Inside 'Stop Loss'

The Military Hollywood Insider - Mary McIntyre Brown

The Military Hollywood Insider - Inside 'Stop Loss'

“Stop Loss,” directed by Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”) focuses on a squad of Army soldiers returning from Iraq and about to transition back into civilian life…or so they think.

Ryan Phillippe plays squad leader Brandon Davis with Channing Tatum as his second in command.  You can listen here to what Ryan and Channing  had to say about their experiences on the film: 

Listen to Ryan Phillippe:

Listen to Channing Tatum:

From ‘ate up’ to ‘squared away,’ the movie tells its story from the varying  points of view of the soldiers around whom it revolves.  The cast and crew spent a lot of time with real soldiers in order to try to understand how they felt and what they’ve been through. 

Director Peirce included many soldiers in the film as extras and had Retired Sgt. Maj. Jim Dever (USMC) as the film’s military advisor who ran the actors through a “boot camp” that included everything from PT at ‘o Dark: Thirty, to weapons training and marching in formation. 

Kimberly Peirce has more than an earnest filmmaker’s interest in making “Stop Loss” – in fact, it’s personal because her brother served in Iraq. 

Listen to Kimberly:

View a clip from the movie

But, I must say, a couple of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve done in Hollywood were with co-stars Victor Rasuk and Rob Brown.  Here’s what they had to say about the making “Stop Loss.”

Victor Goes to Morocco and Gets More Than a Lousy T-Shirt

Victor Rasuk plays Rico, a member of Ryan Phillippe’s squad who suffers some severe injuries during an ambush in Iraq.  Even though his character was put out of commission, Victor got a lot out of making the movie…

Q:  You went to Morocco to film the battle scenes in this movie, what was that like for you? 

VR:  Well, it's funny, like shooting the movie and just being in Morocco – it’s like two different experiences. I think just being in an Arabic-speaking country and just sort of seeing the way of life there was an eye-opener –almost like sort of putting a face to that anonymous enemy in our minds.  And, it's a third world country, so that's something also to adapt to.  But, it was really amazing overall because there were so many emotions at the same time.  I mean, it's crazy -- not that many places stimulate that many emotions at once. 

Q:  With some of the really intense battle scenes in the movie, you must have some sort of emotional residue left over after a day on the set -- how did you shake it off? 

VR:  First of all, I'm not like a huge fan of guns, so even like carrying guns and pretending like this gun has been my apparatus for years and I know what I'm doing was something for me.  But, I wasn't a huge fan of guns and the 50 cal -- boy, when I heard that thing go off, I felt every bone in my body rattle.  And, there were times when it was so loud that I still hear that "beeep" in my ears. 

But, when we were shooting the movie, we were so devoted that I think we all took it home with us, that whole experience.  I don't think there was any moment to sort of shake it off because I think we purposely wanted to keep it because it served what we doing while filming.

Q:  The camaraderie in the movie seemed authentic, did you feel closer to your fellow actors? 

VR:  When you do simulated missions and you have days where you're with these guys and you actually start caring about them as humans and as actors and like you respect these guys, and then when you carry a simulated gun and you're doing a mission -- you want to make sure you're doing it the right way because you kind of feel like, even though the gun won't go off, you want to get used to not hurting the actual other guy. 

I remember one time, I was holding my rifle wrong and I think I was pointing it at Ryan's foot and Sgt. Maj. Dever who has 25 years in the Marines was like, "you could've shot him if it was a live round."  And I felt bad.  Like I truly felt bad, and then I caught myself and thought "oh this is fake though"-- but, psychologically we were really starting to get into it.

Q:  To play Rico who suffers some very serious injuries in “Stop Loss,” did you meet with people at the VA? 

VR:  I met with real-life wounded soldiers.  And, you know, even before I was supposed to meet with this one specific guy who had unfortunately lost limbs, I was thinking, "he's going to be angry, man.  And I've got to prepare myself to really hear his story.”  So I emotionally got ready for it. 

And, you know what was interesting is that when I met him, he was completely the opposite.  It completely threw me off.  I asked him, "You're not mad?"  And he was like, "No, I'm not mad.  If I could, I would do it again."  And I said, "So wait, how do you feel?"  And he was like, "Look, my situation is how it is, but I would go back if I could and I'm dealt these cards and I'm going to live life optimistically.  And, like why even live, if I'm going to be bummed out about it?  I fought doing what I love to do and I did it voluntarily." 

And I was like "Wow."  And, as he was talking, I mean-- yeah, he was optimistic.  And, you know, there were moments, like if you really read into human beings, you know that there was a lot he was hiding; there was a lot of hurt.  And, I could've played that part like really angry and made it really obvious, and the audience would've been like "oh yeah, of course he's angry."  But, I feel like the more I smile, the more I'm hiding.  I tried, at least, to portray the real moments. 

Q:  What was involved in the way you look on screen with all the injuries your character suffers in the movie? 

