Talking Act of Valor
Military.com hosted the 2012 Milblog conference May 11–12 in Arlington, VA and one of the highlights was a visit from Act of Valor co-director Scott Waugh, who was in town to promote the movie’s June 5th release on Blu-ray and DVD. We loved AOV back when it opened back in February and the $12-million film’s $24.5 million opening box office weekend looks even more impressive after this past weekend’s Battleship release. That $209 million Pentagon-approved studio picture barely made it it a $25.3 million gross even after they slapped the Battleship logo all over Coke Zero cans and Subway sandwich wrappers.
Scott sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Miltary.com editor Ward Carroll that was streamed live by our friends at the You Served military blog. They preserved the evidence so now you can watch Scott tell Ward why fellow director Mike “Mouse” McCoy wasn’t available to join us and explode a lot of myths about just how the movie got made. He’s particularly eloquent when he talks about how close he got to the SEALs and their families during production and how important it was for him to get their stories right.
![Der Gro?mufti von Jerusalem [Amin al Husseini] bei den bosnischen Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS. Der Gro?mufti ist auf dem Truppenubungsplatz ein[getroffen] und schreitet die Front der angetretenen Freiwilligen mit erhobenem Arm ab.](http://images-undertheradar.military.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/nazicollaborators300.jpg)
Under the Radar is commentary. We don’t report the news; we offer our take on what happened.
9 Comments
Well, first of, great film. Now time for the critic in me…I am a veteran who served during the end of the cold war and during desert storm. I find it a slap in the face to have someone make a movie about navy seals, and not mention the OTHER forces that serve along side of the glorious seals during thoseacts of valor thatgo on evry day, and those of us who serve or have served our countryin those not so glamorious jobs that do just as important of a job and no less dangerous like those tank crewmen who provide armor support for those SOF people like those seals when they are in a pickle. Or that commo guy who humped that PRC77 on his back across the fields of Europe or the swamps of Vietnam or across the desert sands some where in the middle east. Or the rifleman who serve in Ranger units supporting seals when they get over run during a raid that went south…and so on and so on. So, the point of my post is this.…Mr.Movie guy.…make a movie about those of in the Naval SOF community…we deserve to have our story told also.
Would you actually go see a movie that has all that support stuff in it as the main story? I would think that one would want people to actually go see it so they can make money.
If they allow all of the supporting groups into the movie, it may take 3–4 hrs to watch it and people would quickly lose interest in the movie.
Wahhhh Wah ; (
Noone wants to see a movie about support personnel…
Your story, whether deserving to be told or not, is not nearly as interesting as the SEALS. Still have to cover your expenses as a director, the movie you speak of, WOULD NOT.
I too served during the cold war aboard an SSBN. I believe there has been quite a bit of media dedicated to other branches and jobs in our military. Think about every military movie you’ve seen in the last 30 years. How many are only about SEALS? Support IS important, but remember this is recruiting media for NavSpecWar that grew into something larger. And do not forget that they made darn sure that SWCCC was represented as well as Subs, Surface Warfare… even though it’s about SEALS.
Don’t be disgruntled because your movie didn’t get made.
Not every MOS can be interesting enough to support a movie. I’m not ticked off because there was never a movie about me cleaning the drain pump filter or repairing the ice cream machine under way, all while maintianing assured mutual nuclear destruction with the Soviets.
And btw, SEALS hump their own radios and always have.
Moe,
First, thank you for your service. As a vet, you deserve both respect and thanks. But it seems to me the you feel a bit insecure with your role in the service. Every aspect of the SOF community wether it be SEAL, SWCC, Ranger, SF etc… went through an extremely difficult training program both mentally and physically to say the least. And it does not end after you get your pin. It continues throughout your entire career. I would take a slap in the face over some of those long range ops spent cold, wet, tired and just plane miserable durring hours of getting beat to **** in a heavy sea state and still needing to perform at my peak because if I dont, people get hurt. The SOF community deserves to finally have a semi reallistic movie that doesnt involve charlie sheen jumping off a bridge or demi moore getting wet and sandy. By the way, I am a former SWCC and was always greatfull for our operational support. Our job would have been far more difficult without them. I am sorry your face is stinging a little bit but as my instructors always said, suffer in silence.
Moe.
a movie was done about the full “teem” of difrent MOS working together. remember black hawk down? rangers, delta, 160th Soar, all the comm guys back in the head shead, the medics, aviation and vehical mantnence. it was all there. i know ware your comeing from, Im an aviation electrician, on SH-60 LAMPS. we are the black sheep of naval aviation, and my job isn’t good enough for its own 15sec commercial. But, it is, important. peoples lives depend on doing me doing my job right. this movie was 5min of cool. that breef moment you get onve every 6 months of so, when you did you job and look back with a smile on your face because somthing good happend as a result of 6, or 9, or 12 months of millitary missery. keep your head up brother. (and yes i bought the AOV DVD)
should have run this through spell check :P
A new paperback is by former SEAL Howard E. Wasdin (and Stephen Templin) “Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper” …has major reviews — he was in Desert Storm and later in Somalia. There quite a few books on snipers, Russian and German, some by the aging soldiers themselves. See Amazon.com. Some are by U.S. vets on their kills. “Enemy at the Gates, the movie, was about “sniperism’, etc. Wasdin is a practicing chiropractor in Georgia.