Thank you as well for taking the time to be on this forum and fielding questions from us!!

I came on a little late so I hope a few questions about previous episodes are ok with ya sir.

From episode 1

Did you ever consider showing episode 1 and 2 back to back on that first night? So we might be able to get the feel of the Marines a bit more in this series right off the bat?

Was there any thought to showing something of the tank attack on the beach spit the next day after the first night battle? Lucky only wrote one sentance in his book, but he did see it.

For episode 2

How much fun was it for the cast and crew when shooting the Marines vs the Army "raid"? A lot I bet!!

How hard was it to do the Japanese naval gunfire scene at night when they bombarded the Marine positions?

The hand to hand combat scenes with Basilone was just perfect!!

Episode 3

Was this one of the episodes that you just really liked writing about, so we could gleen some more details from Leckie and his past family life, compared to say more combat oriantated like in other episodes?

By the end when Lucky is just crushed by Stella, I really felt for the guy, and later Stella and her point of view. The Greek family was just great as a backdrop for this episode.

Episode 4

Was there a specific reason why there was so little of Sledge, be it training or just out and about with his new Marine unit?

In the night attack when Leckie was ordered to destroy the HQ tent if over run, was there some kind of emotion on his face? Maybe he just better get out of there or something, kinda hard to read for me but something was there.

Cheers, I have a "few" more questions (LOL) but I'll settle for these now.

Thanks again

Tom

Tom --

Good questions all. I'll attempt to answer them in order.

Ep 1. Yes, we considered showing Ep 1 and 2 together. I waffled back and forth on this...but it wasn't my decision. In retrospect, I think that these big miniseries should air their first couple of eps together so that the audience gains traction with the characters. I tell people that when they watch it on DVD, they should watch them three eps at a time. That's the best way to see the Series.

I wrote the tank attack originally. A few problems: We had trouble finding the right tanks and our set was a bit small to show it. There were also Naval aviators strafing the far shore at the Tenaru, too, but we couldn't show that either.

Ep 2. I loved that scene of the Marines pilfering the Army. The crew did too.
It wasn't hard to do the Naval bombardment scene. The exterior was shot up in Port Douglas. The interior bunker shots were done at the studio in Melbourne (we had it on gimbols and could shake it, etc.).

The hand to hand sequence with Basilone took THREE efforts to get right. We wanted it to be realistic, chaotic, but also understandable. Much harder to do this well than the bombardment!

Ep. 3. I love Ep three because we get to see inside Leckie's tough guy cynicism...give the audience hope that he'll transcend it with Stella, and then crush his hopes. Leckie's descent into madness really accelerates because of stella's rejection.

Ep. 4. Yes. we eschewed training scenes like the plague. The one we show is important to establish Eugene's progression from naive kid to warrior. We shot a couple of others for different episodes, but they didn't work in the Series, so we cut them.

The night attack was meant to highlight what all men felt in combat, and Leckie in particular, and that is the utter HELPLESSNESS of being under fire without anywhere to go.

Keep the questions coming!

Bruce

Thanks for the reply Bruce

1. Nice to know you guys thought about it, even though "those above" did'nt make that happen. Maybe next time, if we are all VERY lucky and another series gets a green light for you to work on!!

So you did write in the tank attack, very nice. To bad you had those problems, not sure if the light tanks were Stuarts (M3 I bet over the M3A1) or someting else. But that would have been a great scene to see. Probably even to graphic for HBO if you had the tanks moving over the dead Japanese bodies on the sand.
But what a scene to show the "realities of war", and then some.....

Did you ever think about putting in the 37mm Anti-tank guns that fired canister rounds as well?

Yep, I read about the straffing before and that could have been CGIed in, but we can't have everything I guess.

My thoughts besides the "It happened that way" and some "good scenes" is that the tanks, AT guns and planes might have shown people not familiar with WW II Pacific fighting that it was not only the Marines and their rifles, mortars and MGs, they had more than a bit of heavier support than that, going into this battle at least.
I think the same Platoon of 5 tanks later got ambushed by some Japanese Anti-tank guns and all got wiped out. But Lucky was'nt apart of that by then.

2.
I thought so, must have been a blast on the shoot!!!

Good to know, I just thought it might have been a bit harder to get the right sound and light effects in the bombardment, a great touch though in including that I must say.

3. Ahhh, I thought so, Lucky started slippping after his first taste of combat in Guadalcanal, but as you wrote it Stella is the final push.

Did any of the many girls he hooked up with in real life there then push him over more than a bit, in your opinion, or more of a diversion for good old Lucky and to feel alive again? Besides being a Marine on R&R afre first combat.

4. On the training part I do understand yuor point of view, but for many of us just some form of bonding before going into the thick of it in the first episode. There was some but the time (as I know you know already) is just to short to get that "feeling" like BoB in their episode. Maybe a longer boat ride to Guadal could have shown this and so stipping the "dreaded" training that you guys don't want to repeat in this series?

I see, I thought it might have been Lucky kind of losing it as he was'nt involved with his buds in repelling the Japanese from the HQ area. Just kind of ordered to hang back and not take part unless they were overrun.

Thanks for your time Bruce and I'll post some more questions in the episode 5 thread in a bit, before episode 6 show up.

Tom

Tom -

Rest assured HBO wouldn't have blinked an eye at tanks running over dead bodies. The only issue would be how to do it realistically. As you'll see in the next few episodes there's very little blinking. And as for the .37 cannister shot at the Tenaru, look closely next time you see episode one. It's there on the left flank by the ocean. The only thing we didn't do is make its barrel glow red.

As for Leckie's other girls, we had one in the Series...but decided not to include the brief scenes with her.

The bonding/training part would have been doable with Leckie, but not as easily as Sledge as he was feathered into an already existing combat unit. The bonding happens over the course of the Series. This is a riskier choice, I know, but I think by the end you will feel the requisite comraderie that Band had...maybe even more so.

Hey that's a wonderful post. I really liked your thoughts.
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