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THE PACIFIC: constant comparisons to Band Of Brothers inside!

Handsome CostanzaHandsome Costanza Ask me about 8bitdoRIP Iwata-sanRegistered User regular
edited June 2010 in Debate and/or Discourse
Most of us have seen Band of Brothers. The groundbreaking HBO mini-series considered to be the greatest of all time, brought to us by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. We'll they are back.



IMDB wrote:
A 10-part mini-series from the creators of "Band of Brothers" telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.

IMDB page is here.

Supposedly its inspired by several different novels written by soldiers in the Pacific war, instead of just the one used to create BoB. I for one am pumped the fuck up. This couldn't be more up my alley.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99B80crU3E


Here is a super interesting interview with Steven Spielberg about making "The Pacific", and his war movies in general.


Snippets (spoilered for length):
Question: When you were making Saving Private Ryan, did you have a sense that you were establishing a visual template for war and war depictions that were going to be carried over for 12 years now?

Spielberg: In Saving Private Ryan, I had a sense that I was establishing a template, based on the experiences communicated to me by the veterans who fought that morning on Dog Green, Omaha Beach, and their experiences, and the very few surviving photographs of the great war correspondent, Robert Capa. I combined those photographs to try to find a 24-frame-per-second equivalent for how I can show that kind of terror and chaos without making a movie that looked elegant and beautiful and in full living color, very much like war movies had been made in the past.

It wasn’t that I was trying to break the mold of the old war movie approach, visually, but I was simply trying to validate all of this testimony that had been communicated to us, based on the young men that lived and survived that battle. I didn’t know it was going to establish a look for war movies, but it was certainly what I thought was right for that particular story.



Q: How much time did you spend working on this(The Pacific)?


A: I would say years. Longer than I actually remember. It was inevitable that we would do The Pacific with HBO because there was such an overwhelming response, not only from the general public that got very involved in Band of Brothers, but we got so much positive mail. At the same time, that mail said, “I was a veteran of the Solomons.” “I fought on Tarawa.” “I was at Midway.” We got so many letters of veterans from the Pacific Theater of Operations, asking us if we could acquit their stories the way we acquitted the stories of the European Theater of Operations.



Q:Are there more stories to tell?

Spielberg: There are many more stories to tell, and we’re going to tell them.

Are you developing them?

Spielberg: We are developing them.


Episode 1 is apparently titled "Guadalcanal".


Here are the books that the new series is based off of ( click the images to be taken to each Amazon page.)


200px-07-old-breed.jpg

With The Old Breed by Eugene Sledge

Summary:
]His memoir is a front-line account of infantry combat in the Pacific War. Sledge writes of the brutality displayed by American and Japanese soldiers during the battles, and of the hatred that both sides harbored for each other. In Sledge's words, "this was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands." Sledge describes one instance in which he and a comrade came across the mutilated bodies of three Marines, including one Marine whose genitals had been cut off and stuffed into the corpse's mouth. He also describes the behavior of some Marines towards dead Japanese, including the removal of gold teeth from Japanese corpses (and, in one case, a severely wounded but still living Japanese soldier), as well as other disturbing trophy-taking.

Sledge describes in detail the sheer physical struggle of living in a combat zone and the debilitating effects of constant fear, fatigue, and filth. "Fear and filth went hand in hand," he wrote. "It has always puzzled me that this important factor in our daily lives has received so little attention from historians and is often omitted from otherwise excellent personal memoirs by infantrymen." Marines had trouble staying dry, finding time to eat their rations, practicing basic field sanitation (it was impossible to dig latrines or catholes in the coral rock on Peleliu), and simply moving around on the pulverized coral of Peleliu and in the mud of Okinawa.




51TxLnyJAcL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie


Summary:
Beginning with boot camp in MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina, the story follows Leckie through basic training and then to New River, North Carolina where he is briefly stationed, and follows him to the Pacific.

Leckie is assigned to the 1st Marine Division and is deployed to Guadalcanal, northern Australia, New Guinea, Cape Gloucester, before being evacuated with wounds from the island of Peleliu. "Helmet for My Pillow" is told from an enlisted man's point of view; a contemporary book jacket stated the book was about "the booze, the brawling, the loving on 72-hour liberty, the courageous fighting and dying in combat as the U.S. Marines slugged it out, inch by inch, across the Pacific.



