Method behind the magic: Saving Private Ryan

Image features a still from the D-Day landing scene in the film Saving Private Ryan. The camera is looking over a German soldier firing at allied forces.
Image features a still from the D-Day landing scene in the film Saving Private Ryan.  The camera is looking over a German soldier firing at allied forces.

Image via www.savingprivateryan.wikia.com.

Released in 1998, Stephen Spielberg’s magnum opus Saving Private Ryan is considered one of the greatest and most realistic portrayals of war ever produced. Rated #36 on IMDb’s all-time greatest movie list and a very high 93% on movie critic website Rotten Tomatoes, Saving Private Ryan received nominations for 11 academy awards, winning 5, including the Best Director award for Spielberg. Amongst many other accolades, the film also won awards at the Golden Globes, Grammy’s and the BAFTAs.

The poignant messages and emotional drive of the film launches the audience into world that is both dangerous and unpredictable. Although receiving some criticism, mainly for disregarding the contribution of several other countries to D-Day, Saving Private Ryan will forever be remembered for its realism. Brilliantly intense performances from Tom Hanks and Matt Damon particularly, allowed Spielberg to focus on the terror of the war, rather than the heroics of the men in uniform. However, he did not make it easy it portray.

To prepare his stars for the “hell on earth” mentality of war, Spielberg enrolled almost every cast member into a Ten Day boot camp with retired marine Dale Dye, who was given the responsibility of pushing the actors to the peak of physical and mental exhaustion. Dye would fire blanks from point blank range, conduct heavy combat and survival skills training and would only refer to the each person by their character name.

Dye later explained that “to the extent I can, I immerse the actors in that lifestyle: I take them to the field; I make them eat rations; I make them crawl and sleep in the mud and the cold and the dirt… And when they come out, if I’ve done my job successfully, they have an inkling of what people sacrifice to serve their country in the military.”

Not all of the actors had to take part however. Matt Damon, Private Ryan himself, was made exempt from the training, only to turn up at the very end holding a cappuccino, as the story goes. This was a deliberate decision from Spielberg, in a bid to create a sense of animosity between Damon and the rest of the crew that would be reflected in the film.

On the training, Vin Diesel stated that “To have to sleep under harsh rain conditions and be woken up after only a few hours following a really hard day-it was very rough. It was something I’ll never do again, but it was something that I’ll always be thankful for have been completed.”

Tom Sizemore also spoke about the training after the films, explaining that “Something happened. We learned that no one does anything alone in the war. It’s all about teamwork. We got a taste of that and it brought us closer together so when we started shooting the movie, we felt a bond that we had gone through something very difficult together.”

This week in history: 23rd – 29th December

A projector called the cinematographe is being shown.

image via sechtl-vosecek.ucw.cz/

The 28th December marks the anniversary of the very first screening of a commercial movie. The film, was created by French brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere, who had earlier developed a camera projector called the “Cinematographe”, premièred at the Grand Cafe, Paris in 1985. The event featured ten short films, including their first film, “Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon” (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory).

This week in also saw the premiere of one of the scariest films of all time, The Exorcist, opened its doors to audiences for the first time in (Dec 23) 1973.

The Exorcist also shares its release date with the 1993 film Philadelphia. The film, which has been reviewed some critics as ground breaking due to its focus on AIDs which had not yet been seen by audiences, starred Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Philadelphia highlights and questions misconceptions about homosexuality and the disease.

If you have any more fun, interesting or just plain silly facts from this week in history, please tweet us at @inside_film

This week in history: 16th – 22nd December

Image featured is a still from the movie Saturday Night Fever. Pictured is John Trovolta combing and blow drying his hair in the mirror.
Image featured is a still from the movie Saturday Night Fever. Pictured is John Trovolta combing and blow drying his hair in the mirror.

Image via: classic–movies.blogspot.co.uk

America caught Saturday Night Fever on 16th December 1977, with the release of John Travolta’s first step into stardom. Travolta played a young man who danced away all his troubles of the time, whilst wearing his glamorous white suit. A global disco phenomenon soon followed.

December 17th 1946 saw the birth of Eugene Levy, better known as Jim’s dad from the American Pie movies. Being gifted with the uncanny ability to portray an embarrassing and out of touch father, Eugene Levy has starred in very similar roles in other films such as Splash and Taking Woodstock.

On the same year as the release of Saturday Night Fever, Jacques Tourneur passed away on the 19th of December.Known as one of the greatest directors of the golden age of Hollywood, Jacques directed such classic B-movie horror films as I walked with a Zombie and Cat People.

Time is running out to visit Tatooine

The fictional city of Mos Espa is located within the sand dunes of Tunisia. The characters from Star Wars are walking down the marketplace with many domed buildings and sci fi structures around them.
The fictional city of Mos Espa is located within the sand dunes of Tunisia. The characters from Star Wars are walking down the marketplace with many domed buildings and sci fi structures around them.

