Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg, Marcus Luttrell | LONE SURVIVOR (Film Independent at LACMA)

yes, it was an extraordinary

film

, please help me welcome the men responsible for this

film

, the writer and director Peter Berg, the star, the star

mark

Wall

berg

and the man on whose life the film is based Marcus Latrell um Marcus When you heard the movie was going to be, were there any concerns or fears you had about a movie being made of this story? Yes sir, absolutely a

lone

with the limitations you have in taking a story that happened in real life let a

lone

putting it in your life and in the book. in a book, trying to adapt it to a movie and money, all those things like that, everything that happened today on the mountain, although everything was very critical, there was a lot that could be put in the movie during everyone watching and choosing those battles It was a difficult process, but we got down to the details and that's what it is, it's combat sir um, what was your first conversation with Marcus as Peter? um, I think we were talking. about last night my strategy the first time I met him and I knew he really wanted to do this movie and he's a pretty intense guy and I had a brief meeting with him and he looked at me like he's watching right now and I remember my dad He told me that uh it is better to be silent and think that he is a fool than to speak and remove all doubt so I didn't say much and I said um that I loved his book and that it touched my heart and that, um, he had a movie The Kingdom that ended I finished editing and I said maybe you could watch it and if it's something that you feel is appropriate and you connect with it, I'd love to hear about it.

If it wasn't, it was a pleasure to meet you and have a nice day and about four or five hours later I received a call saying meet me at this restaurant at I don't know 7 o'clock sorry I have a cold I know you do it a lot and uh, I heard the police officer. , it's horrible and we end up talking. I have kids. I have four children. Not many people have this cold. I heard they broke up and Marcus and I spent maybe 6 hours talking. um and at the end he said okay you're going to do this and uh and you're not going to do it and I was like yeah, yeah, Mr.

Marcus, what do you remember about that first? That's true, sir, I guess that's the end. conversation which is what comes from working for a non-profit organization um um

mark

that this fits with some of the movies that you've done based on real life characters uh, the wrestler and Perfect Storm, they're both about guys who have been tested and it's something that appeals to you when it comes to making movies based on real life things. Yes, I've always loved the idea and challenge of playing real-life people, especially normal guys. who have had to go through extraordinary things, this is a very different case because Marcus is not an ordinary guy, he is an extraordinary guy who survived the impossible and, then, I knew it was a much bigger challenge.

I remember Pete asking me if he wanted to. to make the movie, I said yes before I really thought about what that entailed and then I knew it was just a matter of, you know, hanging in there and doing whatever I had to do to get as close to reality as possible. was your biggest fear in doing this because it's a big bite from Apple in terms of playing with emotions in this, yeah, you just want to do it right, you know you want to do it right, you want to make Marcus proud of you. You wanted to do it with the families of Danny Deets and Ax and Mike Murphy and the rest of the guys who never got to come home or get off that mountain.

You wanted to do them justice and that's a big responsibility, well, Pete, I mean, I was. tell the audience before we start here that almost all of your films, in one way or another, are about people being tested through action, basically, the realization of character through action, what is that about? What is it that attracts you so much? We'll share the mic with Elvis, we'll share our mic and you'll let him hack all that hack all that damn. I took a I don't have antibiotics to give you. I took a zad to combat this thing. I'm on antibiotics, yeah you're not supposed to drink with those, by the way, I'm you're not supposed to drink alcohol while on antibiotics, that defeats the purpose, but okay, I'll share the mic. a lot of love on stage right now we are brothers and we became brothers so we should have been mad, there is nothing we can't say to each other, there is a level of trust, respect and appreciation.

