Random Surprising Facts You Probably Didn't Know About 'Saving Private Ryan' (17 items)

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  (#16) Even The Cast Was Surprised By The Final Product

  Though the subject matter and their grueling experiences of both boot camp and production served as warning for the cast that the film would be impactful, most still weren't prepared for the full weight of Saving Private Ryan's frontline perspective.

  "I was surprised and shocked," Hanks said of his first viewing, "I didn't think it was going to be as much of everything as it is. I didn't think it was going to be as graphic, as emotional or as cerebral. I didn't think the psychological drama of the characters was going to be as powerful. I thought it was going to be a much more objective movie to get into. I was really surprised that the movie got under my skin as much as it did." 

  Damon, meanwhile, said, "It gave me a perspective. I came to understand that I don't understand what it was like for these people. It brought it home in an important way. I came away with a certain amount of guilt about my generation, the notoriously apathetic Generation X who can be seen everyday on talk show television lamenting the fact they weren't breast-fed long enough. It really puts it into perspective, these were really ordinary guys, they weren't career soldiers, it's not like Rambo."
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  (#1) Spielberg Shot The Film In Chronological Order Because He Wanted It To Be A Demoralizing Experience

  By the end of Saving Private Ryan, the cast looks completely physically and mentally drained, and it's not just because they're really good actors. Before Ryan, Spielberg hadn't shot a film in order since E.T. (1982). He explained that he filmed in that unconventional style for E.T. because he wanted the child actors, many of whom had never appeared in a movie before, to understand exactly where they were going in the story. 

  For Saving Private Ryan, he decided to once again film the movie in order. Unfortunately, he had no idea just how traumatic it would be for the cast. "I didn't realize how devastating that was going to be for the whole cast to actually start off with Omaha Beach and survive that as a film team, and then move into the hedgerows, move into the next town, as we all began to get whittled down by the storytelling."
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  (#9) Garth Brooks Turned Down The Role Of Private Jackson

  Country music superstar Garth Brooks was looking to break into the movies in the 1990s. He met with Frank Darabont, a screenwriter, who was working on a rewrite of Saving Private Ryan. Darabont wrote a part specifically for Brooks into the script, a sniper named Private Jackson (the role that eventually went to Barry Pepper.) Brooks turned down the opportunity because he didn't think that anyone would want to see a war movie starring Tom Hanks.

  Spielberg must have really wanted the singer in the movie because he asked Brooks if there was another role in the film that he wanted to play. Brooks told the director that he wanted to play a "bad guy." The only thing is, there are not really any villains per se in Saving Private Ryan, unless you count the abstract concept of conflict. Brooks ultimately walked away from the movie.
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  (#6) The Government Set Up A Toll-Free Hotline For Veterans Who Needed Assistance After Watching The Movie

  Saving Private Ryan was so graphic and realistic that the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs set up a toll-free hotline to assist veterans who suffered from PTSD and experienced flashbacks after watching the movie. "Counselors at VA medical facilities have been asked to prepare to assist veterans who experience emotional trauma as a result of the movie," said a spokesman for the VA in Washington, D.C. "VA similarly assisted veterans following the movie Platoon, which had profound impact on veterans exposed to combat."
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  (#10) The Film Was Banned In Malaysia For Its Uncompromising Violence

  Spielberg's commitment to verisimilitude cost Saving Private Ryan an international market, as Malaysia's Film Censorship Board refused to allow the film's exhibition without significant cuts to its graphic violence. The director, however, made no such cuts, and the film was never released theatrically in Malaysia.

  Spielberg was adamant that combat scenes remain intense and unrelenting, not simply as part of an aesthetic, but as a fundamental element of the movie's philosophy. "If you cheapen it, if you make it more palatable, if you somehow diminish what went on there, I think you end up doing a great disservice to what the movie as a whole is trying to communicate," he explained.

  He was infelxible even in face of a possible NC-17 rating in the US, saying, "I wasn't going to add my film to a long list of pictures that make World War II 'the glamorous war,' 'the romantic war.'"
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  (#7) Amputees Were Used As Extras During The Opening Scene

  Actual amputees were used as extras during the opening scene to make all the war injuries as gruesomely realistic as possible.

  "We had somewhere between 20 and 30 amputees and paraplegics who worked with us, creating very realistic scenes where we could use effects to make it look like soldiers were losing limbs. Some might say it was an insensitive approach, but they all did it with great enthusiasm," said associate producer Mark Huffam.

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