Actor speaks with CP about his new movie
The Campus Press recently had the opportunity to speak with Ryan Phillippe, star of the new movie “Stop-Loss.”
According to Paramount Pictures, the movie is about Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (played by Phillippe), who makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. He tries to resume the life he left behind, but the Army uses their “stop-loss” policy to order him to return to Iraq against his will. The Campus Press spoke with Phillippe about his experiences making and promoting the movie.
Campus Press: Are you at all concerned with the film’s box office performance, especially considering that recently a lot of Iraq war theme films have been receiving a lot of great critical acclaim, but haven’t necessarily been connecting with audiences? And if so, where do you think the disconnect is or what does that have to say about our audiences?
Ryan Phillippe: Yeah. I think that’s a good question. I think firstly that our film is really different than the rest of those in regards to it dealing with the humanity – the human side of coming home from war and what happens to these guys – and as they try to kind of get back into their lives.
I think it’s relevant to a slightly younger audience also because those films that have come before like “Born on the Fourth of July” or “The Deer Hunter” – those films were also made in hindsight, you know, after 10 or 15 years post-war.
And this is happening now and this is happening to a lot of people around the country, and their family members. And I think it’s – the fact that it’s a little more personal and maybe has a younger edge to it separates it from the rest of those films.
I think it’s incredibly relevant. I mean, I – we have our Presidential candidate who is talking about being in Iraq for 100 years and, you know, this means a lot more people are going to be put into this situation. So I think there’s something very topical about its nature.
CP: When you received the role of Brandon, did you know what stop-loss was? If you already knew, what is your perception of it now?
Phillippe: Well I knew a little bit just from watching “Nightline.” I’m kind of a news junkie. And so I was somewhat familiar with the term what it meant, what it forced upon someone.
But it wasn’t really until I started meeting soldiers and people who had been affected by the stop-loss order, and that’s when it really came to mean something more to me.
I mean, you would hear things like backdoor draft, and I think it is that in a lot of ways. But when you meet the people whose lives are kind of put on hold or torn apart or put at further risk, and you see what it does to their family, I think it has a much different meaning.
CP: I’d like to know if you talked to any specific Iraq veterans or learned of their experiences in a way that really influenced your own performance?
Phillippe: Yeah, I absolutely did. You know, there are things that we don’t think about. There is so much that is kept from us as a public and the war is kind of input in the back pages to some degree.
They did a smart thing with us in preparation. Kim Peirce chose when we had our boot camp to prepare us militarily. We also bunked and lived out in the sticks with six guys who had served. Some were still enlisted, and some had gotten out.
We spent time around the clock with these guys and it really gave us quite an education and made it all that much more because we are actors, and there’s only so close you can get.
There were some horrific pictures I looked at, you know, things to prepare myself to just kind of have a glimpse into what it is they see and experience. You don’t want to go into that research particularly, but it does have an affect on the stakes to you personally.
CP: In many of your movies, like “Breach” and “Crash”, for example, your characters encounter a moral decision. How would you describe the moral struggle that Brandon King encounters in this film?
Phillippe: Well to me, it’s really about duty and about what he feels. The way he’s always lived his life was very clear and straightforward and he would abide by whatever system he elected to be a part of.
I think this puts him in this idea of being forced back after you’ve fulfilled your obligation in your contract and you have plans for a life and you’ve made it out alive. I think it comprises all of those parts of him that were always so easily accessible.
So, I think it just becomes like who does he feel like he’s turning his back on and what is the risk? I mean, a lot of times they say your third tour, they call the death tour.
It’s like these guys make it through twice and they can come home, and they’re supposed to come home. Then they really feel like they’ve cheated death.
So I think — not wanting to give away too much — but I think he’s resolute by the end of it that – of what his fate is.
CP: How did you prepare yourself for the emotional mindset of your character?
Phillippe: Really spending a lot of time with soldiers like Kim’s brother – Kim Peirce is the director. Her brother was in the Army and signed up after 9/11, and it was a really controversial thing in his family because they’re pretty liberal.
He went over there, and one of his best friends in his unit was a guy, Harvey, who really inspires this story. Harvey’s wife had given birth while he was away on his second tour and he was supposed to get out and come home and have his wife and child.
They stop-lossed him, and that was sort of the inspiration. Kim would IM with her brother from Fallujah and she would talk to him every day, and that’s where it kind of started. So the fact that it came from such a personal place made it easy to connect to.
