Flags of Our Fathers Poster
Interview: Clint Eastwood, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe
“I think it’s very emotional, the father/son
relationship,” said Eastwood. “The son finding out about his
father and having maybe a moment with him while he’s still alive and
then after he’s gone, just the memory of his father, finding out what
an extraordinary person he was. At the end we just try to show that these
guys, really what sums up is these guys are just a bunch of kids who were
sent off to fight for their country and if you watch the ending credits,
we tried to show the real people and you realize that those 19-year-olds
looked about 45 in a matter of a two week period, a three week period or
something. So how much you can change a person and how appreciative they
are to have made it through. And we should be appreciative of them for doing
it. If they didn’t do it, we would have had combat on our shores and
combat on our shores is something no American would look forward to. But
don’t give up because we have to always be vigilant because such a
thing could happen.”
In the film, author James Bradley tries to get the real story of The Battle
of Iwo Jima from his father, John Bradley. Military men tend not to share
their experience. Ryan Phillippe plays the young John Bradley, who has heard
from more open military men in his life.
“My grandfather told me so many WWII stories,” he said. “I
remember that. And he saw quite a bit of action. He got a Bronze Star. He
killed Nazis, but he was open to talking about it. I think that’s
very much a personality thing too, and I think it’s about what you
did see and experience and how. Part of that is John Bradley’s personality,
part of it was the fact that he was a Corpsman and if your job is to save
lives and to help someone live through having lost limbs or being gutted,
how do you talk to anybody about that who doesn’t understand, or why
would you? Why would you want to revisit it? Once it is part of your own
personal history, unless you’re with the men who were there alongside
of you, why share it, why go into it? Because no one can every truly understand
if they didn’t go through it.”
Adam Beach plays Ira Hayes, the marine with the hardest time adjusting back
to life at home. Wishing to be back with his unit, Hayes becomes an alcoholic.
Beach drew on real life to get into that desperation.
“Coming into it one of my best friends passed away,” said Beach.
“In the middle of it my grandma passed away. So I had a huge heaviness
that carried me through it. I couldn't mourn for any of them because I was
working and I had to wait until the job was done, but the affect of that
heaviness is definitely there. When you see me doing the hitchhiking scenes,
we're getting in the van to shoot the shot and I got a phone call from my
dad and I said, 'Hey, pops, how is it going?' He said, 'Grandma just died.'
This water wanted to come out and I stopped it and I said, 'Pops, I'll talk
to you later. I have to finish this scene.' So I walked into the van and
Clint said, 'Are you okay?' I said, 'I just found out that my grandma just
died.' 'Do you want to take a break?' I said, 'No. No. Lets finish this
scene. I'll deal with it when this movie is done. I have a job to do.' So
when you see me in that scene there's that look. That look was everything
that I was carrying that day and throughout the rest of it.”
Phillippe too held in much of the emotion. “I always have the inclination
to cut dialogue,” he said. “I think the more that you can say
with yourself and your eyes the better. You then allow the audience to share
an experience with you because they’re imaging what it is you’re
thinking and feeling instead of being told verbally. A lot of my favorite
actors would always be cutting their dialogue. To me I love that chance
to think it and feel it through, and sometimes when you’re talking
you don’t have that same connection. You’re mindful of what
you have to remember to say and how to say it. If you just walk to something
and look at it and allow this myriad of idea and feelings wash through you,
it almost connects you more to an audience I think in a way.”
Flags for Our Fathers opens this Friday, October
20th.
For the trailers, stills more interviews and additional movie info, go to
the Flags
of Our Fathers Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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