Transcripts For CSPAN2 Band Of Brothers Miniseries 20th Anniversary Part 1 20221008

Call you the benders and what are we going to do . Im nick mueller, president ceo emeritus of the National World war two museum. And i just want welcome everybody here for this anniversary symposia and reunion and what a better venue to than where we are today the United States freedom the boeing center. A lot of your long time friends of the museum been here numerous times and have attended other conferences and travel programs been with us on the easy company from england, the eagles nest, some of the future guests who also participated on those programs. But we also see a lot of new faces and welcome to all of you and youre the first time here. It wont be the last time, but you all testimony and a test admit to the legacy of the hbo mini series and the brothers and audience. This has nothing more needs to be said. And theres 8000 of you out there. I live stream and maybe many more by so thank you all for tuning in and sorry you cant be here with us. We just love and appreciate your interest and support and keeping the stories of the band of brothers and World War Two alive. Before we get started in keeping with the tradition id like to recognize World War Two veterans and homefront workers and Holocaust Survivors, but we have one special guest and i know everybody wants to stand up and, recognize that World War Two veterans. But what wed like do is have you all stay seated so we can see the World War Two veterans and recognize them and just clap. We have mr. George mcalpin battle the bulge veteran 35th engineer of battalion will join right here a. Whos. George was with us for the 75th anniversary battle of the bulge a tour and were so grateful you could join us and any other veterans of world two that might be here please stand also. Homefront workers our Holocaust Survivors will sadly we dont have any others with us. George here. Thank you all, though, being here. Its an honor to have you at the museum. I would like to ask veterans of all wars and active or inactive servicemen, veterans and active service, please stand wherever you are. Thank you for your service. We always honor all of the people in the military active our veterans. And this is a place where we honor them and honor us by your presence. Becky mackey, executive Vice President , should be doing this introduction right now, but she fell ill and was unable to join us. But she asked me to recognize a few other of featured guests who were instrumental helping to make this symposium a reality. So if you would stand and others remain seated again, virtually she played down right over here. Uh. Kirk is also a member, the president ial counselors of distinguished historians and Museum Leaders who meet with us once a year and helps to tell us what to do, what were getting right, what were getting wrong, and what we ought to be doing. So, curtis looked at the hip with us here. Thank you very much, kirk, and any others from, plato, who are here. I know a few others. So thank you all, michael cutler, to portray denver. Bill randall. Michael, are you right here . Everybody. Frank john. He played bill going here. Was the call that portrayed joe. Weve got very. And finally, though, hes not with us today, jimmy, mario played frank for country was with us every step of the way and planning this symposium. So a big shout out thank you to him and i also mentioned recognized and tippers daughter carrie tipper i dont know where you are if youre here to wave or stand up, but youll see her later on for sure. In any event, welcome to all of you and thank you. And thanks also to the entire other cast of cast members and crew of band of brothers, as well as other Family Members of easy company who joined, for this important occasion. Well, a lot of people to thank and especially would say also our president my successor who happens to be in normandy right now with the governor of louisiana. So he could not be here as well. And our travel team, who had the idea to do this with a number of years ago and its and kurt sadoski, others who made it happen and our institute for study of war and democracy looked at him also with this program. But we have sponsors, too. And the reality is you cant do any of these things without sponsors. And just let me list their names real quickly. Ryan anderson and cameron batchelor. Great and then mcdonald and their family of lubbock, texas, rick and cathy ramsey and their son Sean Jonathan reagan and the miller family, larry and penny should robert siegel, richard dallas foundation, hbo aviation, atlantic and barrington of the flying classroom and melvin caroline and jordan of the gallery. They galatoires a few of you got to eat last night fabulous dinner with some our featured cast crew and sponsor and a big thank you to Hancock Whitney are presenting sponsor and without them we might not be here so thank you all again for your support all of those sponsors and i would like also recognize youll come up in a few moments. Michael bell dr. Michael bell is our new executive director. Not new anymore, i guess, since last. And the institute is a collection of great historians who inform everything we do here in the way of our programs our tours and our publications. And so were just excited to have michael board. He was an honor west point grad 33 years in the military and and had assignments at every level from platoon to pentagon staff and hes going to be a master of ceremonies and will follow me in just a moment. So lets get this underway. I think im pretty much on schedule. Becky was going to introduce, but ive already introduced myself. So, you know who i am and she had asked me to. Do a little fly through of how this museum got have had a Little Something to do with it. And youll know a little bit more about that. The only 15 minutes ive got to compress 33 years and 15 minutes. So really is going to be a quick through, fly through and. So let me at this go in here. There, steven. And so that gives you a clue came out of our friendship. Im going to run through about nine slides really quick there all. Connected together, connected to the story. I think youll figure it out as go as i go along. Im not going to talk about it now, but of course know that higgins landing part Steve Ambrose in, normandy, that little gazebo in his backyard where we hang out hung out too much and in the eighties drank too Much Research part where the museum was supposed to be. You know who that is. All right heres a and those are different where we ended up so have you been there right across the street a Ribbon Cutting its june 2000 youll recognize some people there our master plan and and the brothers so lets on and go back to the story so Steve Ambrose was my best friend in new orleans. Were both the History Department 71 till the day he died as son who many of you know he remembers a very much involved with the production of band of brothers kirk and others. And so it was this friendship. Now look you just got to understand we did everything together our families grew up together. We hiked, camped in the rockies, traveled to europe together to normandy, central europe. We was used to doing things together, you know, hed have an idea. I have an idea. I mean. I told him we got to buy a sailboat a 40 foot. He didnt know how to sail the well. How much is going to cost . Well, thousand. Well, how are we going to pay for it . I said well, ill start at sailing school. Well do it that way, well hire some people to run it. We did then we got into scuba diving says well lets buy a dive resort. So we did rented for five years and, then owned the house together. Saint john and the virgin islands. So just want you to know that we did one hell of a lot of things and it a common communal love of history though military and diplomatic that drew us together and we were used to doing big things. One of those was were the tours that we did normally started those in 1980, and i helped organize and i was doing international for the university of new orleans and and there was major howard from the pegasus bridge, same as the end of the talking there. And he started to meet people like howard and and other veterans along the way. And that led to him saying, lets start now, center for leadership studies at u. A. And i was dean by then, and i said, okay well find some space. We can get his oral histories transcribed. Then he did over a thousand of them by the time of of our fateful conversation in 1990. And of course, did the books on dday for 94 and band of brothers, pegasus citizen soldiers flowed out of those oral histories. And before i talk about just say band of brothers, the easy company, were in new orleans around 990 for a reunion. And we was collecting those stories he found out about. They were here and he went to his hotel room and he kind of burst in there. He said, im Steve Ambrose and im going to im collect stories. Im going to get yours and im going to write the book. And he did. And this is back yeah that was our Hewlett Packard moment. All right. This is kind of how it happened. Everybody tells very different. There were only two of us there. So now we start started off with a cheap yellow sherry that he always served every afternoon. No stuff that we could go longer with that jerry. And he said, i got an idea. So were going to start a little small dday museum in your Research Park that you are building right on the beaches where Andrew Higgins just landed craft eight told me, generalizing from the president that hear from new orleans who built the landing. The man who won World War Two because his boats enabled us to get over an open beach. Were here. Tell the congress theyre never gonna do anything. World war two. Were just going to do it right. And ive a thousand oral histories. My book on dday is coming out years 1994 for the anniversary were going to have that museum up assets. They asked. Lets do it. Just like the sailboat, huh . So. Well, i said set. Oh, good, thats great something going to cost 1,000,000, i think. Come on. You dont know anything about this kind of stuff. Its going to be at least 4 million. Oh, god, no. Cant ever. You can never raise that much money. Well, of course, the higgins Landing Craft was the motivator. Theres the research part, and you can see in the left corner there is the pencil, the higgins Landing Craft. And so that was idea unlikely story 33 years ago that a couple of a history professor sat down and look, we were a little cocky. Steve had a big name but we always got about bringing history to life. And this was a way he thought to preserve those stories is easy companies veterans of all of the veterans of dday normandy and ultimately a war too. So we had a site we had a call. We had the higgins connection, we had freelance. And somebody said, well, you know, get some money from congress. You got a chance. So said steve, you got to go up and talk to our. He did. And me up right after the meeting and he says, got everything we need. I said, how much . He said, 4 million. I said, where did you get that . Is it from you . I said, that was over three. It wasnt a Feasibility Study anyway. It was enough and a lot of ups and, downs in the nineties. I mean we were broke several times and steve had enough money, he kept the only secretary we had employed a couple times, but