of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” A hardened veteran of several wars, Brian can’t quite believe he’s been paired with a newbie. “Brian's a little jaded, and also a bit of a thrill seeker,” says Braun. “At night he goes hard and parties. Like a lot of people in Kabul, he's exorcising demons.”

It takes Kim time to win Tall Brian over. “Kim seems soft to him,” says Braun. “She can't even pronounce Kabul right, so he thinks, 'OK, here’s a fresh one who doesn't know a damn thing.' She’s not like Tanya who's a superstar journalist who won't stop at anything to get a story, even if it puts her crew at risk. But this is the environment that Kim has to face: at the end of the day, it's high competition and hard-won friendships in a place that can be as brutal as it is alluring.”

Fixers, Politicos and Soldiers

Among the most important people Kim will get to know in Kabul are the local “fixers” who help journalists arrange the stories and interviews that can make or break their careers. Known as a logistical guru, the fixer Fahim Ahmadzai becomes indispensable to Kim as she tries to crack her first major stories. Christopher Abbott, recently seen in “A Most Violent Year,” portrays Fahim.

Abbott immediately became interested in exploring Fahim’s tumultuous life. “Fahim was a doctor,” explains Abbott, “yet being a fixer was a more profitable way of taking care of his family. I think he sees his role as that of a protector for Kim and her crew. Even though he is skeptical of Kim at first, he grows to love her in a platonic sense. It's a subtle and pure dynamic between them.”

Fahim also envisions himself as an unofficial ambassador for Afghanistan – with a chance to reveal to the world the stunning beauty of his country and her people. “Fahim is the moral compass of the movie,” says Robert Carlock. “Ultimately Kim must choose between Fahim's vision of the world and Tanya's vision of the world.”

Fey was especially moved by the character. “Fahim is based on a real man who worked with Kim for years and they became very close; he’s her work-husband. There is a real affection and deep friendship,” she observes, “but there's a certain painfulness too because, due to cultural conventions, they cannot be demonstrative with one another, even after knowing each other for years. Chris brought such a depth and warmth to Fahim, he made the relationship feel plausible and full.”

Another relationship that baffles and beguiles Kim is that with Ali Massoud Sadiq, a political up-and-comer and inside operator hoping to become Afghanistan's Attorney General. Taking the role is Tony and Emmy nominee Alfred Molina. Molina, a long time fan of Fey and producer Lorne Michaels, says: “I don't often get the chance to play comedic characters. I usually get cast as a bad guy or someone with a problem, so it’s nice to play a character who’s a little outrageous, not clownish, but larger than life. He's one of those wonderfully pompous characters who pretends to be humble, but his ego is enormous, and like all big egos, they make a big noise when they come crashing down.”

When Sadiq first meets Kim, he pointedly ignores her, but as time goes on, Sadiq is charmed by her wiles and becomes her entrée to bigger stories – and he hopes even more. “Sadiq finds himself strangely attracted to Kim and tries to use his influence to coerce her into a kind of special relationship,” explains Molina.

Yet Kim, too, uses their relationship. “She takes advantage of the fact that Sadiq takes a shine to her,” explains Fey. “She goes to his home for some light target shooting with AK-47s and frequently visits his office where he makes sure she knows he has a bed installed should there be a need for one. As crazy as these things sound, they're all based on Kim's actual experiences.”

Those true-life experiences also involved spending time with US military leaders in Afghanistan – including Colonel Walter Hollanek, portrayed by Academy Award® winning actor, writer and filmmaker Billy Bob Thornton, who also worked with Requa and Ficarra as the eponymous “Bad Santa.”

Thornton enjoyed the character’s dry gallows humor. “You could look at this character as the stereotypical Marine colonel,” says Thornton, “but his dialogue is very funny, even if it's delivered straight. He's darkly funny. He's also pretty hardcore. He respects people who are not lightweights, and after he sees Kim in action a couple of times, he comes to respect her, too.”

After being embedded with U.S. troops – a rite-of-passage for war reporters in the 21st Century—Kim also gets to know a lower-ranking soldier: Lance Corporal Specialist Andrew Coughlin, played by newcomer Evan Jonigkeit.

“Coughlin’s a fun-loving guy who knows what's happening in the world, but he chooses to see the bright side of things and keep a positive outlook,” describes Jonigkeit. “I think of him as Americana encapsulated. Kim is drawn to him because he reminds her of the best parts of home.”