Image via starwars.wikia.com

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, 1999 and Tunisia to be exact, George Lucas gave Star Wars fans the most detailed and strikingly beautiful location that the series had to offer. Just ask any Star Wars fan of the first city that springs to mind, they’ll undoubtedly think of Mos Espa, the hometown of one Anakin Skywalker. Fast forward well over a decade however, this real world location may soon be a thing of the past.

Located just to the west of the Tunisian city of Tozeur, lies one of the most detailed Star Wars sets ever built. Nestled amidst the dunes are around 20 buildings covering an area of around 10,000 square meters. One of the largest Star Wars sets produced, many tourists stumble upon the location thinking they’ve been transported in time.

This area was prominently featured in the first of the Star Wars prequels, Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace and has since become one of Tunisia’s key tourist attractions. Tourists can currently visit Mos Espa and get the feel as though they are on the fictional planet of Tatooine, the only thing that’s missing are the twin suns.

CNN reports however, that this iconic area may soon be lost by the very location it resides in. The sand dunes next to Mos Espa are currently moving at a rate of around 4cm per day, with the fictional city lying right in its path. Very soon, Mos Espa may be lost forever.

A domed hut is shown with sand creeping up the already decayed walls.

Image via holidaycheck.com. The sand is starting to surround the already weathered Mos Espa buildings.

This news comes at a devastating loss for Tunisia, as the area is frequently included in various holiday packages and draws many visitors, all wishing to gain an insight into this iconic fictional city.

In an interview with CNN, Tahar Karya, an expert in the sand dunes of Tunisia and George Lucas’ personal driver during filming, had this to say about how Tunisia benefited as a result of Mr Lucas:

“More than 1,500 background actors were employed. Agencies and hotels also benefited. Over a period of two-and-a-half months, (Lucas) brought activities to the region and beneficial economic activity. We hope he comes back here again.”

Perhaps George Lucas will return to Tunisia to film the latest Star Wars films? He’d better bring a spade.

The set has remained unused since 2003 after Lucas finished filming Episode 2, the final film that featured Mos Espa. At the time of writing, those interested can still visit the set, but for how much longer?

Better book those tickets sooner rather than later Star Wars fans, as Mos Espa may soon be swallowed up by the Sahara Desert itself. Perhaps a few centuries from now future civilisations may uncover the location and mistake it for a functioning city of our time and not that of a film set.

“The Pixar Theory”

The Pixar logo is visible with various Pixar characters surrounding it.

image via mashable.com

“Every Pixar movie is connected.” Those are the words of blogger and self-proclaimed “movie fanatic” Jon Negroni, who became obsessed over hidden links between some of our favourite animated masterpieces, leading to him to compile the “The Pixar Theory”.

Negroni begins with Brave, released in 2012, as the catalyst for events to come. As the earliest time period covered in a Pixar film, set in the Dark Ages, Negroni pays particular notice to how Brave is the only movie that explains why animals have human abilities and characteristics. Merida, a young princess, discovers a form of magic, which she inadvertently uses to turn her mother into a bear.

Merida later finds that this magic comes from an odd witch, who disappears every time she passes through a door, leading Merida to question her very existence. According to Negroni’s theory, this is not the only time we have encountered this witch.

Negroni is very quick to explain that the “The Pixar Theory” is an idea, not fact. He states that “The point of this theory is to have fun and exercise your imagination while simultaneously finding interesting connections between these fantastic movies. If you hate fun and/or imagination, you probably won’t like this theory.” Regardless, the further you delve into the Pixar Universe, the more you will become engrossed in its seamless narrative.

Centuries after Brave, the progression of intelligence leads to a power struggle between humans and animals. Negroni explains that “The stage for all-out war in regards to animals is set by Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Up, in that order. Notice I left out A Bug’s Life, but I’ll explain why later”.

Alongside the growing power battle between humans and animals, Negroni also highlights the progression of artificial intelligence, including machines in the struggle. This begins in The Incredibles, as Buddy, aka Syndrome, creates the A.I “Omnidroid” in his attempt to defeat the superheroes. “The omnidroid eventually turns on Syndrome, and starts attacking humans in the city. Why would an A.I.
want to just attack randomly? Do machines have an inherent hatred of humans?” asks Negroni.

Things get even weirder as Negroni adds more and more films to the timeline. In fact, he manages to include every single Pixar film into the story, including “Newt”, which has never been released by the company. Negroni invites you to, analyse, deconstruct and offer new angles as his theory continues to grow and gain pace online.

“The Pixar Theory” does not fail to shock and surprise you, as Negroni consistently uncovers hidden links, backing them up with evidence and interesting logic, and we haven’t even scratched the events on the timeline, as the real treat is at the end.

To check out “The Pixar Theory” yourself, visit the Pixar Theory website. You can also follow the man himself at @JonNegroni