we didnt know anything. The building, a museum, you know, we made we didnt know what we didnt know what we were getting into. But we wrestled to the ground and ten years and 20 million later, we opened across the street there. Some of you have have been there. So that is the end up. And that story was the start of another story. Thats the warehouse on the right side, the louisiana memorial pavilion, where we opened ten years ago. And was the opening right there. And you can see a lot of dignitaries there. The ones youll recognize. Thank and to the right, steve spielberg, senator landrieu being the secretary going. It was an amazing three days. I mean, it wasnt just the Ribbon Cutting. We had 200,000 people on the streets of new all or any of you there. Raise your hand if you were there. I know some of you were saying, look at how many people are in today. New orleans and america. Ill never forget it was broadcast, televised worldwide. Some 600 Million People saw it. The people on we had 80 trucks filled with dday veterans and everybody on the either side of the road saying thank you thank you for your service. You saved democracy saved our freedom. It was quite a day and went on after that to Great Success after we opened and. Then steven cook thats the look you know we it we did it starting in that too much area anyway it was a we said okay we thought it was finished you could relax but then along senator ted stevens stevens, senator stevens and Steve Ambrose friends and he said, you guys, you left out the channel india theater where i fought and that was a it was a distinguished flying cross army air corps. And danny, in a way, in the mediterranean. And he says, you left out the mediterranean. You looked at lot of things you cant do. Dday. This is the best Military Museum in the country but youve got to do the whole war. And if you guys agree to do that, ill help. Well, we were a little bit reluctant, but we said wed try and. I stepped down as chairman. Id been jim for a couple of years. By the time i became president , ceo. And sadly, steve died in 2002. So he did not live to see what you see around you. But he was there for the beginning of the dream and the beginning of the planning that resulted in this. 407 Million Capital Campaign that just concluded after 23 years. And we opened the dday museum, the only thing connected to that early story all those great is the 4 million in the 407 million. So the moral of story is be careful how much you drink with your very best friend and a good idea. Today, Congress Says not today. 2004 designated this museum as the official museum for World War Two and by congressional resolution rank number three or four as the most Popular Museum in america, tripadvisor and seven or eight most popular in the in the world. And before covid hit, we were pushing toward a million visitors a year. And were to get there. So now i am president , ceo. Americas got great people like bell, who in the institute this museums who are carrying the vision forward. Steven watson my successor is going to finish the pavilion right there the last one liberation and you liberation was part of the band of Brothers Story at the end the mission of this museum is to tell the American Experience in the that changed the world why it was fought out was one and what it means today any answer the question so what the so what . 50 years from now even today why why was it important that we won that war . But weve always wanted to tell it through eyes of those who were there and. That starts with ambroses book and the brothers, both ministry are our exhibit, our programs are tours, conferences, programs like this. Its still. And the personal stories are at the core of how this museum tells the story we never lose sight of, the values of the courage, the sacrifice, you know, the in our programs, they always the beating heart of this museum that steve, of course i said earlier interview winters theres going to clip from his most of you know it he said this to i was praying to live through it praying that we wouldnt fail every man i think up in his mind how am i going to react under fire youve never been tested under fire and you hope you become a soldier. You wouldnt disgrace yourself. Well, he had a lot of tests that. He survived. One of them was at the intersection at town. And i want to end my remarks with a little clip from it tipper and. I want you to think about what tipper, as you begin this wonderful program. Kerry, tipper is here, i hope, somewhere and there she is right there, ed and i and his wife, kerry, was at one of those events we did events here with you, ambrose, the pebble beach and up in the mountains, the north carolina. Wonderful, wonderful and inspired is one of those who inspired the actors that played the roles of the men of easy company. And you guys are going to be talking about this for the next day or two as the more interested. Is there anything good you can tell me about sobel. They said no. Berkeley said no. But it saved my life. So hows that . He said all he could do. That man can only could run. He could run. He to death up there to go, ran, ran, ran, ran back. He says if never been the conditioning i was in, i never would survive. That blasted karen time and made it to the beach. So thats the best i could say. Lets lets hear from ed, the night of the invasion. Yo, go out to the airfield. Whats whats going on before you all get in the plane . Whats going on after you get in the plane . Well, they gave us a last meal, like a condemned prisoner that, you know, i think we had turkeys after, indiana. We had ice cream machine over that for a couple of years and but we took all that in stride. We joked about it. The main thing i just cant stress too much. We were so confident that we were the best people in the world. We could take on the germans. I dont care what reputation that we were going to be successful, probably respected, high casualty, but we were willing take that we were reduced for totally. We could not be better prepared. Our training was over that that proved be true. When we dropped we were dropped. Total chaos the pilots flying our planes were not combat pilots all air transport pilot and when all the rockets and fire started coming up and a panic a story as if they got confused over or i think they were confused i minute sure to start but anyway. Most pilots a pilot i better talk about the pilot of my part of my plan were supposed to reduce his speed to 120 miles an hour from 108 years. He didnt need to make the jump year. He did not. He panicked . He just is so open. That gave us the green light. That plane was going as it was going so fast. When i jump my backpack was torn up my back. I open. I lost everything i had back and still i didnt bother richard when he landed. All he had a knife in his boot. Everything else was gone. I a rifle within three pieces and its got to the ground. I got that. But the other quickly i had at least a rifle and i had a bazooka i threw it. I found out quickly it was not work work and working should return internet. And i met and we had all these elaborate passwords which the germans would have had trouble with. Welcome german could not pronounce welcome irc pronounced with a german accent and thunder and flash password. What happened to me . I didnt. He had his clickers too. I dont think any of our drivers or clickers and very few ever needed to use a passwords. We all knew each other. And then. And i landed a guy that landed next to me close by on a temper. He knew i was i looked at him. I knew, he would return together for you almost to your show. I very quickly go. Two of us were looking for other schrager to form a group large enough do some damage and we did that we finally we wound up with about 17 or 18 or no officer. I didnt matter. We could handle it. We had one charger. We had no weapon. I didnt matter we could have let the germans were much more upset with this disorder than we were and we were. We finally had enough. I grunts. That was our training, our mission, and we found a place to attack. And we attacked it with 18 men and took it very quickly quickly that tipper cocky and confident well thats that was a whole company that way so that they didnt use crickets but you know the crickets were too they found each other. The clickers werent collected. We use that sometimes. I do programs to say, look. But you hear one, i want to get the answer from one of your come back here. Thats how were going to bring it together. So all of you benders have a Great Program here. Its going to be a wonderful day. And and i think im going to us over right now to mike bell. Hes going to get the get us started with first fit. Thank you very. You like it. Well thank you nick. Im mike bell, executive director of the museum, jenny Craig Institute for the study of war and democracy. As nick said, the institute, a community of scholars, committed Scholarship Research publications, Higher Education and public programing such as this dedicated to promoting history of World War Two. The relationship between the war and americas democratic system and the wars continued for our world. As such, it is our honor to. Be part of this today. So our symposium kicks off today with a panel called reel to reel spielberg. Hanks the search for authenticity. The panels comprise of the producers, casting directors and writers who literally the front row seat to the creation of what became the blockbuster mini series now were going to be honored to get a glimpse of how they Work Together, really to honor the legacy and the service and the memory of those veterans and bring to life a story thats really been part of my professional life for 30 years. A book that came out in 1992. Thats thats always on my short list of professional readings for those that want this. And i should say got this from my, my brother in law who has been up a infantry platoon leader in the 101st and he that was the the you know the best he could provide me on my birthday so i really got to say this has been a legacy thats continued on and of course what this has done is not just educate but also entertain millions and millions and then ultimately inspire them to move forward now to moderate todays session, were going to turn kurt sadiki leighton executive you know hes got double duty after we brought him to the and youll see him through this is full bios the program but theres some highlights of his impressive body of work hes been an and a producer platoon up for 23 years. In Addition Band of brothers his talents have been integral in john adams. David mccullough painting the word the pacific. He has seen war and game change and many of you will soon benefit from him. Hes been working on the upcoming masters of the air, which is about the b17 that flew over europe. Some of you may not have noticed you. You got one hanging over you right now. If you hadnt seen that yet. Yeah, its pretty, pretty darn awesome. But in addition, his impressive production career, as nick said, hes been a dear friend and advisor to the museum. An incredible insight, full and creative person and. So with that, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming and our team to the stage. Thank you. Thank you. Thank, thank you. Dr. Bell. And thank you, nick. Yes, this is the twice delayed 20th anniversary of band of brothers. But