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READ MORE ABOUT SHOOTING THE FILM AND KIMBERLY PEIRCE (DIRECTOR/WRITTEN BY/PRODUCER)
STOP-LOSS Policy -
The retention of soldiers in the service beyond their expected term. Using a loophole in soldiers' military contracts to prohibit servicemen and women from retiring once their required term of service is complete. Also widely known as a "Back Door Draft."
Initially, writer-director Kimberly Peirce wanted to make a character-driven narrative in the style of such classic road movies as "The Last Detail." But as she got deeper into the material, she was also affected by seminal war movies as varied as "The Best Years of Our Lives," to "Apocalypse, Now" "Platoon," "Born on the 4th of July and "Coming Home.
The project took a more personal turn when Peirce's younger brother, then 18, enlisted in the Army after the events of September 11, 2001. "I understood his desire to 'get the people who had done this,' but the idea of my own brother carrying this out was devastating," she says. "None of my friends or family knew anyone in the military. Now we were a military family. He joined the 10th Mountain Division attached to the 82nd Airborne. He prepared for war while we were fighting in Afghanistan and entered the war in Iraq in September 2003. I was concerned for his safety and worried about the emotional and spiritual toll this would take on him.
"In an effort to understand what my brother was going through," she continues, "I started making a documentary on our soldiers. I interviewed soldiers, asking them why they joined, what they experienced at war (killing, not killing, seeing their men killed and wounded), and what they experienced upon their return - specifically, how they struggled to re-assimilate into society." The research began to illuminate discontent among the soldiers about the war, what they were fighting for and the way it was being fought. "As a result," says Peirce, "an increasing number of servicemen were going AWOL. Kathie Dobie wrote an excellent piece about it in Harper's magazine, 'AWOL in America.' We began searching these soldiers out and interviewing them on the run in America and those who had settled abroad."
During her brother's first leave from Iraq, Peirce stumbled on a treasure trove of original material relating to his and his fellow soldiers' war experiences. "I found my brother in our living room sitting a few inches from an oversized TV, mesmerized by what was playing: soldier-shot and edited images of life and war in Iraq cut to rock music. There was something completely unique and immediate about these images - images of soldiers doing raids, seeing combat, cruising in Humvees - mostly shot with lightweight, one-chip cameras that the soldiers had mounted on guns, Humvees, sandbags, or whatever they could attach them to; images of weapons, fighter jets, bombs going off (downloaded from other soldiers and from the internet (from Defense Weapons companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing) then edited on I-Movie or Final Cut and put to music - rock, sentimental, patriotic. It was a personal, unadulterated look at combat as these young men were experiencing and signifying it. I studied the videos he brought home and located more videos through other soldiers. These small home movies were like anthropological finds - told entirely from the soldiers' point of view. They opened many windows into the lives of these guys and my brother."
Once he was back in Iraq, Peirce's brother text-messaged her the story of a friend, a decorated soldier who had done his time and was ready to go home to his wife and child when he was Stop-Lossed by the Army, "which meant that despite the fact that he'd completed his contract, the army was breaking that contract and sending him right back into the combat zone - against his will," she discovered. "So, I turned my research toward understanding what Stop-Loss was and how it was affecting the troops and their families. In military terms, 'Stop-Loss' means not letting a military member separate or retire once their required term of service is complete. Congress first gave Stop-Loss authority to the Department of Defense right after the draft ended. It was meant to be used in a time of war if the President needed to retain troops to defend the country."
But the military didn't use this authority until the Gulf War when President George H.W. Bush imposed Stop-Loss on virtually everyone in the military. "Recently, it was used again, at a time when the war was apparently over, and when enlistment rates were radically falling," says Peirce. "I found out that tens of thousands of soldiers (an estimated 81,000) had been Stop-Lossed. Many of them were sent back to second and third tours that were deadly. A number of soldiers were calling it a "back door draft" and doing everything they could to fight it - from going to their commanders and their chaplains - who were not budging - to bringing a class-action lawsuit, which failed, to getting thrown in jail, going AWOL, even leaving the country."
The very personal nature of these stories inspired Peirce to explore the idea of transforming her planned documentary into a feature film, of which the Stop-Loss controversy would be the spine.
"In the film, these young men feel a sense of duty and obligation, so they sign up to serve their country," says Peirce. "But their black and white sense of patriotism and duty is turned upside down when they are faced with impossible circumstances. They end up committing a series of acts that force them, in the deepest sense, to question who they are, what they are and what they believe in. In the process, two lifelong friends who are so alike at first are torn apart by the war time experiences they have had to face."
