1/45
Matt Damon was the only actor who didn’t have to go through the grueling army training before filming. Damon was spared so that the other actors would resent him and show it in their performances.
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2/45
For the opening scene on Omaha beach, they had to use over 40 barrels of fake blood to create the gruesome battle.
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3/45
One of the actors in the German-dubbed version of the movie was actually a German veteran from the invasion of Normandy. He had to drop out because of the emotional realism of the movie.
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4/45
Neil Patrick Harris was considered for the role of Private Ryan.
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5/45
Before Tom Hanks was cast as Captain John Miller, Spielberg considered Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford for the lead role.
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6/45
Tom Sizemore was battling a drug addiction during the filming of the movie. Spielberg gave him an ultimatum where he would be blood tested every single day and if he failed it even once, he would be re-cast and his scenes would be reshot, even if they were as far as the end of the production.
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7/45
When Matt Damon was cast as Private Ryan, it was because Spielberg wanted a relatively unknown actor at the time. This backfired when Good Will Hunting made Damon an overnight star shortly before this movie was released.
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8/45
Movie theatres were specifically instructed to raise the volume when showing the movie, as sound effects played a crucial aspect to the experience of the movie.
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9/45
Billy Bob Thornton was offered the role of Sergeant Horvath, but declined because he didn’t want to film the Omaha beach scenes since he has a big phobia of water.
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10/45
Gunfire sound effects heard in the film were recorded from actual gunfire with live ammunition fired from authentic period weapons, recorded at a live fire machine gun range.
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11/45
In anticipation of the hundreds of former soldiers who might be traumatized after viewing the movie, The Department of Veterans Affairs set up a special 800 number to offer support.
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12/45
Edward Norton was offered the role of Private Ryan, but opted to star in American History X instead.
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13/45
On top of the incredibly tough exercises, the actors’ boot camp involved camping in soaking wet conditions, only being allowed to call each other by their characters’ names, and having the boot camp supervisor constantly refer to them as ‘turds’.
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14/45
The Omaha Beach battle was filmed in sequence over a four-week period, moving the action up the beach shot by shot and day by day. Steven Spielberg claims that none of it was storyboarded in advance.
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15/45
On top of being the highest grossing movie of 1998, it was last R-Rated movie to lead the annual box office charts until the release of American Sniper in 2014.
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16/45
When Tom Hanks’ character, John Miller, tells the rest of the unit what he does for a living back home, Hanks’ speech was actually much longer in the original script. But Hanks felt that his character wouldn’t have said so much about himself, and he told Steven Spielberg so. Spielberg agreed, and the speech was shortened.
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17/45
The Omaha Beach scene cost $11 million to shoot and involved up to 1,000 extras, some of whom were members of the Irish Army Reserve. Of those extras, 20-30 of them were amputees issued with prosthetic limbs to simulate soldiers having their limbs blown off.
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18/45
When the camera shakes during explosions, it was because Steven Spielberg used drills attached to the side of the camera, which were turned on when shaking was required. While shooting with this effect, the crew’s photographer let Spielberg know that there was a shaker lens for cameras. Spielberg said in an interview that he was bummed, and thought he had invented a great new technique at first.
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19/45
Two of the landing craft used in the Omaha Beach scenes were actually in use in World War II.
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20/45
For the initial battle scenes in the sea, spare ammunition carried by the actors was made from wood, as metal was too heavy.
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21/45
Military historian and author Stephen Ambrose, at a special screening of the film for him, had to ask for the screening to be halted 20 minutes in, as he couldn’t handle the intensity of the opening. After composing himself outside for a few minutes, he was able to return to the screening room and watch the film to its conclusion.
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22/45
Spielberg requested that nobody be allowed entrance into the movie after it had already begun showing.
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23/45
Steven Spielberg claimed that he considered the film as a gift to his aging father, a WWII veteran. He said he didn’t think a World War II movie with lots of graphic violence could be a smash hit, and was surprised when it became a blockbuster.
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24/45
Interestingly enough, Paul Giamatti says “The streets have been quiet for about 45 minutes” around the 45-minute mark in the movie.
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25/45
Some people complained that the scene where the Rangers are throwing mortar rounds by hand at the German soldiers was unrealistic. It was then revealed that Charles Kelly, who received the Medal of Honor, actually did this during a battle in Italy in 1943.
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26/45
Spielberg received praise for the movie’s authenticity. Actor James Doohan, who appeared in Star Trek, was especially kind. Doohan lost the middle finger of his right hand and was wounded in the leg during the war. Also, he participated in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, at Juno Beach, where the 3rd Canadian infantry division led the attack. He commended Spielberg for not leaving out any gory details.