6a5db2c008a0581698864010.L._SL500_AA300_.jpg


Red Blood Black Sand by Chuck Tatum

Summary:
There isn't one that I can find.


It all starts Sunday, March 14th. Cant. Fucking. Wait. In the meantime, here are some websites and stuff:

Main HBO website for the series.






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Posts

  • donhonkdonhonk Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Its totally manly if you cry to this show.

    donhonk on
  • Handsome CostanzaHandsome Costanza Ask me about 8bitdo RIP Iwata-sanRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    these are the same guys who brought to your attention crazy real life shit that actually happened like this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS1qfIsINh8&feature=related

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  • 3v3v Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I don't have HBO anymore..
    :cry:

    3v on
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  • ReznikReznik Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I have been waiting for this for so long!

    I absolutely adore BoB.

    And also I know very little about the Pacific war, so it will be educational!

    Reznik on
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  • minirhyderminirhyder BerlinRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I'm pretty excited!
    European theater > Pacific theater in my opinion, but it'll do!
    I loved Band of Brothers oh so much, so I'm confident this will be fantastic.

    minirhyder on
  • XaevXaev Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    3v wrote: »
    I don't have HBO anymore..
    :cry:

    Me neither. I dropped it when I realized that I never used it. I'll bring it back when Game of Thrones comes out though.

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  • TonyTheLeperTonyTheLeper Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Xaev wrote: »
    3v wrote: »
    I don't have HBO anymore..
    :cry:

    Me neither. I dropped it when I realized that I never used it. I'll bring it back when Game of Thrones comes out though.

    :O curb your enthusiasm!

    TonyTheLeper on
  • darksteeldarksteel Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I am ridiculously excited for this show. Once the DVD of this comes out, I'll give it to my granddad, who served in the Hunters ROTC in the Philippines.

    Unfortunately, I do not think they will have an episode on the retaking of the Philippines, since I believe none of the three veterans the show focuses on participated in that particular combat action.

    darksteel on
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  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    Rent on
  • darksteeldarksteel Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    darksteel on
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  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    darksteel wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    He is, but he doesn't play a role (as far as I can tell)

    So kind of wishy washy about this

    Also seriously Private Ryan was a fucking dickbag and holy shit that guy shouldn't of had a movie made about him

    Thanks a lot for getting a whole fucking unit killed because you have some retarded ass sense of "honor", asshole

    Fuck that shit pisses me off. So much

    Rent on
  • wwtMaskwwtMask Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The show looks awesome. On Demand had some preview videos of it, and it basically looks like it'll be BoB in the Pacific, which is a good thing.

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  • minirhyderminirhyder BerlinRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Rent wrote: »
    darksteel wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    He is, but he doesn't play a role (as far as I can tell)

    So kind of wishy washy about this

    Also seriously Private Ryan was a fucking dickbag and holy shit that guy shouldn't of had a movie made about him

    Thanks a lot for getting a whole fucking unit killed because you have some retarded ass sense of "honor", asshole

    Fuck that shit pisses me off. So much


    Err how did he get his unit killed because of honor? I watched this a whiille ago, don't remember much D:

    Also wasn't Saving Private Ryan only loosely based on real events? My understanding is that there was no actual Pvt. Ryan; but there might have been some guy with a bunch of brothers who were killed.

    minirhyder on
  • themightypuckthemightypuck MontanaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Tom Hanks wasn't in BoB as far as I recall.

    themightypuck on
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  • PhistiPhisti Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I just finished rewatching Band of Brothers - Tom Hanks is not in the show, he's a producer. His son does play Lieutenant Jones in episode 8 who gets promptly promoted to 1st Lieutenant at the end of the episode.

    Phisti on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Tom Hanks wasn't in BoB as far as I recall.

    After Private Ryan he teamed up with Spielberg as a Producer

    nexuscrawler on
  • themightypuckthemightypuck MontanaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The dude who played Winters was pretty much total awesome. I wonder what happened to him after Life went dark?

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  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Rent wrote: »
    darksteel wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    He is, but he doesn't play a role (as far as I can tell)

    So kind of wishy washy about this

    Also seriously Private Ryan was a fucking dickbag and holy shit that guy shouldn't of had a movie made about him

    Thanks a lot for getting a whole fucking unit killed because you have some retarded ass sense of "honor", asshole

    Fuck that shit pisses me off. So much

    Captain Crazy, Saving Private Ryan was fictional. You're angry at some guy who never existed.