CP: What was filming like? What was the set like?
Phillippe: You know, it’s interesting. It’s a pretty diverse group of guys when you kind of look at it. We’re all kind of varying ages and backgrounds. We had such a good time connecting, and everyone was so unique that there was a lot of humor.
I guess sometimes when you’re doing heavy material, you look for those moments even more. And there were a lot of nights where we’d go out and have some beers and just stay up all night and laugh.
The boot camp that we had really kind of brought us together as a group. We were out there for like about six days, 14 hours a day, in 106-degree temperatures.
None of us knew each other before that. We’re doing these military drills the entire day. The nights we slept outside in these tents, and it was a really great bonding experience.
It just kind of stayed throughout the movie, and I think you see it in the film. I think one of the more appeal aspects of it is the friendship, is that connection. You feel it. It’s real.
CP: What would you say to the audience that wouldn’t necessarily go see it because they just would write it off as an agenda pushing film?
Phillippe: Well, I would say firstly, I don’t think the film goes where those type of films do. I think the ending is very legitimate and honest. And I’m proud of that aspect.
I think also it’s not a war movie, and it’s not an anti-military movie. In fact, I think it’s kind of very pro-military the way the guys are so bonded and the love and protection they kind of feel toward each other.
I don’t think there’s an overriding message. I think (Kim Perice) was really smart and careful about that, to tell a more human story. It doesn’t really take place in Iraq.
In some ways it could be Vietnam or it could be, god forbid, any future wars. Like there’s something a little more honest about it than it just being an agenda-pushing, liberal, sort of leftist film.
CP: I was wondering if you’d had any experiences with any veterans who had seen the film?
Phillippe: You know, that’s something I’m looking forward to over the next couple of weeks. I went to one screening so far with an audience. I’ve gotten quite a few of them coming up.
I’m looking really very much forward to that because we thought about it the whole time we were making the movie, and we knew what the whole motivation behind telling the story was.
And that is rewarding. I mean, even if there’s far fewer of them at this point. But after the World War II vets that met after the Eastwood film about Iwo Jima, that – it is really satisfying or fulfilling.
You feel like you’re doing something that is speaking to people that are sometimes overlooked or taken for granted, or people don’t really understand kind of the affect that war and service to the country can have.
I mean, and I’m really anxious to have that happen. I’ve talked to Kim quite a bit about it, and she’s especially moved by a lot of the women that she’s talked to whose husbands were over there and have gotten stuck.
I think the guys who serve are going to respond to the movie, too. I think it tells it fairly about all of those things.
CP: Why do you think you were chosen for the film?
Phillippe: Well, you know, I’m not exactly sure. I know that the film initially was Paramount and MTV came to be a part of it. I thought it was good for the movie because I don’t think a younger generation has really seen this film.
I mean, I think that there might be older people who can say it reminds me of “Born on the Fourth of July” or those type of coming home war films. But I think that younger people haven’t had that.
I know that I’ve met so many across the country at different points whose family are over there or they’re worried about, and I think it’s interesting.
These are the people that are being affected really. I mean, the average age of our military is 24 years old, or 23. These guys are sergeants and staff sergeants at the age of 22.
I think that’s why the MTV thing made sense to me, because I don’t think it is like some of those other films that have come out. I think it had a different take and a different edge, and a younger point of view.
CP: How you would describe your character in this film and how you think it’s different from other characters you’ve played?
Phillippe: Well firstly, I would describe him as a guy who has always done the right thing in his life by all accounts, and is a guy of true character and strength.
He’s compromised by the choice he has to make regarding being forced back into combat when he’s made up his mind and he’s meant to be out. That’s who the guy is – just a really solid guy- one who would never think he would be in pursuit for anything because he did what was right more often than not.
In terms of the way it’s different from anything I’ve done, I don’t know. I mean, there’s some superficial reasons. I think like the whole Texas thing, South thing – I’ve never really done a character from that part of the world, and there is a whole mentality down there that I think is quite different and interesting.
I think Kim did a good job with that, like the atmosphere. Even though the guy is older, it’s not like the teenage or the early twenties, necessarily coming of age.
But I think there is something about becoming a man in some regards. And I don’t think I’ve done that sort of film where you’re seeing a drastic change in a person over part of their life.
Contact Freelance Writer Devon Taylor at devon.taylor@colorado.edu.
