Watch - Full Metal Jacket
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Sgt. Hartman: Holy Jesus. What is that? What
the fuck is that?
Narrator: You wanna get your
talent to give you an honest performance? Give them an honest environment.
War is hell. Why not make the set something like
it? Watch "Full Metal Jacket".
Seemingly endless takes to get the right performance,
dangerous sets to keep the actors anxious,
Stanley Kubrick even wanted to set off dynamite during a take to surprise the cast.
Sgt. Hartmann: Here's my rifle, this is my gun
Soldiers: This is what fighting is for fun.
Narrator: Originally hiring
former Marine drill instructor R. Lee Ermey
as a consultant, Kubrick ended up rewriting the script to recast
the role of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann to him. Stanley
kept him apart from the rest of the cast until just before recording
to keep the actors from getting too comfortable.
Sgt. Hartmann: Are you shook up? Are you nervous?
Joker: Sir I am, sir.
Sgt. Hartmann: Do I make you nervous?
Narrator: According to Matthew
Modine, Kubrick encouraged him to keep a diary on set and take lots of photos,
presumably because he wanted Modine to feel what it was like
to be an observer, as his war correspondent character would.
His collection of writings and photos can now be
in the app, "Full Metal Jacket Diary".
And then there's Pyle. Kubrick asked Vincent
D'Onofrio to gain weight for the role. 80 lbs to be exact.
Stanley ran D'Onofrio through take after take,
breaking him down just as Sergeant Hartmann was,
and to this day Vincent attributes the success of his acting career
to Stanley Kubrick without any hesitation.
D'Onofrio: I've done over 50 films because of him.
Because of that part.
Because Stanley cast me.
There is no other reason why I'm working.
Narrator: Kubrick
told Arliss Howard, "on every film you do going forward,
you are going to miss me." He knew just how far
he could push his actors and how much manipulation it would take
for them to feel their characters. While very few
directors can get away with Kubrick's brand of masterminding
onset and off, it is worth noting that
his technique was not just about tricky camera angles and moody lighting.
He was, as they say, an actor's director,
and that, more than any other tool, produced the
powerful "war is hell" mood of the film.