    Sentry on
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  • SixSix Caches Tweets in the mainframe cyberhex Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I've been waiting for this since the original airing of BoB, which I tend to watch in its entirety every year or two.

    Bring on The Pacific.

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  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The epsiode of BoB about the medic was one of the most heartbreaking things ever on TV

    nexuscrawler on
  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The epsiode of BoB about the concentration camp was one of the most heartbreaking things ever

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  • RedTideRedTide Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Sentry wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    darksteel wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    He is, but he doesn't play a role (as far as I can tell)

    So kind of wishy washy about this

    Also seriously Private Ryan was a fucking dickbag and holy shit that guy shouldn't of had a movie made about him

    Thanks a lot for getting a whole fucking unit killed because you have some retarded ass sense of "honor", asshole

    Fuck that shit pisses me off. So much

    Captain Crazy, Saving Private Ryan was fictional. You're angry at some guy who never existed.

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  • DrakeonDrakeon Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    The dude who played Winters was pretty much total awesome. I wonder what happened to him after Life went dark?

    This is a true statement. Damian Lewis is awesome. Haven't seen him in anything since Life though :(

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  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I wonder which relatively benign actor Hanks and Spielberg will be able to make me loathe, ala David Schwimmer in BoB.

    I feel bad for the real Sobel, he gets raked over the coals in the series and even moreso in the book.

    BubbaT on
  • SaltLickSaltLick Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I remember reading in the book that at his funeral not only did no one from Easy Company show up, but his own children and wife didnt as well. Pretty sure the guy just wasn't that great of a person.

    SaltLick on
  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I've been ridiculously excited for this show since it was announced. But not excited enough to pick up HBO. But I will check and see if I can pay to watch it via on demand or some other channel.

    And almost certainly pick it up on Blu-Ray.

    Tomanta on
  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    SaltLick wrote: »
    I remember reading in the book that at his funeral not only did no one from Easy Company show up, but his own children and wife didnt as well. Pretty sure the guy just wasn't that great of a person.

    According to posts 4 and 7 at

    http://forums.wildbillguarnere.com/index.php?showtopic=2115

    recounting a 2002 reunion of Easy Co., Sobel's son said he was a good father.

    There's a long stretch between "not a good battlefield commander" and "all-around silly goose."

    BubbaT on
  • AsiriyaAsiriya Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I can't really see how people can compare Private Ryan and BoB. I enjoyed the former the first time I watched it, and the battle scenes are pretty cool, especially storming the beaches (excluding the shell shock which really grates on me), but it has none of the emotional depth of BoB, possibly because it didn't happen, possibly because there's just not enough time to get to know the characters. BoB, when things happen to the main characters, like when Guarnere and that cool guy get hit by the shell, and the other two guys who are in the foxhole, I'm really affected. I'm hoping Pacific delivers the same kind of interest and attachment to characters, and brutality to these same people.
    Possibly another thing; HOllywood makes a big deal out of people being killed, BoB, and life, just does it, and I think that is much more effective, though it might just be the shock factor.

    Asiriya on
  • minirhyderminirhyder BerlinRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Asiriya wrote: »
    I can't really see how people can compare Private Ryan and BoB. I enjoyed the former the first time I watched it, and the battle scenes are pretty cool, especially storming the beaches (excluding the shell shock which really grates on me), but it has none of the emotional depth of BoB, possibly because it didn't happen, possibly because there's just not enough time to get to know the characters. BoB, when things happen to the main characters, like when Guarnere and that cool guy get hit by the shell, and the other two guys who are in the foxhole, I'm really affected. I'm hoping Pacific delivers the same kind of interest and attachment to characters, and brutality to these same people.
    Possibly another thing; HOllywood makes a big deal out of people being killed, BoB, and life, just does it, and I think that is much more effective, though it might just be the shock factor.

    Yeah I wasn't a big fan of Saving Private Ryan, it seemed a bit silly to me, and the only entertainment value of it was things going boom.