we are happy to be here. Everybodys happy to be here. So 22 years ago now, band of brothers premiered on september 9th, 2001. We know what that date means because of what happened two days later. And its relevant to us here because that meant that for the next two months of sundays on hbo, america and the world could tune in to america, at its best, america. America is capable of doing and americas best citizens, of course, in band of brothers. One of the things all of us have heard as. Met in the last 20 years, weve heard so much about one of the best things in the show. And well and well talk the origin of is every episode started with clips of the men of easy company. So were going talk about that today. But i think set the tone because again every every sunday for two months america literally got to turn to tune in to who was literally best that we have in america band of brothers started in the late 1990 899 with after the success the unexpected success saving private ryan. Tom hanks, his agent, suggests that there was another book there was a book called, citizen soldiers by Steven Ambrose and. He said, maybe we should turn that into a movie. Obviously, theres an appetite for world war. Two stories and tom suggested that maybe he wasnt in doing that book, but there was a book called, band of brothers, by the same author and which he had read in preparation for playing captain miller in private, ryan and so we took a look and it sounded pretty interesting to us to play tone and tom and his partner gary gettleman went to they were equally Steven Spielberg them involved in a way we went the one of the first things we did is send film crew around to meet an most of as many of the men as we could. We went to winters. We went to car, liptons home, tippers dom awlakis home. Popeye winds home, etc. , etc. Across the world were going to have an hour our Third Session today were going to get into some with that and that was the first thing we did was we went out and met the men. And i think key to that was meeting also richard winters. His richard winters was still the company commander. Hes had a hold on his men that and he was still their leader and richard winters had also kept meticulous journals maps he had documented what he and company had endured and achieved. And and ive ive talked to some of the guys about it over the years. And were all convinced that suspected two things that one day the world really will want to hear their story. And second, one day his his homer their homer would come along luckily for us. He was he all that stuff and just for us so that we could tell their story. The other thing the next thing we did after sending out the film crews is we were asked, identify some screenwriter who could who could take this book and these men and turn it into compelling drama. And so we hired or we met with and then eventually brought on board eric generous and eric borg, who had been already working with tom max fry, graham yost Bruce Mckenna jr john orloff and it became know this has become a cliche with but they became a band of writers and the next thing we turned to ito to be one of the executive producers. Tony worked with tom on on earth to the moon with hbo. So we were pretty much putting the team in place. But then, then we had do it. One of the first things we was introduce Eric Henderson to richard winters. And im going to ask eric to tell us about that initial relationship, contact and initial relationship with major winters. Thanks, kirk. Yeah. Was i found myself tasked this responsibility of having to sort of break the egg and. I did as Much Research as i possibly could in advance. And and then finally. Sort of pulled up my bootstraps and, picked up the phone and made this phone call to hershey, pennsylvania. And i just got winters on the phone. And i kind of gushed and i explained very rapidly who i was, what id been tasked to do and what hbo was doing and what tom hanks doing. A remarkable experience. This was it was unprecedented. We being given Carte Blanche to tell their stories the way that it actually happened. And it was my responsible bility is designated lead writer to assemble all the to get together with him to create a bible that would be the sort of the for the first step in crafting this whole thing. I went on and on and on and i finished and there was a dead silence on the phone and he said, how do i know you are who you say you are . And i realized at that moment that this was this was going to be a real journey. And i was about to meet a really remarkable man, traveled to hershey and, met ethel and met winters. He and i always referred to each other as and genders, and i could never bring myself call him and he led me upstairs to his little office, his sanctum sanctorum at the top of the stairs. And i turned the corner into the office and he went his desk gestured to this leather chair in the corner, and just to have a seat. And i was about to take a seat and i noticed something behind the chair. And i he was watching me like a hawk. And i said are those what i think they are. And he said, yes, my eyes certainly. So i picked up this pair of corcoran jumpsuits and immediately, almost reflexively i looked the little tiny shrapnel hole that i knew would be there. And he saw that. And so he i think, immediately knew that i had least come somewhat prepared. And i put back down. I sat down and he looked at me and he said, slid a document his desk to me. We hadnt really exchanged many words what he said. Id like you to take a look at this. First of all. And i picked it up and it was a letter from powers daughter to winters, addressing one of the few mistakes that stephen had made in his book. And in which shifty had been blamed for something that he was not of. And it kind of destroyed shifty and because during the crafting of the book, winters had been sort of the nexus. All the men of all of their reminiscences, all of their their documented stuff had gone through winters, then to ambrose, he was sort of seen still as the as the leader of the company and the nexus for all this information. And so she had reached out to winters hearing that there was going to be something maybe on about all this and could something be done it. And i just felt his eyes on me as i read this thing and i finished reading it, i slid it back across the table and i said, i guess thats our first order of business, is to write that wrong. And any others that, that might have inadvertently occurred and lets get started. And so we started to talk and it was the beginning of would be developed into a profound and we Work Together schedule asleep nearly every day over the phone for six months as he over to me all of the materials that he had, it was about a six foot high stack of of boxes that i would end up bringing back to charlotte, north carolina, because not only had was he in possession of all the materials had been sent to him by the men for ambrose. But the publication of the book had inspired more recollections, more memories. And so had just amassed an incredible amount of data more than ambrose had had available to him when he wrote the book. And so it was all dumped on me and. Then began that process of working with him on a daily basis. So lets talk a little bit more about that. So you then started to write what we call a bible, which was an outline of the series. And by that point we had started to bring on some of the writers and you guys all had to how to talk about how you, you, you divvied up. If i, if i can use that term the episodes who decided to what write what episodes and even how did you break it down into right. Well, the first the first step was all this work with winters over there, about six months of crafting the and getting to the point where we felt and he felt that this was a really account of what had happened. And the idea of the bible was to not necessarily tell the story and make the story telling choices that was going to be left to the writers. But to have all of the facts there this is and it was broken down to 13 episodes initially and this this is what winters like to call the fact positive account of what happened and once that was done in this it was about a 270 page document. It was the ultimate ideally reference work any any member of production writing to production because everything was there and in the bible and fact check by winters in and some of the other men and so with that document were then able to start to plan and and i think that i was given the choice and i just to pick episodes one, five and ten and remind us which those episodes were. The First Episode of toccoa and then crossroads, which i felt a real responsibility to write because its such an intimate story about winters in this crossroads in his life, this delta, which was it in holland in holland, on the in holland, october 1944. And and then the final episode, which i had some exquisite help from mr. Borg here. But so i picked one, five and ten, the beginning, middle and an end and and then left it up to platoon and the other guys to pick their episodes. And i believe john orloff just chose episode two and nine if im not mistaken maybe i but i how they were how they were divvied up and who chose episodes. Its still kind of a mystery to me. Eric, can you help us . Do you remember pretty much how you guys divvied the episode . I dont really would defer to them to come up here and explain themselves. Well theyre going to get their chance later today. I only remember that i chose write episode eight because i liked the selfcontained story of a that was in the bible about the beginning and end of that particular last patrol in haggard. Our appealed to me and so i picked that one to be the first one i would work on. And i know, you know, the other guys came on board and choices were made. But i dont remember you guys remember. Yeah, yeah. Theyre, theyre saving it for. Their panel, man. Come on. Well, meanwhile, all of this, all it was happening. Of course, theres many much there are other responsibilities. And so as mentioned, plato then brought on an old friend tony toh to to be coexecutive producer and help stephen and tom and garry produce the entire show. So, tony, and you like i said, you had worked with tom on earth to the moon. Talk about when you came into this experience and what you remember of coming on to band of brothers. I think i was in a wheat field in vancouver directing something, and i got a call on my cell phone, and it was tom hanks saying, im doing this thing called band and brothers and. Wed love some wed love for you to come on board. And i didnt know. How to extricate myself from what i was doing because it had been a show that i had developed and sold to fox. But when tom hanks calls you you go, yes, its and and i remember seeing what eric had done and knowing about graham yost and Bruce Mckenna and john orloff and my old friend balk. And i knew we were really in good hands, great storytellers and and that feeling that tom and and the writers and all of us to honor these men, i think thats what all of us. And of course, another major component was whos going to play richard winters, whos going to play bill . Whos going to play tipper . So we went make lieberman, who is a legendary casting director and. You you obviously know her credits. Meg, tell us about that. Did you because