Director Kathryn Bigelow denies receiving classified information

(CBS News) Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, intended to follow up her critically acclaimed 2008 war film, "The Hurt Locker," with a film offering a glimpse into the failed December 2001 attempt to capture Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora.

But, as Bigelow told Charlie Rose and Gayle King on "CBS This Morning," "history intervened." Screenwriter Mark Boal was "about two-thirds into the screenplay when [the raid] happened," Bigelow said, referring to the successful Navy SEAL operation on the Osama bin Laden compound in Pakistan, resulting in bin Laden's death.

The script took a new turn to become the forthcoming "Zero Dark Thirty," a film about the historic raid. It has already received promising reviews and awards, and been credited for its authenticity.

Bigelow denies receiving classified information from the U.S. intelligence community in her effort to achieve such meticulous realism, however.

"We never requested classified information or was I aware that classified information was coming my way," she said, and reiterated that "to the best of our knowledge," they did not receive off-limits information.

Bigelow did work with the intelligence community and said the characters in the film are "all based on real people" and that it "really puts you in [their] shoes...and gives you a glimpse into the intelligence community."

When asked if the female intelligence officer in the "Zero Dark Thirty," played by Jessica Chastain, was based on the female CIA operative who reportedly led the charge toward the raid, Bigelow said only, "We protect our sources. I'll leave it at that."