Fey notes the character becomes an unseen significant force in Kim’s life and decisions for her future. “As they ride together on patrol, Coughlin is one of the first people to open up to Kim in any real way—telling her he feels like he and his squad are in a forgotten war,” explains Fey. “But it’s also a moment that will later haunt her and influence her career in ways she can’t foresee at the time.”

Entering The Fun House

Kim’s initiation into Kabul includes her arrival at the so-called “Fun House,” a kind of all-ages dormitory where foreign journalists live together amid a babble of languages, desires and ambitions. Production designer Beth Mickle, whose films include “Focus” and “Drive,” re-created the Fun House as a fittingly seedy and atmospheric set.

“It's beautiful in its shabbiness,” says Tina Fey of the journalists’ house. “It has a Middle Eastern feel but it's also dingy at the same time. Almost every one of the characters has a scene in the Fun House where they are passed out. It's appropriately gross, like living in a beautiful ashtray.”

“Living in the fun house is part of the process of escaping your real life,” explains Glenn Ficarra. “Since you're not allowed to mingle too much with the locals in Afghanistan, the journalists create a culture of their own in this frat-like environment. We wanted to capture that – so we even use music from a decade earlier to underscore how they’re attempting to relive their youth.”

For the cast, the Fun House was a favorite – a set where characters can let go of their former identities and form new ones. “We create our own little world in there,” says Robbie, “where you forget the real world outside – and drink and party to numb the fact that you’re living in madness.”

Martin Freeman sees it even more starkly. “It’s sort of like the debauchery of the last days of Rome in there,” he concludes.

Experts on WTF

While the comedy and humanity of “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” came out organically in the performances, it was essential to all the filmmakers to assure the film was as authentic as possible in depicting Afghanistan’s culture and the U.S. military and diplomatic presence there. The film’s comic tone notwithstanding, the filmmakers were committed to staying true to the many Americans still working there, trying to make a difference in the country.

Early on, producer Ian Bryce, who has a long history of working with the Department of Defense (DOD), began assembling the film’s own corps of experts. The DOD and Pentagon not only collaborated on the script and providing major locations, they also lent the production a key asset: United States Air Force Staff Sergeant August O'Nieil, who advised cast member Evan Jonigkeit.

A Parajumper who was seriously injured during a rescue attempt of several Marines in Sangin Valley, Afghanistan, O’Nieill hopes to defy the odds by returning to active duty despite the amputation of his left leg just above the knee. Jonigkeit found him an incredible yet easy-going inspiration: “August is so positive. He’s someone who just picked up and moved forward. He was an open book and made it so easy for me to talk to him about his experiences. He was generous with details and just a great wealth of knowledge. What an amazing guy,” he sums up.

2nd 2nd Assistant Director Kevin Collins (Lt. Colonel, USMC, Retired), who spent 23 years in the service and served in Iraq before beginning his career in motion pictures, became another invaluable resource for cast and crew. Director John Requa also tapped his cousin, Phil Cushman, a former Marine Major, to take some vacation time and join the production.

The film’s close rapport with the DOD also allowed for Tina Fey, Chris Abbott and Nick Braun to take the flight of a lifetime—filming a key scene aboard two UH-1 Huey helicopters at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Braun relates his memory of the chopper ride: “You’re thousands of feet in the air, there are no doors, it's freezing cold and you're so scared that you immediately have to piss because your bladder shrinks. And yet you're supposed to be acting like you do this all the time and it's nothing special. Actually, riding in that helicopter was one of the coolest things I've ever done!”

The production company and the Air Force also teamed up to create a facsimile of FOB (Forward Operating Base) Norton, where Kim interviews Marines. Actual airmen used this opportunity to practice building a small outpost on a remote hill at Kirtland. According to Brigadier General Kathleen Cook, USAF, the production was a win-win for both the filmmakers and the troops at the base.

“It was important to us that people get the true perspective of airmen and their sacrifices. At the same time, filming on the base offered the opportunity for further training,” the General explains. “Our airman built the FOB in five days, whereas in real life, they would be building a site ten times that size. It was a chance to train in a very different environment with attention to different detail. When you're out in the field, you don't have that luxury.”

