VENICE, Italy — Kathryn Bigelow was interested in the U.S. nuclear stockpile: Who was guarding it? What would happen if a missile strike was imminent? And who would be making the decisions about what to do?

Her new film “A House of Dynamite” takes audiences into those guarded rooms as U.S. government officials and military leaders attempt to manage a missile strike from an unknown aggressor that is 20 minutes from impact. It has its world premiere on Tuesday evening at the Venice Film Festival.

“This is a global issue,” Bigelow said before the premiere. “We are really living in a house of dynamite. My interest was to really get that information out there.”

Bigelow worked alongside screenwriter and the former president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim, to craft an authentic portrait of what m

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