how how did you get it . So Pitch Perfect and we hear that so often. Im sure you it even more than we do in of yes of course of course frank was the perfect. You hear that on and on. How did you make the connection between real man and actor actor . Well, originally, the only thing that i had to work from was the photographs of the real guys. And then and then a lot of the interviews that from with stand alone together had access to that. And then i only had then in order to audition the i had one scene and it was from episode eight and i think read that with various with all the actors for eight months i dont know it was a very long period of time and biggest factor for me to try to figure out who felt like they could play the period because a lot of actors felt too contemporary and everybody was also from various places. So what we did was i think it was in december of 90 nine, we had a big call with with Stephen Spielberg and tom hanks, where we had everybody we had group scenes by that point we hadnt made any decisions at all. And we we brought 44 actors, none the british actors at that point, just the americans and we mixed and matched them for hours and then it became a little clear who was, you know, who was who. And on that day, i think we made maybe five decisions about who we thought was going to be for sure it was frank. That was one thing that became clear and several others, but it was a very long process. But really, really fantastic. We the cast, you know, i know the exact percentage but theres a large british contingent in this cast. Well, how did you guys determine who you know, part would go to a british actor . What part would go to a brit . What would part would go to yankee . Who did it fallout that that symmetrically. Well i think for me personally really wanted an american actor to play winters and we had lots of conversation about that. But at the point where damian became you know because we were simultaneously casting in the uk the whole time. So once we started really looking, once we had choices here, we knew we were going to have to cast. A lot of actors out of the uk didnt ultimately sense to not, but. Well, tell us what, tell people why we had to cast so many actors out of the uk because we were shooting in the uk and thats a big it didnt it. Yeah. I dont know how these are ultimately decided but. I work on a lot of stuff that shoots out of and you just look, i mean for the main guys you want to have, you know, the bigger roles you want to have american or thats sort of what you think. And then we would fill some the other parts with where the rest of parts with the brits. Tony do you have thoughts about you want to talk about production . I think for us having tom and steven allowed us the freedom because in our business theres a fixation on casting big names and for this we were allowed to look for the best actor for the best part you see ross up here and he is scottish and he does lead got perfectly so i think we cast big wide net looking for the best for the part and. I remember that we were trying to cast winters as an as a from an american actor, but but damien walked into a casting session in england, i think, on a wednesday, and i said, what do doing this weekend . And he said nothing. And i said, great, coming back with me to america. We have a big audition on friday and i want you to come in and be in the middle, the pack and speak with an american accent. And i think thats what we did. And when he came in and read with tom. And meg after he left, they both looked at each other and said, hes the guy. You know, it was pretty undeniable. Do i recall it correctly . But did steven see him in playing hamlet in london . Yes. Yes. Can you guys tell us about that . Yeah. So it came down to two actors for. And one of the actors was, a canadian actor. And other one was damien. And we for an inperson with stephen on a saturday and they both came in and stephen said oh, you look very familiar where you wear tees and on broadway with great finds and and damien yes and stephen said oh we went to see that together. So i, it was a little bit destiny. And i wanted to say one other thing that was pretty extraordinary about this is that tom prepping to do cast away and he and his giant beard and he was losing weight. But he was in poor practically every audition and often read with the actors was pretty fantastic. Yeah. I mean, you just want to see the kirk, even though as talk about damiens casting it it was so important to cast of the other actors that i mean its a band of brothers and we were so lucky to michael and john and frank and, you know, ross and all of the other actors and of course, dale di and his men. I, i think it is, you know, for the casting and its really a band of brothers without, each one of them, we wouldnt had what we had. Yes and again there were frank and and ross and other actors are going to be peppered throughout the other panels all day. So please, guys frank, mike ross, talk, talk. Tell us about that process. When we talked little bit about yesterday with dale, but tell us about the process of when you got the initial and how you prepared and when you first did come in to audition for for tom and for stephen. Tell us about that. Well, ill give you the british version. We had every actor in my group was aware of the show. You know, the whisper around town was happening. And i believe it was a wide they were casting throughout the u. S. The uk, perhaps even australia. Were people hearing about the show and i remember agent calling me and saying go buy this book now you know had a relatively good education. I knew much about World War Two. I didnt however know too much about the americans at that point. So i dug deep before i even came in to meet my first meeting, i was this star we like to call meg, who came with a reputation. And that reputation in our field is shes one of the best and better be on your toes you better come in, be prepared. Shes got no time for anyone coming in with any sort nonsense. So it was at the royal atheneum on piccadilly, in london. I remember it well. I in i went to say hi to meg and again she was seeing every actor in town. So it was a busy day for her. We have ten, 15 minutes to try and make an impression and i remember doing a reading she opposite me and after my first take she just at me for an inappropriate amount of time. I was like, this is one way or the other here, kid, this is either good or im out the door. And she picked up her chair and she moved it closer to me, sat in front of me, looked me dead in the eye and said, do that again. Ill say, yes, maam. So we we did it again. And she told me there. And then in room, she said, listen, tom is going to be here next week. I would like you to come back and meet mr. Hanks. And i tried be super cool and go, great. No worries. Ill see you next week week. So. So for the next week, i did not drop my american accent. My whole family thought i was. All my friends thought i was idiot. But they also knew i was an actor so i guess they gave me a little leeway. So the following week i went in to meet tom. It was a very powerful room, of course, like make said. He had the beard, he had the bandana he had the thing. But hes one of the most charming men in the world. And what you see is, what you get with charm. And so he made me very comfortable. We goofed around for a little bit, read a little bit. I would like to say we became i dont think its that same thing, but i tell everyone we became friends that day and and just started researching already know i did. I explained to somebody yesterday i went to the local library because it was before the incident and thats how old we all are. And i studied the paratrooper song, you know, wrote it down. I learned it. I had a booklet full of information about these men and, about the war. I, i decided early on i would pretend i was american from day one. I would in and introduce myself as ross in my best east coast, new york accent. And i just a plethora of knowledge that really meant in that audition nobody was going to give me a test, but i left leaving the tom audition. And then my last final one. And a lot of guys i know had like eight auditions for this show, you know, and back and back. And i got very lucky i had three and my third one was with tony and meg in london. I told tony this story last night. Just to recap it, we sat down. I believe i had a speers a speech from episode three and it was a big and i in front of tony and decided to be brave and put my sides down on the floor because i knew i knew it and we connected and he said something beautiful to me in that moment which again have been good job kid but it aint happening or it could be you got this and he said when something perfect i dont need to see again and i remember walking of that audition go and hes either really saying kid go do Something Else or or i really like it. And just as i was leaving meg said to me, ross, where you from again . And i knew she was trying get me to admit that i was a brit. And i turned around, i said, yonkers, i woke up. Before we to thank you, ross, before we get mike and frank. How did you how did you pick ross as lead got a cab driver from San Francisco and youre picking young scottish boy. How did you make that connection . I dont know that i have an exact for that right now, but it was the whole you know, tony has said this this was sort of touched with fairy. I mean, its ultimately alchemy. I think i think in the case of leap, i think all the characteristic tics of what he brought to what he auditioned and just and with with a lot of the actors, we just we figured out it was like a puzzle. We had to figure out who was going to be who. And at the end of the day you know, its a word i use a lot in casting, which is it just became very organic. Frank meg said you were one of the first, if not the first man cast. Tell us about that. And how you got to know bill garnier ill try to tell you three quick casting things that i the first audition, they said its bad two brothers, my great had served in the pacific. I was very interested in World War Two. I went to barnes and noble and i read the book standing in the aisle before i started to read it. And i just read the whole book. Yeah, i bought that book, stole. I had gotten the sides the the episode eight sides and i think it was collins carey, im not sure if it was someone, but the person a west point graduate. So i did. I felt i didnt have a good connection to this character, but i just i did all the research i could on that character. I heard he went to west point. I went to a second hand shop. I found a west point ring. I put that on anything that would kind ground me to him. And i went and we read with angelas partner at the time, angela terry, whos incredible actress herself. She was right here and meg was in the corner with her legs crossed saying nothing. She was very intimidating. Think meg was very intimidating. The room and i read and i tried to clean all the south bronx out of my being to do this west coast west point guy. And when i got done she said you, know frank, some of these guys are going to be dead end could you do an east thing . So let me think. Its a stretch, you know, and i just felt like, yeah, i got a shot, you know. And then we had other auditions and then i had an audition with tom, tony and