USA: Stars of "Stop-Loss" gather at the premiere of the military-themed film in Los Angeles

Record ID: 218882

  • Title: USA: Stars of "Stop-Loss" gather at the premiere of the military-themed film in Los Angeles
  • Date: 27th March 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) RYAN PHILLIPPE, SAYING: "It the first film about this war that is told from the soldier's perspective, it's solely about the soldiers, and it is not a political film, but it's just kind of telling the truth about what's happening to a lot of the troops right now." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHANNING TATUM, SAYING: "I think that I started out with probably selfish reasons to do the film, I always wanted to play a soldier, you know, just a boyhood fascination with war and soldiering, and then once I got into it it really, I don't know, it was really so moving and kind of life changing, I'll never do anything the same. And I know a lot of people say that they watch the news or they keep up with current events, but they don't. I didn't. I didn't know what stop-loss was before I did this movie." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, SAYING: "Before I did 'Stop-Loss' I didn't know any soldiers personally, but having done 'Stop-Loss,' I made a lot of friends with guys who had been over there and been through it, and its allowed me to see them more as human beings, and less as news stories or buzzwords or statistics, and I think that's really important to remember, these are actually people over there, and you hear words like surge and you just clump everyone together and you forget that there's actual individual people involved. That's what 'Stop-Loss' is all about, saying here's the stories of a few individuals."
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA6FL7EY442L69VUX9H0CFMF14C
  • Story Text: Actors Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt premiered their film "Stop-Loss," about U.S. soldiers called back to war after their tours of duty in Iraq due to a fine-print stipulation in their military contract.
    Stars of the film "Stop-Loss" gathered at the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles Monday evening, discussing their views of the military's stop-loss policy, which many soldiers are unaware of when signing up for war. Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star as Iraq war veterans called back into service by the military due to the stop-loss clause, after believing they were relieved of their duties completely. With its morally complex story of soldiers who've served in Iraq, the film offers a more direct and gritty account of a current soldier's experience than any commercial feature to date.
    "It the first film about this war that is told from the soldier's perspective, it's solely about the soldiers, and it is not a political film, but it's just kind of telling the truth about what's happening to a lot of the troops right now," says Phillippe.
    "Stop-Loss" centers on Brandon (Phillippe), a soldier who finishes his tour in Iraq and returns home to Texas. Soon after he comes home, however, he find himself ordered back to the Middle East under the Army's stop-loss provision, which can order soldiers back at any time. He then must weigh whether to go back to Iraq or flee the country.
    The Paramount Pictures release, Director Kimberly Peirce's follow-up to 1999's "Boys Don't Cry," addresses the complexities and pressures of those currently serving in the modern military in ways arguably no studio has. At the premiere, Pierce discussed her motivation in making the film about Iraq war veterans.
    "I was in New York for 9/11, and I unfortunately saw the towers fall, and I started going to vigils for the victims, and America declared war.
    And I knew immediately I need to make a movie about the soldiers, who they were, why they were signing up, what their experience in combat was, and then America, and then my little brother signed up, and we became a military family yet again, so it was a very personal, very profound story for me," says Pierce.
    Phillippe has his own thoughts on the stop-loss policy, "I feel like if it happened to me, I would think it was incredibly awful, it is in the fine print of an Army contract, but a lot of soldiers didn't know about it, and are only learning about it now that it's happening to them and the guys that they serve with. So, to me, in a lot of ways, it is a backdoor draft."
    "Stop-Loss" opens in the United States on March 28.
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