When a single, unidentified missile is launched at the United States, there are just 18 minutes to respond. That countdown forms the backbone of A House of Dynamite, a new Netflix release from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim (Jackie, Zero Day). Told in real time, the film unfolded across three simultaneous perspectives — Fort Greely, STRATCOM, and the White House Situation Room — and showed how ordinary people in extraordinary positions shoulder unimaginable decisions.

For Anthony Ramos, who portrayed Fort Greely crew commander Major Daniel Gonzalez, the film’s compressed timeline wasn’t just a storytelling device. It was an existential one.

“Time is the most valuable thing in life,” Ramos told REVOLT. “You don’t get it back. Money, you can get back. Things, you can get back. But time, you don’t get back... With every minute that passes, that’s a minute we’re not gonna get back, and that’s one minute closer to what could potentially be the devastation of millions of people.”

Bigelow’s camera thrived in that urgency by capturing what happens when protocol collides with panic. Ramos’ section of the film, set inside the subterranean missile defense complex in Alaska, captured the weight of leadership under pressure. The actor said that being immersed in such a high-stakes environment made the responsibility hit harder.

“These folks that do these jobs every day have a huge task,” he explained. “They do this every single day, watching, protecting 24 hours a day so we can walk freely and do this right now. This is something to not be taken lightly.”

Authenticity was built into every frame. Much of the production took place on wraparound sets modeled after real U.S. command facilities, with Bigelow bringing in active and former military consultants to guide the cast. Many of the extras served in those very jobs, which gave Ramos and his co-stars a firsthand look at the discipline and focus required in crisis response.

“They give it this authenticity that you just wouldn’t have without them,” the actor expressed. “They really helped take this movie to another level. From my performance, and I would think every other actor’s performance was taken to another level because we all had these people here who have done these jobs, and some are still doing these jobs now, to really guide us. And you don’t want to let them down.”

That sense of duty became a mirror for Ramos’ own craft. Playing Gonzalez wasn’t about cinematic heroism, he suggested, but about honoring the humanity behind the uniform. The emotional pulse of A House of Dynamite lies not in spectacle but in stillness — in the fleeting seconds when decisions become irreversible.

Watch REVOLT’s sit-down with Anthony Ramos above. Check out A House of Dynamite here.