In a joint interview on Tuesday Mr. Weinstein; the film’s director, John Stockwell; and others said the changes to the film were not politically motivated but were meant to give the film a stronger sense of realism. Some of the Obama moments were added at the suggestion of Mr. Weinstein, they said, using material gathered by Meghan O’Hara, a producer who worked closely with the documentarian Michael Moore on politically charged projects like “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko.”
But Mr. Stockwell said he had included Mr. Obama as a character in his film from the beginning, and had actually shrunk his screen time somewhat. And Howard T. Owens, the chief executive of the National Geographic Channel, who joined the call, said his company had insisted on removing a scene that showed Mitt Romney appearing to oppose the raid.
“We wouldn’t air this if it were propaganda,” he said.
The scenes featuring Mr. Obama include an opening with him at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner just a day before the raid (which was added by Ms. O’Hara); another that catches him on a long, lonely walk as he presumably deliberates his weighty decision; and — without getting too deeply into spoilers — another that finds him declaring at the end, “Justice has been done.”
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