Trivia
The role of Caparzo was written just for Vin Diesel after director Steven Spielberg saw Diesel's independent film Strays, which was also his directorial, writing, producing and lead acting debut.
Share this
All the principal actors underwent several days of grueling army training - except for Matt Damon, who was spared so that the other actors would resent him, and would convey that resentment in their performances.
Share this
Real amputees were used for the shots of people with limbs missing. However, Bryan Cranston, who portrayed the colonel in the headquarters unit to whom the 3 separate death notices are presented, and later presents to General George C. Marshall, is not an amputee, although depicted as missing a left arm, apparently above the elbow.
Share this
The two German Tiger tanks in the movie were in fact Russian T-34 tanks modified to appear as convincing Tiger tanks. You can see the difference between these fake Tigers and the real ones by the differing road wheels.
Share this
Although Steven Spielberg reduced the color saturation of the movie by 60% for artistic reasons, both major American satellite providers (DirecTV and Dish Newtork) and numerous cable TV providers turned up the chroma gain to re-enhance the color saturation to normal-looking levels when broadcasting the movie. They did this because on the first day or two of the movie's broadcast run, their customer service centers were swamped with calls from viewers complaining that something was wrong with the color.
Share this
This was the first movie to be rated NC-16 in Singapore. Due to the nature of the violence of the movie, it couldn't be passed as PG film. Also, with the lack of adult theme, it couldn't be granted R(A) rating.
Share this
For the initial battle scenes in the sea, spare ammunition carried by the actors was made from wood, as metal was too heavy.
Share this
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!" They were members of what the Germans called Ost [East] Battalions, men - mostly Czech and Polish - taken prisoner in eastern European countries invaded by Germany and forced into the German army.
Share this
The siege in the village of Ramelle was filmed on a set created on a disused airfield in Hatfield, England. The bridge so valiantly defended actually crosses a three foot deep canal created for the movie. Earlier scenes in the village of Neuville-au-Plain used the same set carefully shot from different angles.
Share this
This is the last film edited on a non-digital editing system to win an Academy Award for editing.
Share this
Full character names: John H. Miller, Michael Horvath, Richard Reiben, Daniel Jackson, Stanley Mellish, Adrien Caparzo, Irwin Wade and Timothy E. Upham.
Share this
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 near Atlanta, Georgia. The range is owned by a weapons manufacturer.
Share this
In the German-dubbed version of the movie, one of the actors, himself a German veteran of the Normandy invasion, couldn't deal with emotional realism of the film and dropped out and had to be replaced.
Share this
Michael Madsen was offered the role of Sgt. Horvath. He turned it down, recommending friend Tom Sizemore for the part instead.
Share this
Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).
Share this
[June 2008] Ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Epic".
Share this
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #71 Greatest Movie of All Time. This was one of the newest entries on the list (from films which were released between 1997 and 2005).
Share this
Just after the scene where Captain Miller "recruits" Upham for the mission there is a short scene that shows the motor pool. For a few brief seconds a jeep with a small trailer rolls by. If you look carefully you can see that the jeep and trailer contain Captain Miller and his men. The next scene shows Miller and the others walking through a meadow on foot with no vehicle in sight. This is due to the fact that the scene which shows how Miller and the men lose the jeep was deleted from the final cut. Later in the film Miller mentions something about losing "most of their ammo". This occurred when they lost the jeep.
Share this
Inspired by the true story of the Niland brothers. Sgt. Frederick Niland was in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne. Band of Brothers, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, told the story of another 101st Airborne unit, Easy Company of the 506th PIR.
Share this
Foley artist Jana Vance dislocated three ribs while lugging heavy gear and military boots for a scene's sound effects.
Share this
When the camera shakes during explosions, Steven Spielberg used drills attached to the side of the camera which were turned on when 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 had thought he had invented a great new technique at first.
Share this
Cap. Dale Dye (USMC Ret.), the film's military advisor, makes an appearance as a War Department colonel in the scene with Gen. George C. Marshall. He is the white-haired officer advising Marshall against sending a rescue party after Ryan.
Share this
Upham's shoulder patch, a blue and grey "yin yang" symbol, identifies him as a member of the 29th US infantry division. It symbolizes the fact that the division was composed of units from Virginia and Maryland, who fought on both sides of the American Civil War.
Share this
Robert Rodat's script was bought by producer Mark Gordon who liked the story but only accepted the final screenplay after 11 drafts.
