AMERICA’S BOX-OFFICE WINNER AND NUMBER 1 FILM “FURY” NOW SHOWING IN (PHILIPPINES) CINEMAS
The World War
II action drama “Fury” that recently landed number one at the North American
box-office at $23.5 million debut starring Academy Award Winner Brad Pitt is
now showing nationwide in the Philippines.
“Fury” puts together a winning
cast along with Pitt, a squadron of fearless soldiers in a Sherman tank called
Fury – Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal and Logan
Lerman. The movie brings these American
soldiers to German territory during the last days and bastion of World War
II.
Rotten Tomatoes, worldwide
online reference when it comes to movies reflects an 80% score among critics
with an overall consensus that the movie is a well-acted, suitably raw
depiction of the horrors of war that offers visceral battle scenes.
The intensity of the screenplay
that "Fury" director David Ayer wrote for Fury has become his
hallmark, but the movie, like his screenplays for Training Day, The Fast and
theFurious, and other films, also demonstrates a deep connection between the
characters. “David’s movies are visceral
and real, but they’re also deeply about brotherly love and friendship in the
most extreme circumstances,” says producer Bill Block.
Details of the tankers’ memories
come alive in Fury– for example, that every fifth bullet from the machine gun
is a tracer; that there are so many tracers that the heat can melt the barrel;
that the difference between outgoing and incoming artillery is the incoming’s
telltale whistle; that the outgunned Sherman tanks could find ways to use their
exceptional mobility against the Germans’ mighty Tiger tanks. It’s these details that make the film feel
true-to-life.
“Veteran accounts are hugely
important, because they bring it to life,” says David Rae, one of the military
technical advisors on the film. “They
give you the actual ground truth of how a crew fought through different
theaters – through Normandy, North Africa, through the low countries, and
finally to Germany, that final push.
They give you interesting stories that you can grab hold of and
emotionally attach yourself to.”
There were five main tanks used
for filming, all various models of the M4 Sherman tank: in the film, the tanks
are nicknamed Fury, Matador, Lucy Sue, Old Phyllis, and Murder Inc.
To populate the tank crews,
Dowdall says, “We thought that the best thing would be to use trained tank
crews – not collectors, but guys who’d been to Afghanistan and other combat
situations recently. They could not only
command the tanks properly, but think on their feet if something went wrong
with one of these seventy-year-old vehicles.”
For the Fury herself, there were three main vehicles used by the
production. First, naturally, was a real
tank, supplied by the Bovington Tank Museum, a late-war Sherman with a 76mm
gun.
The tank – which was a rolling
set that had to be dressed and maintained as a picture vehicle every day – also
became a second home of sorts for the actors who portray its crew. “When they had boot camp, they were taught to
live outside;later, when Fury became available to them, we couldn’t really get
them out of it,” says Tank Crew Supervisor Jim Dowdall. “They put their own stamp on it. They began to live and to eat inside it. Between rehearsals, instead of getting off
the tank, they just hunkered down inside and talked and lived like a tank crew
would. I think that shows in the movie –
there’s a familiarity.”
Jon Bernthal – like all of the
actors – became very attached to the Fury.
“They say it ain’t the size of the dog in a fight, it’s the size of the
fight in the dog. She’s a badass tank,”
he says, describing the tank. “She’s not
the biggest, not the strongest – you should see the Tiger! – but she’s all
heart.”
Adds Logan Lerman: “Seeing the
tanks up and running, these seventy-year-old vehicles – it was a beautiful
sight.”
Over the course of the 24
fateful hours wherein the movie takes place, the actors' training will be
tested as their roles as the five men of the Fury – Wardaddy (Pitt), the
commander; Boyd Swan (LaBeouf), the gunner; Grady Travis (Bernthal), the
loader; Trini Garcia (Pena), the driver; and Norman (Lerman), the assistant
driver – take on 300 enemy German troops in a desperate battle for
survival.
"Fury" is now showing
at a theater near you!
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