I've always been partly attracted to the psychology of people who are willing to put themselves in violent situations, that is, situations where any reasonable human being would run as fast as they could to get away from them and there is a very, very small population of Men and women who will move towards that and who, for some reasons, I can understand many who don't want to test themselves, want to cultivate concepts that seem so foreign to many of us, like patriotism, heroism, the belief in sacrificing yourself. for something bigger and those values ​​are extremely present in Marcus and many of his teammates, many of whom I have met and many of whom you were able to see in this film and who obviously I did not get to meet, but these These are extraordinary men and , as an artist, I'm drawn to the psychology of people like Marcus in Trell, but in these movies, even though no, you don't want to get sick, I've already been exposed to this.

I'll keep you free to make your next movie, whatever it may be. No, I'll take the bullet for you, Mark Walper. Thanks, let me do it. God bless your heart, but in some of these cases it's like getting people over the idea of ​​where fear comes into the picture and all these things have always been happening, it was really like overcoming that moment of danger, just having to act. the way you have been trained. I mean, that's also a very important thing for you as a filmmaker, isn't it? I don't understand the question look at this, you understand, they are not listening.

I got it, but I don't want to give you any more shitty moments. I give you enough of being in a dangerous situation at the moment we are. the training starts, yeah, I mean, and for most of us we can't imagine that moment and then I wanted to ask you about that too. Mark plays someone in a situation that most of us would be terrified of, you just have to trust training instead of your instinct. And that seems to be something that attracts you as a filmmaker. I mean, one of the things that attracted me so much to this professional project is that there was a scene where these guys were faced with an extremely complicated situation. decision and in my opinion they would have easily justified themselves and killed those goats for goat herders and knowing that they all would have lived, I could certainly argue why that was not the right decision, but I was not on that hill and probably never on In my life I will have to make such a complex decision and to think that one of the things that got me so hooked on Marcus's book was the idea that these young people, all in their 20s and 30s, are being asked to make such complicated decisions with so much has been written about them and they are so self-sufficient that they can only depend on each other.

They are trying to get as much information as they can and are being asked to make such complicated decisions. these decisions that are going to have massive ramifications if they act in a certain way or show a lack of restraint or show too much restraint, the price is, you see, catastrophic and the fact that what we do, you know, are decisions. making decisions as a director Mark I want to speak for him making as an actor not even in the same zip code as these types of decisions um and I felt it was important to help do my part so that people understand that you know without a doubt, regardless of Political Politics or you fall into these last two conflicts that we've been in, these guys are extraordinary human beings of a level of character that is very, very difficult to achieve and that I felt was important for the guys.

The decision making that guys like Marcus are able to do is something that's in another league, yeah Mark, you talk a little bit about that about playing with that type of guy that just has to resort to training and put himself in that place mentally. . playing that type of person, yeah, for me it's always about physical and mental preparation, unfortunately for me, I had done three movies before Lone Survivor and they were all very different and very challenging in different ways and I had to do it. I lost as much weight as possible then played a bodybuilder in the Michael Bay movie Pain and Gain where I gained up to 212 pounds and then had to lose as much weight as possible for the next movie and Pete looked at me like a man.

You don't look good you don't look like a seal and I said well I'm going to feel like a seal because I appreciate what these guys did and I'm willing to go up that mountain no matter what the training is. The best thing about this is that not only did we have Marcus there, which was a huge help and also a lot of pressure, but we also had other seals who were there training us before the movie and he was also there throughout the entire course of the movie. the session and had freedom of action. Normally when you have an advisor, you have someone that you want to hold at arm's length and when you want to ask a question or need a little information, bring them along, unfortunately, that's how they usually treat the writers of a movie, right, I do. they'll bring them in when they need them and then they'll kick them out and keep them as far away as you were the writer director, so I tried it. to keep the writer aspect of you away and just keep the director around, but no, but with these guys they were free to talk nonsense about anything that was wrong, even if it was in the middle of a big action sequence involving helicopters. and explosions and everything else, and that was going to set us back one day a week, whatever it was, they had the right to come in and say enough, grab you by the scruff of the neck, say enough, that's wrong, do it like that.