meg at a production office. During that, they had the pictures of the men on on the wall, and they had a picture of bill like right beside my head when i read with tom and when i got done with tom, he said, frank, john used you just made my day. And i said, this mans an actor. And if, if hes saying that just to make me feel good, its really evil, you know . I said, i hope he means that. And i said something terrible. Tony do you remember i said that i said and i said this in all sincerity, said, you know, before i left i said, bill garner gave his leg this country and id give both mine to be part of this project. And i meant it to be serious and a little funny and it off psycho and i not really. We loved it. I blew it right at the last moment before i went out the door and. Then near the last audition i had, i had gone to see meg and meg said, we were talking and i knew this was the final cut coming up and meg said to me, theres a tape on my desk in front of her, said, the man youre playing may or may not be on that tape. It was some of the footage from the veterans you know, she said, im going to go to the bathroom. And when i come back, that tape may or may not be here when you came back and i was like, all right, maybe shes trying to get me bounced or she or maybe maglev. We said our goodbyes. I took the tape, i went home, i put it on. And that was the first time i saw bill talk. And when he talked, i saw he had a great underbite. And i said, i think im going to do this for the last audition, which risky. You know, if you do four auditions, you should keep doing what youre you should change it up. But i just felt that he was going to be seen during the show. It would seem lazy if i didnt do it. And i did. And we did that last audition. It went it went i felt like it went good, but we were mixing, matching. And i had been in the first two groups and then i just hung out for 8 hours and i said, thats going to happen. And one of the groups i remember were a lot of famous guys got together and i said, theres your cast and we waited around and we left and then we got in. I got the car to go home and everybody calling me had to go. Had to go, you know, and while i was in the parking lot, my phone rang. It was my agent. He said, you got it. And i dont know how. That car got from santa monica to, calabasas. I really dont remember driving home. I checked the grill for like hair and blood that i might i drove down ventura boulevard, the sidewalk. I had no idea. Mike, tell us about your experience in being cast. Bull randleman. Mine was a little simpler. I dont know it was. I dont do read for compton. At one point i read i read the the compton speech when hes talking, you know, this is this is the same through of through history this is where, you know, they came down through wall hall and, you know, just it was it was this wonderful speech. And i remember i was working the time i was doing construction. So i did get time off. So i was like, i got to zip down to lantana building, which is where we all were and had the and i was like, you know, im reading, oh my, im reading about compton. Its like, no, everybodys reading about and its like, oh, okay. So was very distracted. I went and i had a had a really wonderful history with meg. So when i went in i actually just had great time with her do the audition and i dont think i heard from you guys for a long time and kind of assumed when you when you do this for a while and you know, you sort of go from audition to audition. Your next audition is what pulls you out of your last horrible experience so you sort of like. Well i think that lets hope you know tomorrow brings another audition so i can forget about that. And then about, i think three or four weeks later i get a call and they say, yeah, were theyre going to do this mix and match. Youre going to meet with some of the other guys and youre going to meet tom and stephen are going to be there. So we went and we we show up and theres a lot of guys there, like a lot of guys and theres a lot of famous guys there. I dont know, im allowed to say who so i so there or may not have been Rick Schroder sitting may or may not have been reading for winters and the whole cast from the outsiders it seemed like like there was this sort of like group of famous and there was a group guys that i knew. And the famous guys went through their thing and you kind of walk in again. Another thing with the actors, you go into an audition, you up and you sit down, youre like, huh. Rick schroder is here in Rick Schroder. Rick schroders got the job. I guess youre just being nice to me. So you see all these guys go through and then all leave and then we all come through and we did this sort of work session with tom and at the time they were they were toying with the idea of actually dealing with in the First Episode with dealing with the men sort of on leave and having some stuff with family stuff and not just the men, but it was like the men and the men in town. They had this scene, as i remember in a diner where all the guys, you know, theres like all these guys on leave and, you know, we got to go day past. And theres, you know, one waitress. So everybodys trying to get her attention, you know, talk to the cute girl. And we you see, you know, as you realize for the series, you realize why they went away from that because what it it does is it detracts from what the men were going through the bonding of the group but so we started those scenes and you know, im sitting here in this audition, a bunch of other guys thomas reading with steven is on some, you know, mini cam filming everything handheld over lights, stands. Hes like, oh, lets do that again. And youre like Steven Spielberg is it was it was the most surreal audition experience i ever had because i was thinking more about steven being in the room than i was about doing the material. And i think that was case for all of us. But i think we learned very early on that they were at least i did. They were about to make a decision. And where are we going to go with the group of actors that were well known that could do this that could make them obviously a lot of money and people would watch or they could go with a group of, men who had a bunch of experience, who were all great character actors, who would be known and become these. And i think thats they made a very conscious decision to do in retrospect and i, i think was a phenomenal decision from a business, from a creative standpoint and from a position of honoring the legacy of these men. Frank, did you want to. I just. Jim, jim, mario cant be here. And hes such a huge part this. And i just i had a quick interaction with because i didnt know jim, but in that mix. You tell everybody who jim, james, abe, james, connie and to mix match one of the groups i went in was with jim and we started to talk a little bit and jims from the south bronx, im from the south bronx, and he was just someone i really understood. And jims the truth. I mean, when he acts, he makes actors look bad because its just you just believe that comes out of jims mount. So we were talking a little bit and then the audition started. Tonys, megs there, hbo, you know, toms there and stephens filming and were kind of getting ready. And stephen puts down the camera because, jimmy and im like, if this guys reading for garnier, i got no shot. He is a better actor. And then steven knows him. The fact that anyone would know stephen so intimidating to me because i didnt know. He had worked with stephen before and and he crushed it and and when, when he showed up in boot camp, i was so happy to see him because i just knew man were in good hands. If theyre casting people like this guy, were in good hands. And i have to say the commitment, tom and stephen, to this project was made us all commit the same way. Tom with every actor in every session that i was in he spent days and days and days and days patiently reading with every actor and was very generous. And stephen was never cast in person. He only cast by tape because what they just said, it changes the room. When hes in the room, youre going, its Steven Spielberg. So i think that for steven and tom to do that mix and match, that was a huge commitment. And we all felt that and the other thing is the reason we did the mix and match was it was the first script that we got and it was from so we used that script for all of the parts, but that script didnt really us all of the characters and thats why we need the mix and match. If i could add something to i, meg touched on it, tony, you just sort of touched it. Everybody is touching on something really needs to be talked about because. Its its something that cannot overlooked. Its something that distinguishes entire experience. I think in all of our experiences in working in hollywood as storytellers and filmmakers and actors, producers, there was something about this project from jump. We werent first of all, hbo given us a Carte Blanche that was unimpressed, didnt it . And an executive attitude that we as executives at hbo dont know how to tell stories. Were going to. And this was Chris Albrecht really saying were going to assemble the right team and. Just leave them alone. Let them do what they do. So there was this first of all, theres an extra responsibility and sense of freedom, but more importantly and primarily from the word go there, this sense, this awareness that, we werent making a good guy movie. We were we had this extraordinary, responsible party to serve the stories of. These specific men, the men of easy company ambrose had done what was the bible . It was always there. Everybody who came aboard had this, oh, my gosh, feeling this, not just a gig. There was something spare sexual about it. And this this sense of response ability wasnt a lodestone for anybody. It was more like rocket fuel. Everybody was so passionate about getting out of the way, setting their egos and serving the. And it distinguishes i think the work on this film from from casting to producing to certainly acting in all of the writing in a way that i think is unique in in in television history. I want to pursue the writing once you guys were all had decided on on your episodes and then how you proceeded from there and and and how you interacted with not just major but you know bill garnier and babe ephron and on and on but before that yester day. John, john orloff asked asked me how, did we get richard winters to trust us . You, eric, you had said earlier, you know, he when you met him was a little bit was basically show me and there was there were several things and one of which was we had sent, as i had mentioned a a documentary. To film him at at his home and then eventually at his farm and in jody and mark and those guys who youll, youll, youll meet jody. I think he we won his trust that way because they were obviously they knew what they were talking about and they were really interested in in telling his the way he would want it to be told. The other way was, as we him meeting eric and they, they really did form a real bond is as if had been waiting for the 40 years free for you to come along i think and the other but the other thing is and this is to feed off of what you were saying, tony, tom and said this yesterday. Tom courted richard winters not in a sense of come be in my movie but i admire youre youre able to