Saving Private Ryan
Saving-Ryan Cast
- Tom Hanks
- Matt Sizemore
- Matt Damon
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Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
--
Genre: Drama/Action.
Studio: DreamWorks SKG/Paramount Pictures.
Production Company: Mark Gordon Productions.
Project Phase: In the Can.
Who's In It: Tom Hanks (Captain John Miller); Edward Burns (Private Reiben); Matt Damon (Private Ryan); Tom
Sizemore (Sergeant Horvath); Jeremy Davies (Corporal Upham); Vin Diesel (Private Caparzo); Adam Goldberg (Private
Mellish); Barry Pepper (Private Jackson); Giovanni Ribisi (Medic Wade); Dennis Farina (Lt. Col. Anderson); Ted Danson
(Captain Hamill); Amanda Boxer (Mrs. Ryan).
Who's Making It: Steven Spielberg (Director); Robert Rodat, Frank Darabont (Screenwriters); Mark Gordon, Gary
Levinsohn, Ian Bryce, Steven Spielberg (Producers); Michael Kahn (Editor); Janusz Kaminski (Director of Photography);
Tom Sanders (Production Designer); Joanna Johnston (Costume Designer); John Williams (Musical Score).
Premise: A troop of soldiers in WWII are ordered to save the last surviving member of four brothers. To do this they must go
behind enemy lines.
Release Date: July 24, 1998.
Developments:
February, 1998... The film is pushed back for a later summer opening, from June 5 to July 24.
Comments: None.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
March, 1997... Here are some snippets taken from scoopers who've sent in information about this project over the past few
months:
"They [the Allied troop trying to save Private Ryan] are trying to fulfill a nearly impossible mission, and the script is
supposed to a wonderful piece of work. The battle scenes are supposed to be awesome, and Dreamworks has already
hammered out a deal with Paramount. I think that production begins in the summer of next year. Sounds like a
winner..." [Sent in by 'shunn3'.]
"The film will shoot partially in Normandy beginning in June, 1997. The script is currently being rewritten by Robert
Rodat. Music will likely be by John Williams. " [Sent in by 'meandmealone'.]
"Saving Private Ryan is written by Robert Rodat, who just wrote Fly Away Home. Saving Private Ryan is set during
the D-Day invasion, when Captain Joe Miller, a Ranger, leads a team of soldiers deep into German territory to save
Private Ryan. Why Ryan? Because all three of his brother's have been killed during the first wave of the invasion. To
save Ryan's mother from total grief, the top brass in Washington decides they have to get Ryan out. The story revolves
around Miller's squad and thier journey to find Ryan, who, they don't know is alive or dead. Radios are out...so it's a
blackout for most of the trip. Script reads like an extended Do-Long Brigde sequence -- only in WWII France. Good
read. First of many WWII projects in the loop." [Sent in anonymously.]
"Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have always wanted to work together. The duo will waive big salaries to do this film
in exchange for a big gross profit, possibly 20% apiece. It's the closest thing to a surebet film." [Sent in by 'Sylvester'.]
"With Lost World in post-production, Amistad shooting Feb-April, LW opening May, Spielberg is one busy boy,
directing three films in the span of a single year." [Sent in by 'gurghi.]
"... Ed Burns has also been in negotiations to co-star as a soldier in Hanks' platoon." [Sent in by 'Josh the Sandman'.]
"The movie is slated for a 1998 release, and has a budget of $70 Million." [Sent in anonymously.]
[Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following contributors: 'meandmealone', Christian, 'Sylvester', 'shunn3',
'Bam', 'amalik3371', 'gurghi', 'Josh the Sandman', 'bottle-rocket', 'H.B.' and the anonymous letter-writers out there.]
May 20, 1997... Tom Sizemore, who we last saw in The Relic, is in talks to play a gruff commander in this film. [Merrily
handed in by Private Christian.]
June 10, 1997... Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, Barry Pepper, Tom Sizemore and Giovanni Ribisi
have all been drafted for the show. [Scoops by 'widgett', Christian, 'Frankie', 'Deadpool' and 'Josh the Sandman'.]
"Well, my buddy's wife is working on the set of Saving Private Ryan somewhere in Florida...she's one of the makeup
artists. Anyway, looks like Florida's beaches are dubbing for Normandy. [Sent in by 'shunn'.]
November 6, 1997... On the set of the show, actor Tom Hanks (middle) and an unknown
member of the platoon listen closely to what director Steven Spielberg has to say to them
about an upcoming scene. From the looks of the background, it looks like some serious
shelling has been going on.
Unfortunately the original picture we were sent was formatted for a lower resolution, and if
you look carefully you'll see some pixelation in the image to the right. Still, it gives you an
idea as to the film's look. Steven, seriously -- we dig your shirt, baby.