Do it a hundred times until you get it right and I loved having that. I encourage you to have that freedom. Now they never took it too far and started giving you line readings at an emotional moment. Once or twice, a couple of them tried it. that Marcus could absolutely absolutely yes sir Marcus sir tell me where to stand what to do and how to say it absolutely but it was like it was a different ball game you know they knew better than us and we trust them for His support to be the most authentic and realistically possible Marcus, what kind of things were you telling them?

What kinds of things you tend not to understand about what you do as seals, as he was explaining to you before. There are probably eight to 10 of us on set and no less than three at any given time just there for the actors and whatever they need. We tend to speak our own language in our community if you spend enough time with us slowly. It's Kind starts with the military talk everyone talks a thousand in the army to talk military and after that on the teams it goes a step further and we just wanted to, actually, at first it was a little difficult to open up to someone who wasn't in our community and allow them in to see what it's all about.

It's one of those rights of passage, if you want, if you want to understand that world, you have to go through the things that we go through. That's why it's in place, but that being said, it was so critical that these guys understood, spoke the language, walked, talked, moved, used their weapons systems, everything, just like we would, and because of that , we stepped back, opened up and were there. for them, uh, in anything, they needed any situation, but like I liked him to say, we tried not to push our luck, I guess that would be the best term, we didn't want to, we want to overstep our limits because they are, they are.

The professionals that we were, it was a push for you, but you were also the professionals and they were counting on you to keep it real, yes sir, in that sense, exactly what you said when it came time to shoot and move. and things like that, well, that's when we came in and said okay, you're going to listen to what we have to say and then they took it into account, but then when they said, when Pete called for action, then then we stand back and watch them do what they do best and it was great to see them work as professional actors, how they can adapt and in fact, you will see them mold themselves into a frogman.

Also, the reason they all fit so well together is because they were all on that mountain for the same reason to tell that story and do justice to these guys, every catering person, everyone who was carrying the equipment, everyone. they just wanted to tell the story, they wanted to be a part of it, it was a team effort, you know everyone was there to help each other get through it and do the best they could and I think we also had a couple of other special people who watched us from upstairs making sure we had that extra. a little bit of love and magic and uh and I think that's why it turned out the way it is I think that's why it looks as real as it does, it's because of those elements one of the reasons it appears to be so real, is this what were you talking about?

Marcus, that kind of spiritual confidence that you feel like all those actors in the movie really connected with and resonated with.They knew yes, they always said well, what did you do to bond? It wasn't good, I would go to his house and we would hang out. No, we were all there for the same reason we knew them. We guys were brothers, we were all there for the same reason and you know, Ben Foster, who I had known for quite some time, is a very special guy, but like the debate we had on the mountain, Ben would sit there and argue with me and Pete about a lot of things and um, but that's who he is and that's why I love him, that's why I recommended him to Pete.

He knew we already had that Bond, but even Taylor and all of us, like Dove, it wasn't like that. Okay, let's go to Las Vegas and spend a weekend getting to know each other. It was like we just dived in and became brothers. Yeah, well, we talked about casting. Peter found all these guys and you knew they had. to fit right in and feel like they've been together and experience the types of training that Marcus and his boys have gone through. He started with Mar and despite a slight difference in size and a slight and that's nice of you and and this man is a monster, a giant.

I wouldn't say a monster because he's an angel in a Teddy Paar, but certainly, he's a big guy, a giant, but with an even bigger heart, there is also yes. I could notice a slight difference in regional accent now, that was something else , man, I was there to do my Texas thing, they said, he said, don't do it, no, no, don't do it, don't you dare do it. I said, "Okay, well, you can't blame me for trying. I'll do it another month next, so that's it, but what I found is that these two guys are tough guys, he's a tough guy and he's a tough guy. ". no tough guy, Mark is a tough guy, he's fine, it's a big difference.