    The fact that Band of Brothers is heavily based on real events, and portrays them so damn accurately plays a huge role on how great it is. Because you're basically watching what has happened, whereas films like Saving Private Ryan is just a well made Hollywood fabrication.

    minirhyder on
  • FallingmanFallingman Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Loved BoB, and Generation Kill - despite not really being a huge fan of military drama.
    I hope this is as good.

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  • stevemarks44stevemarks44 Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I don't quite understand the tepid response to Saving Private Ryan. Sure it's not an account of an actual event, but I found the embodiment of each of the character archetypes to be pretty great, regardless of if it's Hollywood-ized or not. Jeremy Davies conflicted and terrified soldier is one of my favorite characters in all of film. That, coupled with Tom Hanks just being, well, Tom Hanks, is brilliant. I just think it's an outstanding movie.

    As far as finding the depth in BoB better than SPR, well, of course. BoB had ten hours to expand and show each character, whereas Ryan had 2. If you want to blame any of Ryan's character shortcomings, blame the medium rather than the work.

    stevemarks44 on
  • jefe414jefe414 "My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter" Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Rent wrote: »
    darksteel wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    I'm a bit unsure about this since Tom Hanks isn't in it

    Still though, Saving Private Ryan and BoB were aces

    I could swear Tom Hanks was one of the producers, but I can't be sure.

    He is, but he doesn't play a role (as far as I can tell)

    So kind of wishy washy about this

    Also seriously Private Ryan was a fucking dickbag and holy shit that guy shouldn't of had a movie made about him

    Thanks a lot for getting a whole fucking unit killed because you have some retarded ass sense of "honor", asshole

    Fuck that shit pisses me off. So much

    Well
    1 - it was not real people, fiction set in actual events
    2- Private Ryan (Matt Damon) didn't get anyone killed. The pussy typist who convinced Tom Hanks to let the prisoner go is the cause. He let the Jewish dude get stabbed in the heart then the dude they let go shot a bunch of 101st dudes and Tom Hanks.

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  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    minirhyder wrote: »
    Asiriya wrote: »
    I can't really see how people can compare Private Ryan and BoB. I enjoyed the former the first time I watched it, and the battle scenes are pretty cool, especially storming the beaches (excluding the shell shock which really grates on me), but it has none of the emotional depth of BoB, possibly because it didn't happen, possibly because there's just not enough time to get to know the characters. BoB, when things happen to the main characters, like when Guarnere and that cool guy get hit by the shell, and the other two guys who are in the foxhole, I'm really affected. I'm hoping Pacific delivers the same kind of interest and attachment to characters, and brutality to these same people.
    Possibly another thing; HOllywood makes a big deal out of people being killed, BoB, and life, just does it, and I think that is much more effective, though it might just be the shock factor.

    Yeah I wasn't a big fan of Saving Private Ryan, it seemed a bit silly to me, and the only entertainment value of it was things going boom.

    The fact that Band of Brothers is heavily based on real events, and portrays them so damn accurately plays a huge role on how great it is. Because you're basically watching what has happened, whereas films like Saving Private Ryan is just a well made Hollywood fabrication.

    Lots of great stories are made up, I don't really see how a story being based on real events makes it better. Nearly every episode of Law & Order is based on real events.

    The messages in SPR and in BoB are basically the same, Miller's squad are just as much "brothers" as Easy Co., and Gen. Marshall is even more disconnected from the realities of the battlefield than Col. Sink. SPR does a good job in communicating them in 1/5 the time BoB has.

    BubbaT on
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I don't quite understand the tepid response to Saving Private Ryan. Sure it's not an account of an actual event, but I found the embodiment of each of the character archetypes to be pretty great, regardless of if it's Hollywood-ized or not. Jeremy Davies conflicted and terrified soldier is one of my favorite characters in all of film. That, coupled with Tom Hanks just being, well, Tom Hanks, is brilliant. I just think it's an outstanding movie.

    As far as finding the depth in BoB better than SPR, well, of course. BoB had ten hours to expand and show each character, whereas Ryan had 2. If you want to blame any of Ryan's character shortcomings, blame the medium rather than the work.

    I agree with this, I thought the characters were all fantastic. I just think they deserved to be in a better story.