[Thanks to Alain Courville and 'Deadpool' for the image.]
January 25, 1998... Some ex-British Royal Marines were hired to pilot boats in the summer of 1997 by the production,
including this scooper's father. While on the set in Ireland, a few of the Marines got the opportunity to work directly under
Hanks and Spielberg. Keep your eyes peeled for the pilot of boat number 8; it's the scooper's Dad. [Sent in anonymously by
boat pilot #8's son.]
February 5, 1998... Saving Private Ryan now opens July 24th instead of June 5th. [Merci to 'Josh the Sandman'.]
February 23, 1998... "The soundtrack to Saving Private Ryan was recorded by members of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra on February 21, 21 & 23, 1998 in Symphony Hall, Boston. Steven Spielberg specifically asked that the BSO
do the soundtrack following on the heels of the successful soundtrack recording of Schindler's List which was also
done by the BSO. John Williams conducted, the score is about 49 minutes of haunting, hymn-like, contemplative music.
Bits of film members of the orchestra have seen are absolutely crushing in their emotional impact. Spielberg and
Hanks were at the sessions. Look for one of the most unusual movie scores to come along in a long time, dominated by
lush strings, muffled drums, low brass (horn, trombone, tuba) chorales and solo trumpet playing by Timothy Morrison
(JFK, 4th of July, Amistad) and Thomas Rolfs." [Thanks to anonymous.]
About three months ago this scooper's friend (who has an interest in German tanks) told him Spielberg contracted Porche to
make two authentic recreations of Tiger I tanks for this film. Apparently, the designs were all done according to the actual
blueprints. "This should be a joy to armor fans to see two made-to-spec Tigers in action," the scooper said. Also heard
was that Speilberg received permission from the Saumor tank museum in France to lend its Tiger II tank (which is the only
remaining fully functional one in the world) to be used in the film. [A cool scoop from anonymous.]
March 4, 1998... The film's tag line -- 'A Man is a Mission' -- runs underneath the image of a silhouetted soldier for the
movie's teaser poster. [Field-stripped by Pvt. 'scholder'.]
April 7, 1998... Paramount is putting a teaser for Saving Private Ryan on all prints of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple II,
coming out April 10th. A longer trailer will appear in front of Deep Impact, hitting May 8. [Thanks to 'C' for the heads up.]
April 12, 1998... This great snapshot of the beach invasion in the film (reported to be 20
minutes long!) was submitted by a reader who lives in Curracloe where the production
filmed. "It's a very good unspoilt beach seven miles long - plenty of sand and safe
waters!" our unnamed scooper wrote to us. (Really, there's no shelling when there's
tourists on the beach.) "It is just six miles from Wexford town." [Thanks to our
anonymous source!]
May 2, 1998... The Motion Picture Association of America have awarded the film with an 'R' rating "for intense prolonged
realistically graphic sequences of war violence, and for language." [Contributed by Todd Dupler; originally appeared
in Variety.]
May 12, 1998... Ted Danson has a small role in this movie. Spielberg's longtime collaborators Michael Kahn (editor) and
Janusz Kaminski (director of photography) are also involved with the film. [Thanks to 'st7i9'.]
June 23, 1998... Trent White's informative Countdown to Saving Private Ryan site features a ton of additional info about the
picture. Trent also sent CA his rundown of what you can expect to see in the new SPR trailer...
"The trailer is basically a rehash of the original teaser, but with actual (and very emotional) film footage tagged onto
the end. Total run time about 2-3min.
"Here's a description of some of the new scenes from the film that I posted on my site.
"In the meantime here is a description of some of the new scenes from the full Saving Private Ryan trailer which runs
for about two-three minutes:
* a magnificent CGI enhanced shot showing the aftermath of the Normandy landings including scores of
landing craft delivering hundreds of tanks and trucks onto the beach. Very similar to a real-life Normandy photo
which exists in a lot of WWII books.
* a soldier dragging a wounded comrade away from the fighting and towards cover.
* an incredible shot showing four-five soldiers huddled behind a solid object just as a stun grenade goes off next
to them.
* shot from the German POV towards the beach at Normandy with the landing craft delivering the soldiers.
* a shot of Allied troops struggling to get onto the beach at Normandy past the barricades embedded in the
shoreline.
* a scene in the fictious town of Ramelle showing a house with a massive hole in its side and the owner of the
house asking the Allied troops to take his young daughter with them to safety.
"Virtually the only character speech within this trailer is when Tom Hanks says - 'I don't know who Ryan is. Its just a
name. But if finding him earns me the right to return to my wife, well then that's my mission.'
"This film is quickly gaining a reputation around Hollywood as being a tear-jerker. During the scoring session it has
been reported that several band members broke down in tears, and also a test screening for the US army had to be
stopped so that the audience could regain their composure following the D-Day invasion sequence.