Share this
The Omaha Beach scene cost $11 million to shoot and involved up to 1000 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.
Share this
Two of the landing craft used in the Omaha Beach scenes were actually in use in World War II.
Share this
Local reenactment groups such as the Second Battle Group were employed as extras to play German and American soldiers.
Share this
The Battle of Ramelle never took place in real life. The town and the battle were both fictional. A German counter-attack over the causeway at La Fiere by the 1057th Grenadier Regiment and light tanks of the 100th Panzer Replacement Battalion was the inspiration for the climactic battle in the film, which is set around a bridge over the Merderet River in the fictional town of Ramelle.
Share this
One of the very last films to be released on Laserdisc in November 1999. Laserdiscs ceased being manufactured at the end of that year.
Share this
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 highly necessary as most of the bullet hits in the Omaha Beach attack were digitally created.
Share this
To achieve his unique "look" for the film, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski adjusted his film shutter to 90 degrees to create sharper, more realistic images, and used an Image Shaker to vibrate the camera to approximate the impact of explosions.
Share this
In 2006, Tom Hanks was inducted into the US Army's Ranger Hall of Fame as an honorary member, largely thanks to his portrayal of company commander John Miller in this film.
Share this
The Department of Veterans Affairs set up a special 800 number to help the hundreds of former soldiers who were traumatized after seeing the film.
Share this
Cinemas were instructed to up the volume when they showed the film as the sound effects play such a crucial part in its overall effect.
Share this
Director Steven Spielberg considered casting Matt Damon after viewing his performance in Courage Under Fire, but thought he was too skinny. Robin Williams introduced Damon to Spielberg on the set of Good Will Hunting, and Spielberg changed his mind.
Share this
When Tom Hanks's character tells the rest of the unit what he does for a living back at home, Hanks' speech was much longer in the original script. But Hanks felt that his character wouldn't have said so much about himself, and he told director Steven Spielberg so. Spielberg agreed, and the speech was shortened.
Share this
Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford were both considered for the role of Captain John Miller, before Steven Spielberg decided on casting Tom Hanks.
Share this
Many veterans of D-Day have congratulated director Steven Spielberg for the film's authenticity, including actor James Doohan, best known as Scotty from Star Trek. 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.
Share this
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. As described in Peter Bart's book "The Gross", the speech was rambling and not particularly funny or interesting, but the crew decided that's why it worked - that it was true to an unformed kid like Private 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.
Share this
The film was blocked by the Censor Board of India for too much violence. The Board demanded cuts that Steven Spielberg declined to make, and instead he decided not to release the movie in India at all. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the then Home Minister of India saw the movie himself and, impressed, ordered it to be released uncut.
Share this
Scott Frank and Frank Darabont did uncredited script doctor work on the screenplay. Scott Frank's work is, according to claims, the most prominent.
Share this
Filming switched from the UK to Ireland after the British Ministry of Defense declined to provide the huge numbers of soldiers requested to act as extras in the film. The Irish Defense forces supplied 2500 men drawn from a mix of units of the FCA (Army Reserve) and Slua Muiri (Navy) reserves. They spent four weeks in the surf on the beaches while filming the landing scenes. The UK MoD also supplied a couple of hundred soldiers from their reserves, but not the thousands that Steven Spielberg had asked for.
Share this
Originally Steven Spielberg envisaged the film as being like a Boy's Own adventure. However, after he started interviewing WWII vets, he realized that such a treatment would be wholly inappropriate.
Share this
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.
Share this
Steven Spielberg donated an undisclosed amount of money to build a theater at America's National D-Day Memorial in honor of his late father, who flew Army Air Corps missions and was a radio operator in Burma during World War II.
Share this
Voted #2 in "The top 20 war films as voted for by the British Forces" 2008 poll, by British Forces Broadcasting Service Television (BFBS TV).
Share this
Private Jackson's shot through the sniper scope and into the eye did actually happen, though not in WWII and not by a Private Jackson. In fact, this was accomplished by Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War. It is rumored to be a tribute to Hathcock who has been regarded as one of the USA's most famous snipers.
Share this
Features two actors who have played the role of Tom Ripley, protagonist of Patricia Highsmith's 'Ripliad' series, which consists of The Talented Mr. Ripley and its four sequels. Matt Damon played Ripley in that film, and Barry Pepper (Private Jackson) played Ripley in Ripley Under Ground, based on the second book.