use the overused word hero youre a hero to me this youre youre youre the kind of man i want to be. And i think really that from tom it was that kind of courtship. And so i think thats what engendered the trust and once had the trust of major winters, i think you guys would agree and particularly you, eric then we had the trust of the men but so tell it talk about a little bit you got eric, you as well. What was that like when guys were talking somebody somebody writing to koa. Youre writing out. Somebody is writing. Karen town. How did you guys and you guys will get your shot later. But how did you you how you divvy that up . How did you and how much did you collaborate with each other, even if it wasnt your episode, maybe you an idea youre writing episode one but you have an idea for episode two, right . Well, i mean, there were some there was rough story ideas in, in in the episodes, the bible. But there were more this fact positive account of what happened and the sort of way into each episode or the conceit to the concept of each episode was really the inspiration of of the, of the individual writers of bruce and, and graham and john, and, and max, and eric. My recollection of the normal way to do this would be there to be a writers room. Everybody get together and waste a lot of time as writers do, and talk about stuff and how bad ideas that never here it was all sort of done virtually was all done by by phone because. We were writing the episodes simultaneously. Sally more or less. I was working on one and then five and then ten, and erics working on initially and and bruce, i think first on four or if not six for first i couldnt and john and with graham seven max on episode three, there were all kind of happening simultaneously and they all had the bible as a reference. It would could inspire other questions. So i would just feel phone calls constantly about what does this really mean . What can you tell me more about this one . Like this and any specific questions they had . I mean, they had all determined as storytellers what, their approach was going to be to their episode. But there were questions werent answered in the bible, so they could come back to me at any time and say, can unpack this idea. I call winters. He could tell me answer just about any question. And if he couldnt he could direct me to the person who could. And also it has to be said that all of the writers had developed profound relationships with the principal characters, the men that they were featuring their stories. My focus was really principally solely on. Yeah, and i think thats interesting. You guys collaborated, you, the actors collaborated with each other but there was a collaborate sation between the writers and the men and the actors in the men and all of you guys. And please talk about that that there really was a symbiotic relationship between easy company and our our production but primarily with eric and the and the writers and frank and mike and ross and the actors and not just with winters, obviously but a lot of the men. Can you guys talk about that . Well, i think we were talking about earlier and how it built this whole show bled from the top down right. Knew from the beginning how important this story was going to be and what the legacy was going to entail. And that was on everybodys shoulders. So it was like this amazingly collaborative and that really goes to kate and i taking us to boot camp and the car drive, putting us through our paces. We all knew from day one that this wasnt just an acting job. This wasnt just a movie we were doing. We knew that we had to tell a story of these real heroes, these real men, and we needed to do that with such truth, you know. And so when obviously scripts were written, when we came on board, not all of them, but most of them. But i have to say, from from my standpoint, there was a real open communication with the writers, which, you know, that doesnt happen terribly often where where people kind of express a story that theyve heard from a Family Member or a story they heard from one of the buddies and it wasnt to, you know, glorify or build ego of an act or of a character. It was more about, is this that should be told. And i my experience with all the writers, it was a phone call. It was a conversation. Sometimes it would be a no. Sometimes it would be like its a great lets try it. So it was never there was never a barricade. There was wonderful for i had had such incredible i was so lucky to have my vet alive. A lot of the men didnt. And and i had such a strong presence of my veteran of bill. We became very close. We talked for hours and hours a day for months. Ive said this before. He was just as fearless in opening himself up and telling me things. These were not men who talked about these things, but he knew the story was going to be told and he did it for everyone else in the company. He wanted to tell his version. Be honest and let me have that info to to do on it to the other men. All of these men never talked about themselves. So if i told bill, if i questions about the grand shaman or something and said to him, what were doing, ive said this before, it almost like he was bringing coffee to the scene because like he had nothing to do it. He wouldnt want a silver star, but it was like he wasnt there, but he would tell you Everything Else that everyone else did. And once we all figured out, we realized you have to talk to the other to find out what your vet did. And then you would call carre. Would lipton call major winners and they would talk at about every mans heroism, but the man wouldnt himself. And because i had access like i would, i would never calling eric and saying bill me this. Can i say this . Because he had bill isms that were just so real that bill had his own vernacular and it was just he had an old dictionary in terms. And again, it an ego youre not trying to steal a scene its just hes telling he said this and eric and the writers had no ego about if he said it say it you know which you dont find a lot you know that that people it was a very collaborative relationship that way that he was and everybody was so researched that no one was threatened by anything a vet may have said a certain way to put a little mustard on something to make it of them. Everybody was very open. But the other vets invaluable. I was going to use a little mustard. And its interesting because you would get like a little flavor, but sometimes you would. And this was from the whole process, i think from, you know, from ambrose doing the book and then the guys, you know, some of the guys that werent interviewed. So their stories told and we actually were able to get a hold of some of the other guys for you guys were for the documentary and then i think that as as it unfolded and as frank was saying, they realized the story is going to be told. If i dont anything, my parts not going to told. Now, im not saying everybody was able to do that to to to correct a wrong but it was amazing to me that our writers were open to this information coming in and changing daily. And for me, one of the things i remember getting a call, hey, we just found out that you actually in this scene when the is signed the papers saying that they were giving up their commissions and you know, and i think i had the day off the next day and they were like, hey, were doing this thing. Can you be here . And you were like, of course, for, i think three or four guys who were not initially written into that scene, not because they didnt them there, but because nobody knew they were there. And then when they found out the writers are just like, absolutely, yeah. You know, you needed to write anything for. No, i just need to be there. And the willingness to do that to change the story, to it. Correct. And not be locked into that, you know. Oh well i wrote that, so thats what its going to be. You never had that sense. You always had the sense that everybody trying to continually honor the men and the changing story and the reason the story was changing was because more correct information was coming in. Yeah, i think people yesterday were talking and always do about the authenticity and how much was real and how much was true. And i think i mean, i think the watchword was truth or the watch phrase was truth will out. I mean, if you did find something that that altered something you had already planned, but not necessarily, but certainly a you would already plan it was in the script you had already rehearsed. But you found something that changed that. No, this is really what happened as much as possible, as much as practical how you would change it. And also was no need for anything to be arbitrary because we had such wealth of such a treasure trove of of, of Information Available to us. And, and by this a certain time, there was so much trust and goodwill the vets and the they had developed not just a relationship, but friendships with the writers and the actors. And so it just burgeoned. But there was no need for it to ever be. The scene was zelinsky. An episode five in the nixons bank in sandwich is very specific. We had the option i could call up winters and say if if nixon wanted a snack, what would he have . Was there anything bacon sandwich . So it would be a bacon. So theres so much of that in the in the entire mini that there were never really arbitrary choices about things because we could always get a fact positive answer. Ivan, tony, as we talked about which we guys shot this in england, what to talk about that experience and talk about being at hatfield tell everybody i mean you you guys were there for practically the same amount of time the guys were in europe. I think i just want to say that ivan was continued that relation kinship that the writers and the actors had created with that and ivan continued that throughout the production and after the production. And it was very important to us the the knowledge that from those guys flowed into the rest of the production through ivan and the accuracy the, verisimilitude was was through ivan you you became pretty good friends with richard winters yourself. Tell us tell us about that because you were very much as tony said, a direct conduit to on on set on location to talk about. Yeah. I mean, the first time i met major winters, he put me through the ringer, you know very similar like he he he tests you he does not become your friend. Very quickly so one i had to get a letter from hanks saying it was okay that he talked to me too. I to read undaunted courage overnight and give a book report to him the next day. And im not making this, but after that, you know, we you know, you know, we became very and, you know, i went to visit him in hershey. You know, when you talk about at the farm, you know every time i hear line where, you know, i want to spend my years the farm you know, ive spent time his farm in pennsylvania with him and his wife ethel and, you know, so if there was a question on set, literally, i could call him up. My, my, my most amazing experience was when when i thought i was going be in europe for ten days, i ended up being there for five years. I literally packed a bag to go to to europe and retrace. Hes steps and i think the most remarkable i was able to do was i had a cell phone and i had winters major winters number and. If i was at the eagles nest, i call him