Michael Bay’s Benghazi Movie Could Damage Hillary’s Campaign Just Days Before Iowa Caucuses

Action movie fans are gearing up for the release of director Michael Bay’s film about the deadly terrorist attack on the Benghazi, Libya diplomatic compound in 2011 – but the film’s release date could give Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign an ill-timed headache.

Paramount Pictures is set to release Bay’s film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi on January 15, 2016, just weeks before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, according to the New York Times. The film is based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s bestselling account of the terrorist attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound that claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The film’s creative team has said that it will not attempt to politicize the attack one way or the other, and will instead focus on the attack as seen through the eyes of the CIA security contractors who bravely battled the terrorists.

“While the events have been the subject of continuous heated debate, few have heard or seen the story told from the perspective of these brave men because it has been largely lost amidst the political back and forth,” producer Erwin Stoff said in a statement.

For its part, Paramount Pictures said it did not set the film’s release date with the Iowa caucuses in mind.

“MLK weekend had been a historically great date as evidenced by the success of American Sniper and Lone Survivor,” a spokesperson for the studio told the Wrap. “We believe mid-January will offer the best window after the film is completed to promote and release the film.”

Regardless of intent, the film will put a spotlight on the Benghazi attack just before the most critical early contest in the Democratic presidential race.

Clinton is set to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on October 22, where she will no doubt face tough questions about her response to the attack while serving as Secretary of State. However, Clinton has seized on a recent comment made by Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy that suggested the committee was formed to inflict partisan political damage on her campaign.

Progressive media outlets have already blasted the film well ahead of its January release.

“Republicans have already made clear they will use this movie to revive theories discredited by their own party’s investigators to continue their admittedly partisan attacks against Hillary Clinton,” Media Matters and Correct the Record founder David Brock told the Times. “Maybe Hollywood will have better luck creating a conservative fantasy [than Congressional Republicans have].

In July, the left-leaning Vox published a 1,500-word review of the film’s trailer, with writer Max Fisher saying he was “not optimistic” about the film’s “fealty to reality.”

A representative for Bay did not immediately respond to Breitbart News’ request for comment.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi hits theaters January 15. The film was written by Chuck Hogan (The Strain, The Town) and stars John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale, and Toby Stephens.