The production not only utilized USAF experts, they also availed themselves of troop support and access to real estate from the 58th Special Operations Wing and Special Operations Group; the 512th Rescue Squadron; the 377th Air Base Wing and its Security Forces Squadron; and the 210th Red Horse Squadron. The Airforce also supplied invaluable assets and permitted filming on or near UH-1 Hueys, HH-60 Pavehawks and CV-22 Ospreys in tandem with training missions.

In addition to military support, the company depended on several Afghan experts. Mohammad Anwar Yousofy, the production’s consultant for all things Afghan, began working as a translator and cultural advisor to several high ranking US military officials in 2004 before immigrating to the United States and Albuquerque, New Mexico last year. At first he was cautious, not wanting to insult his American hosts, but he soon learned that similar to his role working with battalion commanders, his advice was necessary and valued beyond measure. Yousofy caught mistakes from large to small including correcting the large sign that hung above the Kabul Airport which, although spelled correctly, was initially written backwards.

KABUL IN ALBUQUERQUE: THE SHOOT

Since bringing a big production to war-torn Afghanistan itself was out of the question, the production of “WTF” searched from Tel Aviv to Northern India to Abu Dhabi for a plausible stand-in. Yet ultimately they found a spot surprisingly close to home: New Mexico. It turned out the state known as The Land of Enchantment offered every vista and site required by the script – and shared in common with Afghanistan the rough-hewn beauty of mountainous desert. Meanwhile, documentary filmmaker Gelareh Kiazand did travel to Kabul to capture 2nd-unit footage in-country.

Back at home, a coterie of Afghan consultants kept things real on the set. “We definitely needed to have an Afghan presence on set,” says Tina Fey. “We needed help just in knowing how to pronounce words and names – not to mention social interactions, manners and customs.“

Every effort was made to bring Afghanistan to New Mexico – with production designer Beth Mickle, set decorator Lisa Sessions-Morgan and their team on a constant hunt for items that would lend authentic flavor. Sessions-Morgan sent a local vendor headed to Afghanistan with a shopping list; another emissary was dispatched to Dubai to purchase street bicycles; and the team even hunted up old televisions from Russia and Bolivia on EBay to create the out-of-time look of Kabul.

Transformed locations included a Scottish Rite Temple, circa 1911, that became the foundation of the journalists’ Fun House; the State Penitentiary of New Mexico, parts of which became Kabul International Airport, Charkhi Prison, a Kandahar classroom, a tribal village, as well as a Taliban safe house and the Kabul Zoo; and the Old Judicial Complex, which stood in for Sadiq’s office. A gypsum quarry on the Zia Pueblo Tribal Lands became the Kandahar and Oruzgan Provinces as well as the Kabul-Ghazni Highway, while the Laguna Pueblo doubled as the village of Hasanzo Kalay.

Other locations included Bern County Detention Center which stood in for the US Embassy in Kabul; the newly built Aperture Center at UNM's Media Center that became the ZNN Network headquarters; and the ABC Chinese Restaurant which was turned into the Jade Flower, a favorite watering hole and brothel frequented by journalists.

Production designer Mickle, set decorator Sessions-Morgan and construction coordinator Anthony Syracuse even re-created two blazingly colorful outdoor Afghan markets in Albuquerque.

Requa and Ficarra have high praise for Mickle’s artistry and understanding of Afghan history. “Afghanistan is one of the most ancient cultures in the world, untouched in many ways,” says Requa. “In the '70s there was an influx of cash, so you suddenly had the most hastily constructed, crappy buildings juxtaposed against this beautiful ancient architecture that's been there before Islam. That's the world you see created in Beth’s details.”

The directors also worked closely with director of photography Xavier Grobet, with whom they also recently worked on “Focus,” to bring visual scope to Kim’s journey. “We spent more time talking about atmospherics on this film – the dust and the smoke and the you-name-it—than all our other movies combined,” says Requa. “We went through five tons of dust that we blew in our actors' faces, take after take. Literally a flat bed full of bags of dust and we only had one bag left by the end of production. We all had what we called the Kabul cough.”

But it was all worth it to give the audience a visceral sense of just how out of her element Kim Baker is from the minute she arrives in Kabul without a clue – and how much she grows while trying to manage risk, temptation, ambition and her own heart amid in one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Sums up Tina Fey: “Most of us won’t end up in Afghanistan but it’s easy to relate to someone who tries the unexpected – and winds up with a much larger life experience than she could have imagined.”

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” Official Production Notes

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