and i would say, okay walk me through it. Where were you where did you stand when you were in paris . Where did you walk . Tell me where you walked and im going to go retrace your steps. You know, when i was in bastogne, i did this throughout the whole thing. And it was really one of the most amazing experiences to be to retrace the steps of easy company and and access to the, you know the guy that was leaving these men. So it was it was amazing. Tony, again, you said you guys were there for quite a while again. What was the experience of that being in in england for such a duration with . These guys and the conditions are not great in england as. We know. So tell us a little tell them a little bit about it. Was the weather a year and 75 years when we shot band of brothers and i think the guys will it added a certain texture it added a certain tone that i think was really important to the show and slogging through the mud and rain that made feel that you were there. And i think that was the most important thing for us. You heard about boot camp yesterday and how these guys really became guys through camp. The thing that we wanted to do on, the production for them was to put them in the environment so they wouldnt have to imagine, oh theres this building here or theres this, you know, there it was. Lets build everything around them. They know who they are. Theres wild bill as bill randleman. Theres joe. We got lets stick him in those situation and those environments. Well let me riff off of that because what you guys saying yesterday when we were talking with and explained to the people what it was like, frank, you said something about at some point your mind tricks you because youve got all of this production around you youve now and youve now got german panzers at you. Tell us what was like and how it actually in some ways you felt like you really were in battle. Your mind would get tricked. You could actually fool your senses. Youre in a position where youre open for this to happen. And weve all had every man here has had this experience where you would be in a battle scene and you would take a bead on a german soldier fire, and he would fall just dumb luck. He was. Thats when he was to go down where you felt had shot someone. It was so. That your brain was constantly tricked. Like we said in that scene, i forget what. But with that, with the tanks breaching the and these german soldiers running beside them in the panic. You feel as youre trying that realizing Mike Thompson is not enough to fight off tank and and i bring enough you know have enough ammo with me do i have grenades what can i do and while this is happening are exploding over your head that you swear are real trees. You have no idea. These dreams been these trees have been rigged to explode. And in that moment you get 1 1000000 of what they might have felt enough to fool your brain into behaving in a in a real way in that scene i think its i think worth noting that in of brothers there were no stunt doubles all of actors did all of the action we tried to make it as safe as possible for working in concert with captain dale dye and his men and the stunt team and special effects team so that they explosions the bullet hits all of that was rigged so that these guys and we developed special explosions that these guys were safe to be near it but still felt the impact of it and and i think thats the reality that mostly safe but. Where wheres your pinky it was safe. Ross, did you want to. Yeah, it was just. Go on. What tony was saying about how they immersed intent and yes, all the action sequences and all the war sequences, of course that was just, you know, vibe rated through us at all times. But even the Production Design on this show like that, we shot in hatfield, got to bear in mind, we were literally being charenton and after lunch, you could walk over a bridge and youd be in eindhoven, you know, and then you would be in another of europe. And every detail, all of this was immense. And so you felt that youre in europe, you felt you were in the correct time, period. You know, buildings were built, they were shelled out, there were blown up. There were holes in the walls. So matter where you went within, this, this, this this movie set, you felt that you were 100 in the place that you were supposed to be, that was even down to the costumes we had. We had the real wool shirt. So this beautiful rainfall that was talking about, i actually thought it was a lovely weather, but im a brit. What do i know . But that was miserable. But the fact, you know, we were really uncomfortable and wet and itchy and, you know, wood broken and a boot. So we were fine but it was just we were soiled in what these men were going through. And thats down to you. The higher ups. Yeah. Can i just because you were talking and you know, if with all the panels and and i think it would be remiss not to talk about everybody that every department and every Single Person that participated in this show because, yes, we wouldnt have the words if it wasnt for the writers wouldnt have the accent if it wasnt for the actors. But if you walk through where built the tanks, if you walked through wardrobe and where they put the uniforms and the attention to detail and you walk, you know, the armor and and the guns and, what they did and putting rebar and the rubber so that they would have weight and they wouldnt just flop. You know, there were thousands of people that were involved in making this. And every Single Person i really believe this and i know, tony does because he said it over and over again. Is that we wouldnt be sitting here if it wasnt for all those people and. You know because its easy for the people on thats all you want to talk about oh my god you know its leap god or whatever. I mean you get a lot of attention. Ross, im. But you know, so many people, so many things happened and had to go and Work Together to this work and it was just its what made it a once in a lifetime. Remarkable, because all those people were working toward the same goal and its what you see on screen, the characters that Say Something based off of what ivan just said the first week i think we were shooting in the in like the marshaling area around the planes and it was a lot of free time that you could walk. And i, i, i used to smoke. Then i was having a cigaret. I walked three miles from camera and. Some Department Head was chewing out one of his people because he didnt. The mud splattered on the tire well on a jeep that would never be on camera it was that kind of a level. And when the when you know when wendell is throwing sobel out of the company i would go to rooms in that building, go to the back of the room and open a drawer. And there would be field reports. It was just that was that level of tony lets because i was going to say tell everybody who tony pratt was. Tony pratt was, our Production Designer. And again, he worked very closely. Ivan ivan talked about retracing the steps of easy and he took, tom and tony and a lot of the Production Team on a bus on a plane right through. That easy company trail. And tony became the professor on like everybody on the on the production like you were talking about even the set everybody everybody became an expert on World War Two and on easy companys journey and but its tony hes the designer i mean he alters disease response hes hes responsible for the environment that you see everything that is in the frame that is not the actors tony was responsible for he oversaw the Costume Department he oversaw the department and he was very meticulous about briefing its what what frank you would pull a drawer out. It was never going to be on camera, but there were field reports in there and it gave the actors who became these characters, the reality and, it was seamless. I think you can obviously tell the dedication of everyone on the stage. And as tony and frank and everybody suggested, that dedication was backstage. Well, equally there that was there, that was their contribution. And made everybodys job. You, everybody contributed to everybody else. If the costume was right, then the webbing. Yeah, absolutely everything. How important again if frank you were suggesting how important that was to you guys. Can you remember any specific moment where it affected your performance. I, i remember every morning my day would wash our clothes when we wanted them. I know that might sound strange but there were certain elements of my uniform that i did want washed my jacket was one of them. And so i kept my cigars in. Its it smelled like yesterday and yesterday was a good day and were at work. Now were starting over. The best way to do that for me was i would bury my in my jacket because it smelled like sweat cigar bars. It smelled like everything we were doing for the past month. So for me, you know, dont touch my boots. Dont touch my jacket, please clean Everything Else. It everything about what they did again i im going to jump back to what ivan was saying and what tony was talking with the construction i paid my way through school doing construction for film and television. I was very aware of what was going on there in the construction department, this amazing roundtable that tony had created of this sort of pie chart of towns and was a sort of a round city, if you were to look at it and there was like a 30 or 45 degree wedge that would be working on at one point while they were on the other side rebuilding where wed blown up the week before or deconstructing or reconstructing what we were going to do next week. And we would jump around this pie, the image, the amazing coordination that went on because it was all really filmed in the same place and nothing stopped for construction. They were building while we were shooting and once we got four weeks into the shoot, there were they were four weeks, four week schedules for each episode. Two weeks into the first section we started the next. So by the time we got four weeks into it, we were shooting two episodes at a time, completely overlapping. So you two full units and massive construction going on on this, this, this abandoned airfield the coordinates that went into that from the from the producing standpoint and from the art direction standpoint. And from there, the ads organized and all of this was insane. And at top of it, they were doing reshoots. So theres always another minute unit running around somewhere shooting Something Else. It was such a machine at so many levels that it became, you know, in your mind what must have gone sort of the war effort, everything that we were around was the only focus, the only job of it was to make this project. You were fully immersed in it. Thanks, mike. Well, we to start winding down, i want to give everybody on stage a chance to weve all been a part of your took part in obviously a seminal not just a television experience, a cultural american cultural experience, obviously. So, eric, im going to start with you. What this being part of band brothers, what what does it mean to to your life . And what do you think band of brothers really is. I think certainly for me, as i i think i speak for everybody who was involved creatively, it was a life changing event. The. The honor of having the opportunity to tell the story properly and not in a hollywood way, but to tell it with integrity this kind of an