Columbia PicturesZero Dark Thirty's chilling opening sequence has proved painful to some of those who actually lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001—because it's their loved ones who can be heard saying their goodbyes.
"Losing a loved one so horribly—the ongoing anguish we've been going through—it's a treasured remembrance, it's a treasured message. It's ours," Frank Fetchet, whose son Brad's final voicemail from the 89th floor of the World Trade Center was used in the film without their permission, told CBS News.
"My first thought was, 'Isn't anything sacred anymore?" added his wife, Mary.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has been on the defensive since Zero Dark Thirty first hit theaters over the film's depiction of torture and the apparent artistic license taken when it comes to connecting torture to the ultimate killing of Osama bin Laden, said in a statement to CBS News that families were contacted, if not for permission to use those calls.
"Before the film's release, [filmmakers] initiated contact with a number of family members of the victims of the 9-11 attacks," the studio said, calling the entire film a "tribute" to those victims.
"To say they've reached out to families—yeah, reached to say, 'come to the preview' after the film is already completed," Fetchet cracked.
After early raves from critics, Kathryn Bigelow was snubbed in the directors category and Zero Dark Thirty won only one Oscar, for sound editing (an honor it shared with Skyfall), at Sunday's ceremony.