Share this
The battle of Normandy at the start and the battle to defend Ramelle at the end both run to about 25 minutes in length, comprising nearly an hour of the film.
Share this
Pvt. Daniel Jackson kisses a Christian cross before going into battle. Nathan Fillion, who plays the "wrong" Pvt. Ryan later played Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly, a war veteran who did the same thing. But when his side lost the war, he also lost his faith in God.
Share this
Steven Spielberg cast Matt Damon as Ryan because he wanted an unknown actor with an All-American look. He didn't know Damon would win an Oscar for Good Will Hunting and become an overnight star before the film was released.
Share this
The cast endured a grueling, week long course at boot camp instructed by technical advisor Dale Dye. Tom Hanks, who had previously been trained by Dye for the Vietnam war scenes in Forrest Gump was the only one of them who knew it would be a hard and uncompromising experience: "The other guys, I think, were expecting something like camping in the woods, and maybe learning things while sitting around the campfire."
Share this
The half-track motorcycle Miller calls a "rabbit" (its Allied nick-name) was better known to the Germans as the Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101, or just Kettenkrad ("tracked motorcycle"). Designed to tow small trailers and light artillery over rough ground, it was the smallest tracked vehicle used in WWII. It was manufactured by NSU Motorenwerke AG, which survived the war to merge with Auto Union in 1969 to form Audi.
Share this
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.
Share this
Tom Sizemore was battling a drug addiction during production. Steven Spielberg gave him an ultimatum that he would be blood tested on the set every day of filming, and if he failed the test once he would be fired and the part of Horvath would be recast and re-shot with someone else, even if it was at the end of production.
Share this
Writer Robert Rodat first came up with the film's story in 1994, when he saw a monument dedicated to four sons of Agnes Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania. The brothers were killed in the American Civil War. Rodat decided to write a similar story set during World War II. The script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, who then handed it to Tom Hanks. It was finally given to Steven Spielberg, who decided to direct. The film's premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland brothers.
Share this
Ironically, the 'Bixby Letter' which is featured prominently in the film was actually inaccurate. The War Department incorrectly informed Abraham Lincoln about the fate of Mrs. Bixby's sons: two had died in battle, the others eventually survived the war. It is not clear whether Mrs. Bixby's story about her sons was borne from error or exaggeration, and why the War Department had failed to correct the report based on their own records.
Share this
Til Schweiger turned down the role of 'Steamboat Willie', because he feared being typecast by it.
Share this
When using the field radio on the beach, CPT Miller says something that sounds like "Cadaff, Cadaff" into the radio. He is actually saying CATF, meaning he is calling the Commander: Amphibious Task Force.
Share this
Billy Bob Thornton turned down the role of Sergeant Horvath because he did not want to film the Normandy beach scenes due to a phobia of water.
Share this
Director Trademark
Steven Spielberg:
[Fathers]
In Neuville, a father pleads the soldiers to take his kids with them. After being endangered by this, and then being reunited with her family, the daughter then slaps the father repeatedly for putting her at such risk.
Share this
Spoilers
During the ending sequence when Upham emerges from hiding, he speaks in German without subtitles. Roughly translated, he says, "Hands up!" and "Lay down your weapons!" several times. One of the Germans says, "I know this soldier. I know this man." Upham responds, "Hold your snout!" The German soldier responds, "Upham," then after a pause Upham shoots him. Then, to the rest of the soldiers he says, "Scram! Vanish!"
Share this
As the German soldier stabs Mellish to death, he says: "Gib' auf, du hast keine Chance! Lass' es uns beenden! Es ist einfacher für dich, viel einfacher. Du wirst sehen, es ist gleich vorbei." This translates: "Give up, you don't stand a chance! Let's end this here! It will be easier for you, much easier. You'll see it will be over quickly." The words are spoken in accent-free German.
Share this
Out of the eight men sent to find Private Ryan, only two survive in the end: Pvt. Richard Reiben (Edward Burns) and Cpl. Timothy P. Upham (Jeremy Davies).
Share this
An alternate ending was filmed in which Lt. Col. Anderson (Dennis Farina) arrives and sees Miller's dead body.
Share this
Many people who saw the film were confused as to whether the German soldier that kills Corporal Mellish is also "Steamboat Willie." They are in fact, different soldiers. The soldier that kills Mellish has Waffen SS lapel insignia, while "Steamboat Willie" has the lapel insignia of an enlisted soldier in the regular German Army.
Share this