VR:  It was great makeup people; I want to give them big props because they really did a great job.  And, it was Kimberly Peirce, our director -- she looked at real life wounded soldiers' pictures and slowly she saw the severities of what my character Rico went through in the movie and she matched that with real life photos and we sort of simulated that on a computer. 

So it was a four step process -- prosthetics, makeup, binding of my limbs - my arm was actually behind me and my leg was under the chairs on some shots, and then some CGI. 

Q:  What's it like to see yourself on the screen in that condition? 

VR:  The first time I saw it, I gasped.  I was like "Holy shit!"  It creeped me out.  But, I think what really creeped me out wasn't really my face and that stuff, it was the limbs not being there.  And it looked so real – again, big props to the makeup and prosthetic people.

Q:  Do you feel this film has a kind of greater importance to you because it aims to portray the point of view of soldiers? 

VR:  I feel a much, much greater importance with this film because it's about the young men and women now --you know, it's about my generation.  And, what was impactful was that when I actually met these young men and women, I saw that they had the same interests that I have, they were going through the same real life problems that we all go through.  And, meeting wounded soldiers, when do you ever really get that opportunity? 

Rob Brown’s Mother Wore Combat Boots

Rob Brown, who portrays soldier Isaac “Eyeball” Butler in “Stop Loss,” gained some new perspectives on some larger issues by taking on a role which was pretty far away from who he is in real life.  And, it sounds like he made some good friends on set…

Q:  It has to put you in an unusual position as an actor to be in a film trying to accurately portray a soldier's point of view and consulting with real life soldiers to achieve it -- in a way, does it feel like you're representing something more that just another character in another movie? 

RB:  Well, I mean, it's just inherent.  And, that's why we all have a sense of responsibility to these soldiers and we couldn't even escape that responsibility, even if we wanted to because we were around them so often.  And, anything that we did wrong, they'd check us.  And, anything that we did right, they'd applaud us.  You know, so that felt real good to know that we had such a resource at hand all the time and we could interact with the soldiers.  And, we heard the soldiers interact with each other and that just helped with the authenticity. 

In terms of the bigger picture, that responsibility was also to tell their story from their point of view and not skew it with politics, you know, because that's not how they talk.  Their whole outlook is absent of politics.  Their main goal is to get home with their buddies.  That's what everyone says -- "I just want to get home with my buddies -- that's what's important to me."  You know, no one ever said, "I'm a Republican" or "I'm a Democrat."  I didn't know anybody’s political opinions.  It was all about getting home, which I can't empathize with -- I've never been shot at, but at the very least it makes sense in my mind that all that stuff goes out the window because your life's on the line.  You know, like why would you think of who you're going to vote for in an election when bullets are whizzing by you?

Q:  For you, how relatable were the soldiers you met?  Some people have a stereotype in their mind of what someone who joins the military is like before they meet them. 

RB:   My mother was in the Army.  I guess it's like anything else.  I don't pass judgment on people who do put soldiers in a separate area because it happens with actors, it happens with athletes, and with a lot of people.  You know, people ask me about famous friends that I have -- "What are they like?  What do they eat?"  And I'm like, "They eat food, man.”  But, I'm guilty of it as well, you know, I'd never even held a weapon.  And, then, all of a sudden, I'm with these guys who have been shot at and who have shot at people. 

But, I think that's what so important about this film is showing that these are regular people with common relationships that anyone can relate to.  No one thinks about that because all we see is the mainstream media and we separate them like "Soldiers" -- it's just like this big number -- those people, "a bunch of them died today" and "a bunch of them did this."  They're just people, but we lose sight of that a lot because they're not represented fairly, I believe, in the media.  You don't hear from them. 

Whatever my opinions are -- I've got cable, I watch CNN, I see Anderson Cooper and he's out there in the trenches or whatever it is and hey, I've thought "Wow, that Anderson Cooper, he's a brave cat."  Which he is, I'm not going to take anything away from him, but it's not the same as if he were a soldier with a microphone reporting because that soldier would really be getting shot at.  He wouldn't be just next to or near people who were getting shot at. 

Q:  You guys went to Morocco to shoot the Iraq scenes -- had you been to that part of the world before and is it a great perk to travel for filming? 

RB:  We were lucky to go there, but it was intense.  For me, Morocco was bittersweet because it's such a beautiful country, but I've never seen poverty like that before in my life.  The stuff I saw -- villages with no running water, kids playing soccer in garbage. 

I remember the day that it really hit me, we were on our way to this military base to drive in the Humvees and fire all these big weapons, we were anticipating shooting the 50 cal and we were like "yeah!  We get to drive around and do all this stuff - yeah!"  But, as we're driving there, it's like poverty everywhere and that kind of put me in a darker place which is where I should have been for things intense like scenes where we're being shot at. 

