WINDTALKERS PRESS JUNKET: THE EXPERIENCE

Note: Quotes were taken from mini-tapes. While many of them were a part of larger conversations, they were picked in order to represent those whole conversations the best possible. Some questions were put in for context, rather than having anonymous quotes coming out of nowhere. A BIG thank you to MGM for the screening of Windtalkers, and for the invitation to share a few moments with the people that made this wonderful film...


Beverly Hills, CA. I walk into the Four Seasons Hotel on Doheny. For those who don’t know, this is the meeting place of all the major players. You look around and see that everyone here is someone in the industry.

This is the place to be… especially today. I was lucky enough to have been invited to the national press junket of Windtalkers… a wonderful upcoming film by John Woo. I don’t know anyone…yet the rest of the journalists seem to know each other very well.

We start with a lunch, and I mingle the best I can.

Then it’s off to the roundtables. Here’s how this works. You sit in a hotel room with four or five other journalists. The room is very small… with no bed obviously, but instead a small round table. Drinks are behind you and the air conditioning is pumping cool air. It’s comfortable. Three seats are left vacant for the talent. Every 25 minutes, a group of two or three walk in and sit down… be it actors, the director, writers, producers, etc.

I didn’t think that a junket would be this relaxed, but it truly is. Instead of the large room with over sixty journalists (ala the White House interviews you see on TV) that I expected, you get to sit right next to the talent and share cocktails.

TWO LEAD ACTORS WALK IN.

NOAH EMMERICH, A WONDERFUL ACTOR FROM BEAUTIFUL GIRLS AND THE TRUMAN SHOW (AMONG OTHERS), HAS LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT. HE PLAYED JIM CARREY’S BEST FRIEND IN THE TRUMAN SHOW…THE PERFORMANCE THAT LAUNCHED HIM INTO HOLLYWOOD AS A CHARACTER ACTOR.

PETER STORMARE… THE ACTOR THAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST! YOU KNOW HIM AS THE RUSSIAN COSMONAUT IN ARMEGEDDON… OR EVEN MORESO AS THE SICKLY QUIET KILLER IN FARGO.

HE IS NOTHING LIKE HIS FILM ROLES… WHICH TELLS ME THAT HE HAS TRUE RANGE. HE IS FUNNY, OUTGOING, AND A BIT OF A JOKER. HE AND NOAH SEEM VERY CLOSE.


BOOT CAMP

Ken: So, did you guys have to go through any boot camp or anything like that?

Noah Emmerich: Yeah we did. We had a very intense boot camp actually. I hate to talk about it, because you get these actors saying, “Oh there’s no room service, no masseuse…”

Peter Stormare: What are you talking about… I gave you massages! (Laughter)

Noah: Yeah, we were thrown into a barracks with 80 marines at a marine base in Hawaii (where the film was shot). They pretty much stripped us of everything we had… literally making us stand butt naked in front of everyone.

Ken: Butt naked? (Laughter)

Noah: A bunch of the guys actually dropped out because of the heat and what not. It was pretty intense.

Ken: Actors dropped out?

Peter: No, actually it was some of the extras. Ex-marines, current marines.


WHY WWII?
Ken: So why do you think WWII is so popular these days in film?

Noah (to Peter): You’re from Europe, you should answer this.

Ken: You’re from Europe?

Peter: Sweden actually. I just think it’s very education for the young generations. I knew a lot about the war, but had no idea about the story of the code talkers. It’s also a lack of communication between generations because now most of them are gone. So I think it’s really important to just build a bridge and tell a really true story.

Ken: How real is it?

Peter: As real at it can be.

Noah: I also think that WWII has a lot of stories. Between all the wars, this was the one about Good and Evil. There was never a more clear-cut war from an American’s perspective as far and good vs. evil. It’s a very dramatic war. The thing about Windtalkers is that it shows what is conceived as the good side of the story, the American side, but it shows that it’s not all black and white. Things happened on the American side that were controversial, with abuse and what not.

And for the code talkers… they’re really unsung heroes. Fighting for a country that abused them… it’s a remarkable story.


SHOOTING WITH THE WOO

Ken: What was it like shooting with John Woo?

Peter: He’s steady as a rock. Completely calm. You try to get as close to him as possible to feel that calm. When the bomb goes off and you hit the wrong mark, he’s like, “No problem man.” The bombs are made of mostly cork, but that coming at you at 90 miles an hour can hurt.


SHOOTING THE ACTION

Noah: It’s actually pretty dangerous. You have bombs going off and what not. None of those action scenes in Windtalkers, the explosions, are CG. In fact, the only CG that I remember was some of the planes and ships. These are gallons of gasoline blowing up beside you. All those years of acting school were totally unnecessary. (Laughs)

Ken: What happens if you miss your mark?

Noah: I tell ya, this is the most terrifying film I’ve done. Here you have a thousand extras running behind you, with tons of bombs, 17 cameras, and a thousand men. You have to roll onto the mark the size of a quarter. Then you have to fall on a dime. You miss that mark and the shot is blown… with a thousand guys going “grrr”.

Ken: Is that the slowest thing to shoot?

Noah: Oh yeah. The first action sequence you see in Saipan took a month.

Ken: Where’d you shoot?

Peter: Hawaii. It’s where we shot Jurassic Park. All those movies.


ON CHARACTER

Noah: I was really apprehensive about doing this film because of my character being a bigot. But hopefully by the end of the movie, you see that he’s changed. The character I play is really representative of America at the time. Most Americans during the 40’s wouldn’t have been too excited serving next to a Navajo. I hope that the Navajo people of today find the story was honestly and truthfully told.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Peter: I wouldn’t mind doing another story like this again as long as the message is as pure and clear as Windtalkers… with a message.

Ken: Do you have upcoming projects that we can see?

Noah: I actually just wrapped a love story set upon the refuge camps of the 80s. It has a really beautiful script.

I LATER LOOK ON THE INTERNET AND FIND THAT THEY BOTH HAVE A NUMBER OF BIG MOVIES COMING UP.

Ken Miyamoto