Peirce continues "But their black and white sense of patriotism and duty is turned upside down when they are faced with impossible circumstances - our soldiers find themselves fighting an urban war against what many of them have called "the faceless enemy," an enemy who hides and fights from within the bedrooms, hallways and kitchens of the local population, an enemy who engages in unconventional attacks -- IED's, car bombs, etc., that significantly diminish the U.S. soldiers' ability to protect themselves and their men."
During the writing of the film, Peirce and Richard continued to interview soldiers, incorporating their experiences and comments. "My brother (who had returned from Iraq and lived in upstate New York) and other soldiers we knew would look over the dialogue and scenes and make sure they were accurate from a soldier's POV."
This is director Kimberly Peirce's first film since the Academy Award®-winning "Boys Don't Cry," is a topical and emotionally penetrating drama examining a government policy that has affected the lives of more than 80,000 of America's brave men and women in uniform. The enforcement of the Stop-Loss policy makes each of them walk the fine line between doing their duty and doing what's right.
Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) fought for America. He fought for freedom. He fought for his family. He gave everything and then he came home to begin his life anew.
But now they want more. They want him back.
Paramount Pictures and MTV Films Present A Scott Rudin Production/A Kimberly Peirce Film "Stop-Loss" starring Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciarán Hinds, Timothy Olyphant, Victor Rasuk and Rob Brown. The film is directed by Kimberly Peirce and produced by Kimberly Peirce, Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin and Gregory Goodman. The film is written by Mark Richard & Kimberly Peirce. The director of photography is Chris Menges. The production designer is David Wasco. The film is edited by Claire Simpson. The costume designer is Marlene Stewart. The music is by John Powell. The music supervisors are Randall Poster and Jim Dunbar. This film has been rated R for graphic violence and pervasive language.
ABOUT THE CASTING
Casting was a key component for Peirce and the filmmakers in telling the story. For the key role of the heroic, conflicted Sgt. Brandon King, Peirce was looking for someone who could express the strength and masculinity to lead men into and through battle and also possess the warmth and humor that is necessary to be at the center of these men's lives. "It required someone who could depict the patriotism and innocence required to go to war on behalf of his country, but who was also introspective enough to question what he had done when he needed to question it. Because it's essentially a point-of-view movie (one guy's journey) and he's in every scene, he had to be able to carry us through the entire story."
Peirce was excited when actor Ryan Phillippe agreed to take on the role. "Ryan brought something unexpected to the part," she affirms. "Not only could he act it, but he seemed like Brandon. He seemed like someone who would have signed up for this war, who would have been the leader, who would have killed in order to protect his men and been devastated when he lost them, who would have questioned, who would have gone on the run and who would have ultimately gone back to war for his family, his friends and his country."
Phillippe says that, as always, his main priorities in deciding whether to take on a film role are the talent of the filmmaker and the quality of the material. For him, "Stop-Loss" was the perfect melding of script and director. "I truly believe Kim Peirce to be an artist," he attests. "If you look at her first film, she's clearly talented. As for the script, I love reality-based material. This is not a true story, but many men have lived it and when a project is grounded by that kind of dramatic weight and truth, you feel convinced that you're telling a story that needs to be told."
To play an Iraq War-era soldier, Phillippe plunged into deep research. One of his primary sources was Peirce's brother Brett and the specifics about his real-life experience that he shared with his sister, as well as the videotapes he brought back from the Middle East. "I watched hours and hours of video camera footage that the soldiers shot of each other to get a sense of their camaraderie," he says. "I also viewed many of the excellent documentaries that have been made about the Iraq conflict. Also, I got really into the military aspects, which I tend to do when I get involved in this kind of movie. You really want to make sure you know how to behave and appear like a soldier. I think you're doing these men a service if you do your best to appear legitimate. It was very important for me, and for all the other actors, to look like the real deal. We were fortunate to have Jim Dever as our technical advisor. He's the best in the business and I'd already worked with him on 'Flags of Our Fathers.'"
In speaking of his experience of working with Peirce, Phillippe says "I've had the opportunity to work with Altman, Eastwood and Ridley Scott, and I put her right up there with them. I think she's maybe tougher than any of them and she's a real artist. She's got this drive and is determined to get what she wants, and that's what a director has to do - be decisive, authoritative and unrelenting."