So it was a perk to be in such a beautiful country, but it was sad in a lot of ways.  And, it's still on my mind every now and then, especially when I hear people talk about poverty in the States.  I found out how unaware I was, working on this film.  I thought I was aware.  I thought I was informed because I read the newspaper and watched the news.  But, it just goes to show that there are more points of view out there that we need to consider.  And, it's not that I wasn't considering other points of view, I just didn't know those points of view existed. 

Q:  I heard you were kind of thrown off by the insects and wildlife you encountered while in Texas for the boot camp they had set up for the actors on “Stop Loss.” 

RB:  Well, I'm not a wilderness cat.  We were in the middle of nowhere and there were all these animals I never heard of and chiggers -- chiggers that eat your shins and your ankles -- what is that? 

And, during one of our simulated boot camps, they woke us up at like 4 am and we got into our simulated Humvee and we're flying down this dirt road and all of a sudden we hear, “There's a scorpion back here!"  So we had to stop the Humvee and we all jumped out -- big men with these big weapons, our flashlights all pointed at this little scorpion.  And I was like, "that's it?" -- Because I had never seen a scorpion in real life.  So I was like "that's it -- we got out for this?"  And the soldiers were like, "No, that's dangerous because small scorpions can't control their venom."  I'd never been exposed to anything like that, just random scorpions and camping out in the middle of nowhere.

Q:  Any downtime for the cast to kick back after boot camp? 

RB:  Yeah.  We did have a good time on this film.  First of all, Austin, Texas is a great city.  We were pretty much together all the time.  We'd get off work and go to the gym to work out.  And, on the weekends Ryan had this lake house on Lake Travis and it was just a great house and we all went out there as a squad, really.  He kept the squad together and he was like the squad leader.  And, we just had fun. 

Q:  I thought the pace of this film is nice because it doesn't wear out the audience emotionally. What was your reaction to seeing it? 

RB:  With a film like this, it's real easy for people to just think “oh, another war film, some depressing stuff's going to happen" -- and it's not what this is.  There are more layers to it.  What's beautiful about the film is that there's also guys hanging out having a good time in the midst of that whole -- people are dying here, and you lost a buddy, you're back home, it's great to be home, but you don't know how to adjust and you miss your buddies back there and you feel guilty for leaving them and you want to go back, but you want to stay with your family you're tired of being shot at, but you kind of want to go blow stuff up -- like there's all these things that are going on and that's why I think audiences won't get burned out with being hit over the head with messages and themes like "all this is sad" and "the war is bad" -- no, it's not about that.  It's just about relationships and that's what impressed me when I saw the finished product.  Plus, it made me happy because I realized that our camaraderie in real life translated on film.

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"Stop-Loss is the first major movie of the year that touches greatness. Directed with ferocity and feeling by Kimberly Pierce, the emotional battlefield strikes a universal chord that transcends politics and preaching; it's raw and riveting. The film takes us inside the minds and hearts of soldiers and is a powder keg with no agenda except the human one. It's the real deal."

   -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

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PRIOR SERVICE...

Vince Vaughn mentioned doing a benefit for the Army Emergency Relief Fund and we had a laugh as he told me -- "I've gone with the USO a couple of times.  I've been over to Iraq twice.  I've been to Afghanistan once.  And I would just go over for the troops.  I was lucky enough to have both "Dodgeball" and "Wedding Crashers" that were big comedies.  When the movies were out in theatres, I would go so they would be able to see it at the same time it was playing here -- [laughs] but, I didn't realize that they had all those bootleg tapes!  They had already seen them."

Nick Nolte recently wrapped "Tropic Thunder,” a new Ben Stiller comedy due to hit theatres in August.  Nick told me, “It's a satire of Vietnam. The guy I play was in Vietnam and he wrote the book that is being made into a movie and Ben Stiller's character is the action star playing me. And, I lost my arms in Vietnam, so I have hooks.” 

Nick has played Vietnam vets before and was part of that generation.  He had some observations on the change in the public response to war then in contrast to now.

"You know the change happened because the draft was eliminated.  So at first, the government didn't like that idea at all, but I think they're very enamored of the concept now because it's a private army. They're really not obligated to tell anyone anything.  I think it might have been a mistake really to get rid of the draft.  If the draft was in place, there'd have to be much more exposure.  But, the draft was an old World War II concept where the world was at war and you needed a draft.  For Vietnam, you didn't need a draft, it was a carryover.  But, you do have a problem now that it's a private army -- look at the way the journalism has changed. 

“But, I tell you, I talk to these young guys and there are some guys that want to go to Iraq.  They still believe, and this was true in Vietnam, there were some of us that believed there was an obligation.  It was the guys that went to Canada that I argued with -- that was neither nor -- you weren't resisting or going, you were just "I'm out of this!"  Even though I don't know why we're in Iraq, it would be hard to galvanize a protest against it because most of the guys that are going have volunteered to go."

Find more Military Hollywood Insider articles by Mary McIntyre Brown at Military.com.

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Copyright 2009 by Mary McIntyre Brown