    Sentry on
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  • minirhyderminirhyder BerlinRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    BubbaT wrote: »
    minirhyder wrote: »
    Asiriya wrote: »
    I can't really see how people can compare Private Ryan and BoB. I enjoyed the former the first time I watched it, and the battle scenes are pretty cool, especially storming the beaches (excluding the shell shock which really grates on me), but it has none of the emotional depth of BoB, possibly because it didn't happen, possibly because there's just not enough time to get to know the characters. BoB, when things happen to the main characters, like when Guarnere and that cool guy get hit by the shell, and the other two guys who are in the foxhole, I'm really affected. I'm hoping Pacific delivers the same kind of interest and attachment to characters, and brutality to these same people.
    Possibly another thing; HOllywood makes a big deal out of people being killed, BoB, and life, just does it, and I think that is much more effective, though it might just be the shock factor.

    Yeah I wasn't a big fan of Saving Private Ryan, it seemed a bit silly to me, and the only entertainment value of it was things going boom.

    The fact that Band of Brothers is heavily based on real events, and portrays them so damn accurately plays a huge role on how great it is. Because you're basically watching what has happened, whereas films like Saving Private Ryan is just a well made Hollywood fabrication.

    Lots of great stories are made up, I don't really see how a story being based on real events makes it better. Nearly every episode of Law & Order is based on real events.

    The messages in SPR and in BoB are basically the same, Miller's squad are just as much "brothers" as Easy Co., and Gen. Marshall is even more disconnected from the realities of the battlefield than Col. Sink. SPR does a good job in communicating them in 1/5 the time BoB has.

    It's not that I'm against fiction. I love fiction, fiction is great!
    I guess it's just that when it comes to recounting real events, I like more realism and less Hollywood, but that's just me.

    minirhyder on
  • RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    donhonk wrote: »
    Its totally manly if you cry to this show.

    Haha...every time I watch the intro to Band of Brothers I choke up a little bit. THE INTRO. Something about that music gets me. I've never felt so emotionally connected to characters in a TV show before.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
  • MadnessBAMadnessBA Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    hmmm Marines. I'm still waiting for a good modern movie/miniseries made about the pacific theater naval battles. Pearl Harbor does not fucking count.

    MadnessBA on
  • RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    This reminds me my mom got me a book about the naval battles of the Pacific Campaign that I never read...hmm.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
  • Handsome CostanzaHandsome Costanza Ask me about 8bitdo RIP Iwata-sanRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Here is a super interesting interview with Steven Spielberg about making "The Pacific", and his war movies in general.


    Snippets (spoilered for length):
    Question: When you were making Saving Private Ryan, did you have a sense that you were establishing a visual template for war and war depictions that were going to be carried over for 12 years now?

    Spielberg: In Saving Private Ryan, I had a sense that I was establishing a template, based on the experiences communicated to me by the veterans who fought that morning on Dog Green, Omaha Beach, and their experiences, and the very few surviving photographs of the great war correspondent, Robert Capa. I combined those photographs to try to find a 24-frame-per-second equivalent for how I can show that kind of terror and chaos without making a movie that looked elegant and beautiful and in full living color, very much like war movies had been made in the past.

    It wasn’t that I was trying to break the mold of the old war movie approach, visually, but I was simply trying to validate all of this testimony that had been communicated to us, based on the young men that lived and survived that battle. I didn’t know it was going to establish a look for war movies, but it was certainly what I thought was right for that particular story.



    Q: How much time did you spend working on this(The Pacific)?


    A: I would say years. Longer than I actually remember. It was inevitable that we would do The Pacific with HBO because there was such an overwhelming response, not only from the general public that got very involved in Band of Brothers, but we got so much positive mail. At the same time, that mail said, “I was a veteran of the Solomons.” “I fought on Tarawa.” “I was at Midway.” We got so many letters of veterans from the Pacific Theater of Operations, asking us if we could acquit their stories the way we acquitted the stories of the European Theater of Operations.



    Q:Are there more stories to tell?

    Spielberg: There are many more stories to tell, and we’re going to tell them.

    Are you developing them?

    Spielberg: We are developing them.


    Red'ded for I just got a boner.



    Click the link at the top for the full interview. It really is fascinating.

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  • PantsBPantsB Fake Thomas Jefferson Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »
    This reminds me my mom got me a book about the naval battles of the Pacific Campaign that I never read...hmm.

    I wrote 5 different papers on the Battle of Midway between 5th and 7th grades. Partially because I thought it was interesting and partially as a game to see how many different subjects I could fit it in.

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