The character of Michele was inspired by real military wives Peirce interviewed, women she found "fascinating - for the challenges they face, the fears and hopes they feel while their men are at war and struggles they face upon their men's return," she says. "Many spoke of feeling committed no matter what, but felt old before their time; many said they felt they lived two lives, one when he was home and one when he was away. Many spoke of how the other wives banded together to deal with the loneliness and the strangeness of their soldier's return: men meeting their newborns for the first time after being away for a year; the sudden bouts of anger and violence; how they couldn't go out to a bar without having a fight/brawl erupt; how going to Dunkin' Donuts was a challenge when they were overwhelmed by the number of donut flavors, being forced to make a choice about what they ate for the first time in months."
"I was immediately struck by Abbie's deep understanding of and affinity for the character of Michele," says Peirce of actress Abbie Cornish, who plays Michele. "Michele is the emotional touchstone of the film, and the difficult choices she faces ultimately change her and those she loves. We felt very fortunate that Abbie joined our ensemble, and she did an incredible job."
The film intrigued Cornish "because it made contemporary issues personal. It was an interesting exploration of what is happening in the world as told through a man's desire to disengage from the war and how that affects his family, and the people around them. I also liked that it was very much an ensemble piece," Cornish says. Her character makes some life-altering decisions in the course of the movie. Cornish attributes Michele's bold choices and spirit to an innate core of honesty and fortitude, qualities that also appealed to Cornish.
"When first exploring the character of Michele, I found her honesty and direct nature to be very strong. She has a big heart and is a pillar of strength many times throughout the film. Michele to me was a symbol of the realizations of war, its effects on both Iraq and its occupants and also the soldiers and their families. Michele embarks on a road trip with her friend but comes away a changed person. The idea of playing a Texan like Michele, a small town girl dealing with the effects of war in the same world we live in today, really appealed to me."
Of course, Peirce also was a huge influence on Cornish. Cornish particularly appreciated and admired Peirce's passion for the project.
"Kim engaged herself very much in the story of the characters and held them very close to her heart. She really enjoyed watching the film come to life and seeing the actors bring the words off the page. It was great to work with a director who so clearly loved and adored the characters so much," Cornish notes.
Steve Shriver is another complex, multi-faceted young man, someone whom Peirce refers to as "a true believer" and was inspired by a number of real soldiers Peirce interviewed - "guys who loved their wives, who loved America, but after fighting never really came back and ultimately needed to go back to war to feel complete. Though I came to understand and love these guys and saw the heartbreak they faced in acknowledging and allowing themselves to live out this truth about themselves, the challenge in writing Steve was in depicting him honestly, with dignity and passion, so that we bring the audience all the way inside this guy, why he feels and acts as he does, why he must go back."
Peirce auditioned rising young star Channing Tatum for the role and says she was impressed by his emotional depth and maturity, his range and his ability to take direction. She immediately championed him for the role and never regretted her choice. "Channing was sheer energy on the set, willing to try anything, go anywhere emotionally and bare that side of himself - his vulnerability, his sense of dignity, his feelings of brotherhood for the other men, that was so necessary in becoming that character."
Tatum was both flattered and intrigued by the offer to play Steve. "'Stop-Loss' was honestly one of the most raw, heartfelt scripts I had ever read. Since I was a kid I've been fascinated by soldiers - about their morality and their ideals - so to have the chance to play one was very exciting," says Tatum. "And that was just at the start. It only got more interesting as we got deeper into the role."
Returning to civilian life proves to be arduous for Steve, and Tatum says it's because "in Steve's head, he fell in love with the military. He found his place in life and his journey in the film is to figure out that it's the military he's really married to, and that's very hard for him."
But none of his insights into his character could have taken full form without the guiding hand of his director, he claims. "Kimberly is an absolute genius. No one, in that short amount of time, has ever been able to open my eyes to a character the way she did. Steve is a sniper at heart and what they teach you in the military is to be laser specific. Well, that's what Kimberly taught me - to be laser specific in every single thing I did and said in the film."
The dynamic among the characters of Brandon, Steve and Michele is equal parts personal and political. The two old friends and comrades in arms, Brandon and Steve, come to distinctly different conclusions about the war in Iraq and their roles there, and their reactions change their relationship forever. Steve and Michele's relationship also disintegrates, all against the backdrop of Brandon's "stop-loss" orders.
