RANDALL WALLACE
(writer-director, also writer of Braveheart):
"What drew me to the material is that it moved me. The story of a leader
who stood in front of his men and said, 'I can't promise I'll bring you all
home alive but I swear I will leave no man behind dead or alive', gave me a
tingle down the center of my spine. That was the thing that made me know that
this was a story I needed to tell."
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MEL GIBSON (Hal
Moore):
"It's an amazing story. It's left a lot of wounds on Hal, not necessarily
physical ones, but wounds on his heart. It was one of the most profound
experiences of his life."
Gibson
on sacrifice • Back to top
WALLACE:
"I didn't know anything about that battle, and that raw fact was one of
the things that attracted me as well. It was like my experience with finding
out about William Wallace, and realizing that I had to write the story that
became Braveheart. He was a man that I had never heard of, but it was
such an incredible story I felt connected to him. It was the same with this. I
felt like these were my people. It's not just about unrecognized heroism, but
about our nation's unwillingness to look at the truth of what was going on in
that war."
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 MADELEINE STOWE (Julie Moore):
"I come from a generation with very little exposure to the military, and I
thought 'How could this woman endure this?'. I had to concentrate on what a
marriage would be like in a situation like this, and Julie was fascinating.
I've never heard this woman complain about anything - in fact, she has a sign
in her home that says, 'No whining!'"
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GIBSON:
"These men and women sacrificed a great deal, and they are the very
ones who got the cold shoulder when they came back. And Hollywood is probably
the worst offender, because it tends to focus on the cynical aspects of what
may or may not have happened. They just seem to focus on the drug-taking,
baby-killing 'Lieutenant Wacko.' This film is a truer picture of the time, and
the minds and hearts of the people. It's a healing work."
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