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27/45
In India, the film was blocked by the Censor Board of India for too much violence. They demanded cuts that Steven Spielberg declined to make and instead, he decided not to release the movie in India at all. The Home Minister of India saw the movie himself and, impressed, ordered it to be released uncut.
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28/45
The two “German” soldiers who are shot trying to surrender were speaking Czech. They were saying, “Please don’t shoot me, I am not German, I am Czech, I didn’t kill anyone, I am Czech!”. Many Czech and Polish citizens were forced into the German military when their countries were taken over.
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29/45
When using the field radio on the beach, Capt. Miller keeps saying ‘CATF’ into the radio, meaning he is calling the Commander: Amphibious Task Force.
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30/45
Matt Damon ad-libbed the story he tells, towards the end of the film, about spying on his brother in the barn with the ugly girl. The speech was rambling and not particularly funny or interesting, but the crew decided that’s why it worked; it was true to an unformed kid like Ryan, fated to be at the center of this incredible operation. Steven Spielberg liked it so much he decided to leave it in the film.
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31/45
The battle of Normandy at the beginning of the film and the battle to defend Ramelle at the end both run to approximately 25 minutes in length, comprising nearly an hour of the film.
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32/45
Steven Spielberg is on record as saying that even if the film had received an NC-17 rating, he would have released it uncut anyway.
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33/45
In 2006 Tom Hanks was inducted into the US Army’s Ranger Hall of Fame as an honorary member, largely due to his portrayal of Capt. John Miller.
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34/45
Saving Private Ryan is the last film edited on a non-digital editing system to win an Academy Award for editing.
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35/45
Cap. Dale Dye (USMC Ret.), the movie’s military advisor, makes a cameo as a War Department colonel in the scene with Gen. George C. Marshall. He s the white-haired officer advising Marshall against sending a rescue party after Ryan.
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36/45
Although Steven Spielberg lowered the color saturation of the movie by 60% for artistic reasons, both of the major American satellite providers (DirecTV and Dish Newtork) as well as a number of cable TV providers turned up the chroma gain to re-enhance the color saturation to normal-looking levels when showing the movie. They did this because on the first day or two of the movie’s broadcast run, their customer service centres were swamped with calls from viewers complaining that something was wrong with the color.
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37/45
The input of Industrial Light & Magic was significantly downplayed so as not to make the film appear to be a special effects movie. ILM’s contribution, however, was subtle but very important, as most of the bullet hits in the Omaha Beach battle were digitally created.
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38/45
The scene with Tom Sizemore collecting dirt is accurate. Many WWII soldiers would do this as a way to show where they served in combat from North Africa to Kadina. Today, troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan are specifically instructed not to collect dirt on account that they could bring back foreign species.
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39/45
Michael Madsen was offered the role of Sgt. Horvath. He declined, recommending his friend Tom Sizemore for the part instead.
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40/45
The names Rieben recites off the dog tags are all friends of actor Edward Burns.
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41/45
Vin Diesel was paid $100,000 for his portrayal of Caparzo, when he was still a little known actor.
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42/45
The Battle of Ramelle never took place in reality. A German counterattack over the causeway at La Fiere by the 1057th Grenadier Regiment and light tanks of the 100th Panzer Replacement Battalion inspired the climactic battle in the film, which is set around a bridge over the Merderet River in the fictional town of Ramelle.
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43/45
The film was banned in Malaysia, as Steven Spielberg refused to cut the violent scenes.
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44/45
Director Steven Spielberg considered casting Matt Damon after seeing his performance in Courage Under Fire (1996), but thought he was too thin. Robin Williams introduced Damon to Spielberg while filming Good Will Hunting (1997), and Spielberg changed his mind.
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45/45
Pvt. Jackson’s killing the German sniper by firing a bullet through the man’s scope and into his eye was based on a true event, though not in WWII and not by a Pvt. Jackson. It was accomplished by Marine Pvt. Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War. Hathcock was a sniper who was being shot at by a concealed NVA sniper. He finally managed to catch a glimpse of the man’s sniperscope and put a round through it, killing him. The similar sequence in this film is rumored to be a tribute to Hathcock, who has been regarded as one of the most famous snipers in American History, although Hathcock’s shot was only at 100 yards. Jackson’s was said in the film to be at over 400 yards. At that distance, the bullet is falling at a much steeper angle, even with a modern sniper rifle, making the shot impossible.
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