"Steve's involvement in the war begins to take its toll on their engagement and their wedding is pushed further and further back until Michele has had enough. I spent some time (on location) in Austin (Texas) talking with women who have had boyfriends and husbands at war, most of them expressing feelings of fear, anxiety, loneliness and a separation between themselves and their partner when they returned. Throughout the film, Michele says it's a sense of freedom in her life, that she can't be (just) a military wife and that's the only life Steve can provide, assuming he ever commits to her," Cornish says.
"I think that anyone who has had a family member who has gone to war has struggled with the changes in their loved one when he or she returns home," says Peirce. "Who is this person now…what has the war done to him--and to us? That is one of the key situations we wanted to address in this film." Of course, Brandon, Steve and Michele are not the only ones having trouble adjusting to civilian life. The character of Tommy, while able to channel his smoldering rage and violent temperament to good effect during battle, cannot contain it easily in peacetime - with devastating consequences. Peirce set her sights on the prominent young actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the pivotal role. "And I did not want to compromise. I had to have Joe. He's one of the best actors of his generation," she says. Again, her instincts proved correct. "He was phenomenal to work with - a true method actor."
Gordon-Levitt had a unique take on the character. "I think Tommy left home and joined the Army partially to escape demons at home and found a real family, found more connection and love in the Army than he had at home. I think that when he comes back, he first has the same problems a lot of guys have when they come back but, for him, the old demons rear their heads again alongside new ones he has brought back from Iraq," says Gordon-Levitt.
It was the script coupled with an opportunity to play a soldier that attracted him to "Stop-Loss," he continues. "There are very few really good scripts so whenever I read one, it stands out. It was well written and a page-turner and seemed like an honest and heartfelt statement about what was going on today. It's brave enough to assert that nothing is simple, especially when it comes to war and being a soldier and what happens when soldiers come back. To play a soldier appealed to me, I had never played a soldier and that life fascinates me. I have a lot of respect for what a soldier does, and having gone through this experience I've gained even more. I don't come from a military family. My grandfather fought in WWII, but my dad and my mom were peace activists in the '60s. I wasn't allowed to play with G.I. Joes when I was a kid. Part of what I love about acting is to learn and explore facets of humanity that are different from me. A soldier is just about as different from me as I can possibly imagine," Gordon-Levitt says. Some of that respect, he says, came from meeting with real soldiers as part of his research prior to principal photography and, he adds, another appealing aspect of the film was the opportunity to work opposite Mamie Gummer, who plays his on-screen wife, Jeanie. The couple endures a tumultuous, anguished relationship but, at first, perhaps having to do with Tommy's taciturn nature, much of their connection is unspoken.
"The second day I worked, there is a little moment in the script, it's literally two lines of stage directions. Kim trained the cameras on us - they weren't recording sound but while this whole other scene was going on, Kim had us improvise this. It was really early in production so, for me, it was a great opportunity to get into the skin of Tommy and his relationship with Jeanie. Mamie was perfect. It's a really different thing to do a two minute, improvised take rather than a scene on a page. Mamie was so genuine," Gordon-Levitt says.
He adds that this was a good example of Peirce's directing style, which he describes as "very actor-oriented."
"Kim really knows how to talk to actors, to communicate in a way so that you instantly get it. She doesn't even have to say very much - she's been living with these characters for so long and is so passionate about the work, she knows exactly how to get to the truth of their story and how to bring us there too," adds Mamie Gummer.
This quality was especially helpful because, as Gummer points out, the fraught dynamics of Tommy and Jeanie's relationship are never overtly stated but rather revealed through the story.
"In these big group scenes, Joe and I had to do a lot of improvising to create a relationship without having written dialogue. Occasionally, Kim would just whisper something in my ear, a small note that would be so right on. It helped that Joe was a great actor and a great guy," Gummer says.
Gummer auditioned for the movie a year before cameras rolled, and the part of Jeanie appealed to her in particular. Her character was not featured in every scene but instead of returning home during her downtime, Gummer elected to remain in Texas.
"I just loved, loved the story, this script, this girl, this part. It was so far removed from my little New York City self, to come down to Texas and live in this world. I came across and interview with an Army wife talking about adjusting to him being back and the challenges that she faced. That was very helpful. Jeanie grew up in Texas, Michele is her best friend, they all went to high school together. The guys came back to Brazos after basic training and it seems like it must have been a whirlwind relationship and courtship, they got married right out of high school. Living in Texas, spending time here, watching these girls was really something," she says. Next page
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