"One Paramount exec. was meant to have quipped 'This is the feel bad movie of the year'.
"Total run time is set at around 3 hours, give or take."
[Thanks to Pvt. Trent White for the scoop.]
July 19, 1998... Regular contributor Eric Lurio hands in a glowing review of SPR -- we'll see you in line this Friday. MINOR
SPOILERS follow:
"Normandy, France. An old veteran (Harrison Young) visits the cemetary with his family and remembers...and
suddenly it's D-Day on Omaha beach.
"Steven Spielberg has done it again. This is his fourth film on the subject of World War II, and no wonder, this horrific
tragedy is a canvas so large you can find just about anything and everything. This time the focus is on carnage.
Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks)'s hands are shaking as the landing craft hits the beach and the carnage begins. This
is one of the most graphic depictions of war ever filmed. There are blood and guts everywhere. Confusion reigns as
Miller tries to get his people off the beach before they're all dead, we meet the rest of the central characters, but for
the most part they're just a blur as the bullets wizz by and blood and guts get splattered all over the place. One can
understand the rumors that it nearly got an NC-17 rating for the violence.
"Cut to Washington, where a bank of secretaries are typing up batches of dreaded telegrams. A supervisor (Valorie
Coldgan) notices that two brothers were killed on D-Day, and another was killed in New Guinea, and Mrs. Ryan
(Amanda Boxer) is going to get the news that three of her four sons were killed simultaneously.
"The news goes up the chain of command all the way to the top, and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall (Harve
Presnell) orders the remaining son out of the war.
"Unfortunately, he was parachuted somewhere in Normandy and nobody knows where he is.
"Lt. Colonel Anderson (Dennis Farina) gives the job of finding him to Miller, who's none to happy with it.
"So he and picks a squad of his best men (Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Edward J. Burns, Barry Pepper,
Adam Goldberg and Giovanni Ribisi), and heads out to save Private Ryan (Matt Damon).
"The performances, by the central cast at any rate, are uniformly excellent. They get to emote every feeling but lust,
and the death of the two men prior to the climax comes as a bit of a shock. Everything done to be nice here, from the
mission itself to saving a little girl, and letting a captured German (Joerg Stadler) go, is punished by fate in the most
horrid of ways.
"The final battle scene is as graphic as the first one, for this is as much a horror movie as anything written by Steven
King or Clive Barker.
"What we have here is an astonishing work of art. Spielberg in his action mode can do some amazing things. But
remember, this is NOT a popcorn movie. This is spectacle, true, but it's not really an entertainment, this isn't
something to be enjoyed, but experienced and mulled over."
[Review submitted by Eric Lurio.]
July 21, 1998... [Additional character names and credits presented by 'Deadpool'.]
Another very positive review by one of our servicemen has arrived...
"A friend got a couple passes to see this movie early. I saw it, not knowing what would happen, as I have not kept up
with the news about this one. Once arriving at the theater, we saw a line that easily stretched over 200 feet.. the
longest line I have ever stood in. We didn't think we were going to get in, but luckily they were allowing 600 people.
Within ten minutes, everyone was sitting in the seats and awaiting the movie.
"The movie started previewless, which was fine by me... I wanted to see this piece of work! I will save the spoilers till
the end.
"This movie is better than Titanic. This isn't a movie, this is a documentry. This is real. You feel what the men feel.
This is gruesome and terrifying.. the worst part is the entire thing happened.
"The acting, of course is top notch. Tom Hanks leads the way as a man trying to survive what can truly be called hell.
Matt Damon is the perfect Private Ryan.
"The effects, as far as I'm concerned, are real.. these are the most horrific things you will see outside a real war.
Check the spoilers for more info.
"Sound effects were loud and blazing. Music was well composed, but silent during the battles. You only hear the
weapons and screams of death. Very eerie.
"Overall, the movie is perfect. I can't think of one bad thing to say about this movie. I would suggest not taking
anyone younger than 13, as the movie is very VERY intense. I play Quake and Quake2, but these make me think twice.
War is hell, and something that no one should want to experience or play around with..."
[Ed. note: SPOILERS BELOW! Swipe your cursor over the blank space below to read the remainder of what the reviewer
had to say!]
"The deaths in this movie are horrific and gory. I can honestly say this is the most violent movie I have ever seen.
These deaths will stick with you for the rest of your life. Keep in mind, you see everything, this shows how brutal World
War 2 was. Things include: a man exploding into chunks, MANY MANY heads exploding, a bullet ridden stomach
gushing blood, a man carrying his own arm, a guy spewing his intestines. These are the major deaths that will forever
stay with you."
[Review handed in by 'pmeyers'.]
The Tag Line:
"The Mission is a Man."
Come Again! Thanks for stopping!
Email: saving-private-ryan@mailexcite.com
