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NEW YORK (The Hollywood Reporter) --- They set out to film a documentary but ended up shooting history, and next month CBS will air the never-before-seen footage from the brothers Naudet of what happened at Ground Zero when two planes struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

On March 10, CBS will air a two-hour special in primetime that will capture the events as seen through the eyes of firefighters who were stationed next to the WTC. Those who have seen the video have described it as "dramatic" and "awesome," an extraordinary eyewitness to history and a real-time account -- much of it quite moving -- of the events that stunned the country and the world that morning.

The story of Gedeon, 31, and Jules Naudet, 28, has been recounted in the media in recent weeks. An interview with the pair runs in the March issue of Vanity Fair, on newsstands.

The filmmakers had been following probationary firefighter James Hanlon on his rounds for a documentary they were making after the New York City Fire Department had given the award-winning filmmakers access to a downtown New York ladder company.

Four months after their filming started, Jules heard a roar one morning, aimed a camera upward and captured the horrific crash of the first plane as it slammed into the WTC's North Tower. As the brothers rushed to Ground Zero, they shot the chaotic scene, including 45 minutes of intense footage from inside the North Tower as firefighters and police officers rushed in to rescue people during the minutes before the building collapsed.

"They were in the middle of this for hours," said Jim Wiatt, president and co-chief operating officer of WMA, which brought the untitled project to CBS.

All the proceeds from the broadcast and subsequent uses of the footage will go to the Uniformed Firefighters Assn. Scholarship Fund to assist the children of the firefighters who perished in the terrorist attacks. The broadcast will include information on how people can contribute to the fund.

Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of CBS' "48 Hours," will oversee the shaping of the show as executive producer, though it is not officially a product of CBS News.

But only six months removed from the tragedy, the question is whether Americans are ready to look at the footage. Will it be too graphic a reminder of one of the most painful episodes in recent times? Zirinsky says no.

"It is inspiring and important but not hard to watch," she said. "It's powerful. It's not hard to watch; it's just mesmerizing."

People close to the project said the tape was not gory but that there were moving scenes of firefighters who entered the building and did not get out alive.

"The audience will come away with a perspective that has never been seen before inside Ground Zero as well as the journeys of brothers, the firemen," Zirinsky said. "This is such a unique piece of work. It just allows people to sit back and take a breath, six months after, and really look with awe at the inside story of Ground Zero."

How the show ended up in CBS' hands is a testimony to networking and the special nature of relationships in the television business.

The Naudets' father came to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, with whom he had a professional relationship. Carter called Wiatt, a close friend of his. The pair (along with Ben Silverman, the agency's head of international development) went to another close friend, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves, who -- along with CBS News president Andrew Heyward -- championed the project inside the network.

"They got the news division to make it more focused for the network," Wiatt said. "It was under Les'aegis from that point on."

"Moonves wanted to air it as soon as we could," Zirinsky said, adding that the March 10 airdate --
almost six months to the day after the attacks -- is a coincidence.

CBS, which is contributing all of the proceeds from the broadcast to the firefighters fund, will pay the Naudets to finish the project. The network will air the program once, after which the Naudets will focus on international distribution as well as making a longer version for home video and DVD, according to sources close to the project. They also will finish making their three-hour documentary about the ladder company.

When informed of the video footage, some firefighter groups had qualms about how it would be used. On Tuesday, Pete Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Assn., said he might express informal concerns to CBS.

"My problem is that some families might view it (and) that it might be a troubling situation," Gorman said, adding that he had not seen the video and he wanted to talk to those who had before deciding what to do next.

But Zirinsky said the network had been in touch with a woman who "sort of represents the families, and everybody knows we're doing this. There have been no issues," she noted. In fact, she said the families were pleased because the special will raise money for the scholarship fund, which is why the project is technically under the corporate umbrella rather than the news division.

NBC said it will air its own special looking back the WTC attacks but declined further comment. ABC also declined comment on its plans.

CBS will air the show from 9-11 p.m. ET. CBS News senior vp Betsy West will serve as executive-in-charge, and Carter and Vanity Fair editor of creative development David Friend also will be executive producers of the broadcast.

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I was in a toy store the other day and I saw a puzzle commemorating the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor

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Is America, a nation that has been trying to go on with life since September 11, ready to be thrusted back into it?

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will you watch it?

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