opportunity doesnt come along very often in our business. And it did this one singularity when and the opportunity to serve story to serve storytelling itself serve serve the idea of we have opportunity to tell a story that sort of in its about easy company but its also a it can stand for anybody whos served in the eto in World War Two was extraordinary and. It feel tremendous sense satisfaction and gratifying nation and i think the most important what always comes back to me and especially being here having essayed to do what we did and having done it and to be in a place like this, it reminds. Of three words. Winters had this thing we worked so hard together for so many months and we became so close. We on the phone pretty much every day because im working on an in the bible or in script, i would reading to him and calling him from north. Hes up hershey or i was at the farm or i was in hershey and but over the phone id be reading to him the days work and then id always leave him with a list of questions. Hed give me feedback. And from that feedback always Say Something like, okay, well ill call you after lunch tomorrow or ill call you in the morning. Well go over this again and ill see you in the morning. Ill talk to you tomorrow. And he would always say the same thing. He had the same way of signing off every single time he said ill be here. Ill be here and from a man like winters, as most reassuring words just anybody could hear, ill here. And it feels to me as though undoubtedly the spirit of winters and shoulder to shoulder with the spirit, all the men with whom he served will be here in our hearts and in this country in this world for as long as we remember. And thats this is all about and and i feel that to a great degree, theres been a mission accomplished. Thank you, frank, an actors life is is very singular. Its a very solo in the it could be theres a lot of gladiator reenacting because at the end of the day, you have to compete against a lot of. People go into a room and win it. And if you dont your children dont eat and you dont have Health Coverage and it can be a very singular pursuit and what this did was take all of people who had to fight that fight and turn them into selfless human beings. And seeing the Bigger Picture where even production you you cared about these guys than yourself. That was the best way to survive it. And you get through it so becoming was the gift that came and to me was the real secret sauce of what makes a band of brothers was this level selfless . If you have a brother, youd do anything for your brother. We had to get a taste of with with our our group. And when you get that going, you know, you start to feel a little bit of, you know, we happy few that are involved in this are in this beautiful cocoon where. Everybody has the same commitment to save drive in same intention. And thats just on most projects that eric you know i would certainly echo everything that everyone has said about the the teamwork the camaraderie, the feeling of responsibility of what youve done. But its slightly different spin on it may be for me personally before of brothers a few of us on this stage. Well these four and a few people out there had worked on another mini with tom hanks from the earth to the which was about the apollo space program. And that was my real professional project as a writer and sort of junior producer mentored by this gentleman. And you, we thought we did something pretty cool, right . It won the emmy best mini series. It won all the other awards, best mini series that year, launched careers and was also paying tribute to a Great American achievement, a great group of people, 400,000 people who made the moon landing possible. And it was this very big deal. So then a couple of years later, tom is like you to work on band of brothers. And so i was like, oh, another one of these. Okay, now historical mini series. All right, whats the brothers about . And so fast forward to years later, band of brothers. Is this cultural phenomenon that from earth to the moon, i sometimes people say, i love that mini series. I really like this episode, im like, really . You saw that, you know, it feels like just this thing worked on a million years ago, whereas band of brothers, you know, its like the godfather something. I mean, you know, we would always talk about the godfather and other things that we loved and how they were touchstones and how can you imagine being part of that . And they or would be the single word for me, the core of the people there who love it, who still love it, who when they find out you worked, were like you worked on band of brothers. Oh, god. And i always have to say. And its true. Well played a role that meant hundreds other people as i said were involved that know need to be recognized. But yeah i did some of it and im and im proud but more humbled that got to be part of something thats resonated i think even beyond just probably the diehard type of people we have here who are really into World War Two as a subject, but just beyond that to yes, international, of course, tony, you have a. I was lucky enough work with tom, eric and matt gram yost and ivan on from the afternoon. And i theres theres a preoccupation that tom has that is infected all of us its this examination of the human spirit that will overcome. And this brotherhood in both those series, you see it in and in the pacific. I think that brotherhood that spirit of that human spirit to overcome thats thats the experience we got. And we were inspired hard by easy company and that band of brothers and in way they gave us all of us here all us who worked on it, the thousands of people who worked on it, a sense of that and itll be something well always treasure. Thank you. Ivan i have a. Two quick thanks. One i got to meet babe heffron and garnier so i ended up becoming very close to them and i went to the track with babe after. We finished shooting babe and bill in philly and you know, they are the most humble, you know, every time got off the phone with babe, babe would ask me, do i need money . You know, like im and you know, you pull out this wad of ones which i have its a lot of ones, you know its its like literally 25. And once but he though he asked me if i needed. And when we went to the track and told a few people this story but went to the track and i won 100 and this over 20 years ago and i still carry the hundred dollar bill in my wallet to this day that i won it i had it here 2 minutes ago. I better have it. Yeah. That i won at the track with babe and im reminded every single day of their friendship and what they did for and for this country and all the veterans and, everybody thats serving today. This is a constant reminder to me of the cost of freedom and what we what we, you know, that we are to meet today. Its because of these men and these people that serve our and the veterans of world war you know. My grandfather was in the concentration and you know, i watch landsberg and you know you cant watch it without bawling, right and this show has just given me even of a personal connection to its just as we say, its the gift that on giving its amazing. Its been personally its been an amazing experience. And this is the reminder. Thank you. Make i dont think realized when we this project obviously i dont anybody did what the resonance was going to be so many years later but its so incredible all to see the life after, the show and how incredibly everybody is and how casting in this show has changed all their lives. And you dont think about that when youre normally doing just any kind of show because you know i did cast from the to the moon and it wasnt that even though i loved that project and it wasnt that kind of experience. But this is just this has resonated. I mean, to go to france and, to be in in normandy, and for me to meet the real guys and see the actors close to that. Mr. So. And i dont know, it just has resonance. Yes, very definitely. Ross. I mean, megs just sort of summed up even with her emotions, its not i mean, that its like this is a life change and experience. As actors, we tend to go from set to set and weve all gone on, you know, to do other that were proud of. La la, were still talking band of brothers. 22 years later and were talking with such love and respect. And i saw repeat myself here, but being a working class from glasgow to be able to on a personal, achieve some somewhat of a dream. I always wanted to come america that was always my dream as an actor and you know tom hanks wrote me the letter to get my green card so you can blame him. But. You know that that thats just like a slave of of what it means personally truthfully, the fact that ive been able to dare i say, call some of these friends, you ive ive been drinking with these men the years ive ive heard stories of joked ive laughed, cried on top of that not only are we telling the story to generations, my generation, generations underneath us now have kids 17, 18 years old, coming up to me now, still to this day and, they want to talk about band. Well go to airports throughout the world and were stopped by. Service men and women who are visibly and its got nothing to do with our job as actors. Its because of the story and because of these men and the emotion thats coming out of these people, they can barely speak. And again its just because it meant much to so many people. It allowed people finally open up and talk to their grandpa and talk to their and actually hear what they went through. And one more little level on that. I truly have. My best friends on this show, guys. Our down in traffic for and theyll do the same for me and and that has been such a bonding experience it started with cap and i put on is through this it starts tony and the guys tom and steven putting together this Great Program and megan and ivan come in and everybody writers and the everybody knew how important was in the fact that i can sit here with my friends that i will call family and well all be in each others lives for the rest of our lives because of this show. So im eternally grateful. It changed my life tenfold. Thank you, ross. Michael, its interesting. When i had finished vanderburgh is and we saw it, we all had we had the premiere that aired. I remember turning to my wife and saying if i never do anything else in my life as an actor actor, ive done enough for me over the years. Its what this project means in my own personal life has taken. Its changed. The project will always out there. But we met these. We met these incredible men who had these incredible and as ross was just saying for me, ultimately the the most the biggest takeaway for me up being incredibly personal and incredibly selfish. I have some, as ross had said, some of my closest friends in my life. That way i will know for the rest of my life. So its not always. Life imitating art. Sometimes art imitates life and im okay that great. Thank you, mike. Well, i were going to wrap up weve got a full day and. I just want to i want to say one thing and i know ive discussed this with in a different context with my friend graham. Everyone on this stage you will meet today. We all get to take the vows. But everyone on this stage and everyone you meet today is very cognizant. The fact were taking the battles for what did so. Thank you very much. Well see you. Well see for the next