‘Thank God you did it in 20 years’: How Tom Hanks convinced co-stars to stay in monumental war film

If Steven Spielberg’s war film Saving Private Ryan is so convincing and so powerfully moving, it is certainly because of its tragic subject matter, but also because of its realism and acting. And part of that is down to one person, a consultant hired personally by ET’s director for his film.

This is Dale Day, a military film consultant and former captain in the Marine Corps. He is hired to train Tom Hanks and his small contingent of actor-soldiers. in the interview YahooDye says he then made them undergo the same training as the conscripts in 1943 and 1944, except that this training, in order to organize filming, was to take place only “three or four days”Day and night, very intensely.

Tom Hanks was “Fighter Number 1”

“Assholes” voiced by Dye – Tom Hanks is “Asshole Number 1” and so on, the actors are woken up at five in the morning, yelled at and punished for the slightest mistake with push-ups or squats. The exercises, among others, include real attacks on protected bases. Dye adds:

Rain started. They were soaked, frozen, knee-deep in mud, and crawling became quite painful.

The actors begin to lose their strength, buried in mud to the point where they can no longer move. Tom Sizemore (Sergeant Horvath) complains: “Just because I have to look like a soldier, do I have to live like a soldier?”And other actors, including Vin Diesel, are threatening to quit training.

Adam Goldberg, who plays Private Melissa in the film, recalls: “We were forced to do ‘method acting’ whether we wanted to or not. Tom Hanks takes matters into his own hands and calls Spielberg to tell him the seriousness of the situation. The director tells him to make his own decision whether to continue or not.

Vin Diesel narrates the end of the story

This “rebellion” ended well, as he confided Empire Actor Vin Diesel, who plays Private Caparzo in the film:

We were all tired, we all left, and this guy who was a superstar, he didn’t even need to be there, voted to stay. That’s how we chose him as captain. He said, “Guys, in 20 years you’ll look back and thank God you did it.” And from that day to this, we are extremely grateful for listening to him.

despite some historical errors Minimal, the realism of Private Ryan’s survival will be emphasized upon its release, to the point of setting up a hotline to support surviving American veterans who would see the film if they left shocked. The film would be a total success, grossing (adjusted for 2024 inflation) $908.3 million!

Let’s leave the final word to Captain Die, who has no regrets about the hard training: I talked to a few people about it who said they were glad they did it and that it was the right thing to do.