I've made it clear on several occasions, but I'm honest enough to admit it. There is also an incredible sweetness in this boy and this boy. I've been lucky enough to see both sides and I thought there really aren't many guys in the movie business that have both qualities and Mark Wahl

berg

has the same qualities of, you know, legit masculine toughness, whatever that means, um. , and a genuine and great one. I don't wear makeup to the grocery store, I wear said, but I try to be serious, I'm trying to be serious, Jesus, anyway, Ben Foster, uh, I think Ben Ben Foster is one of the best actors working today in day, um, I think it's RNG.

Lewis's next Daniel um, he drives us crazy with a lot of questions, but he's the best example, well, let me say one thing, your impression of Foster with his hands, no, no, he does all this understanding stuff and no, no, but it was there. It was a great thing where we were lying on the ground and they were shooting at us and their mortars were about to explode and Ben just grabs handfuls of dirt and shoves it in his mouth and Pete says, what am I thinking? Don't worry, it's good that you called me, it's like Ben is eating dirt, Pete, but it's okay, I was looking at him in this shot, it's going to be great, he was literally eating, eating handfuls of dirt and doing this.

I have a question, yes, sir. What does that ask Ben? I don't know well. We were driving to New Mexico from Texas. I drove to Dallas to meet him and that was the first time we met. On a road trip, you have to be friends with someone. take an eight and a half hour road trip, you know what I mean, so I told him either we're going to really like each other or I'm going to kill you and he says, we'll see what happens. So I met in Dallas and then, uh, uh, great guy, like Pete said, but that's one of the first things I noticed, especially when I was driving, because when you talk with your hands and you're trying to drive.

It doesn't work like you think and he's very into the role and he reminded me that I actually have a teammate who exactly like real animated conversations with his hands he has to do the sound effects and all that. Things like that, that's how it was, it was a good time when we finally got to New Mexico. I knew I made a friend. He was a good guy so thank God you didn't kill him, yeah no I could have left him out. in the desert because we were right in the middle of the In fact, I thought about it when we were there too.

I thought, you know, put you here and leave you, so uh Emil H um, he's very small and uh and he made me feel big. and this is not an exaggeration, he, uh, asked if he could play the part and I said no, because you're very small and out of shape because he was small, but fat, you know, like skinny people who are fat, You know? What I mean is a skinny fat guy, a skinny fat guy, yeah, that's that kind of guy and I told him you're a skinny fat guy and he was like. I literally told him that and he got furious and said, well, what if he came in? form and I said well, I don't think you do, but he trained for months and months before you, even and, but I was a big fan, you know really, I loved his performance and I loved nature and I really love him, you said.

You're just not in shape and that guy there's a guy called Trar Goodman at Gold's Gym in Venice and you can ask him he was there eight hours a day, seven days a week and Tiar would call him and say, you know, this guy is going to go. crazy, he won't stop working out and uh, a month went by and I went down and I checked on him and he didn't have the part, you know, he just said, "I'm getting in shape." I'm going to prove you wrong and two weeks later, he's still there, he's there 6, seven hours a day training with all these professional hockey players.

After two months, he really looked at it and he was no longer a skinny fat guy, he was actually fit and, uh, me. He was so impressed just with the physical commitment that he knew that he had the acting skills, um, that I was. He was really excited to be able to say one day after three months, dude, you earned it and he did it, um uh, and Taylor Kitch, do you know anyone that I? I've met since Friday Night Lights a dear friend of mine who, you know, had an interesting career path, he had two big movies, John Carter and Battleship, both of which didn't turn out very well, and you're right.

It's funny, now we can laugh a little, it wasn't funny, so you prepared yourself for that, man, I mean, oh look, uh, I like you, uh, but in all honesty, having Taylor, who I think is just a great actor and a wonderful man, you know, and look at our business, we all have ups and downs and it's about knowing, I'm sure many of you are in our business, sometimes things go well, sometimes they don't. but you have to keep working and kit is a great example of someone who kept working. I think he did a wonderful job on this movie and I think I found a great cast, so that's the story of the cast and I'm sorry, we ran out of time.

Let's thank these guys for being here. Well, thank you all for being here. Thank you so much.