Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American political action thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. Produced by Boal, Bigelow, and Megan Ellison, and independently financed by Ellison's Annapurna Pictures, the film dramatizes the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist network al-Qaeda, after the September 11 attacks, which culminates in the discovery of his compound in Pakistan and the U.S. military raid where bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011. It stars Jessica Chastain as Maya, a fictional CIA intelligence analyst, with Jason Clarke and Joel Edgerton appearing in supporting roles.