The Cavalry Rides on TNT

John Milius says his basic method of directing is to get his actors to inhabit the skin and psyche of their characters. So for his latest project, the four-hour historical drama, “Rough Riders,” he put his cast through a 10-day military boot camp before production began.

The camp was under 24-hour watch. “There was a sentry and a guard gate,” says the writer-director of such films as “The Wind and the Lion,” “Red Dawn” and “Conan the Barbarian.”

TNT’s “Rough Riders” stars Tom Berenger as the impetuous, brilliant Teddy Roosevelt. In 1898, he resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy to become a lieutenant colonel in the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in the Spanish-American War.

With no combat experience but with charisma and bravery to spare, Roosevelt led the Rough Riders--a mix of wealthy Easterners, cowboys and outlaws--in the famous charge on San Juan Hill. The victory would make him a national hero and, three years later, after William McKinley’s assassination, his vice president became the youngest U.S. president at age 42.

Milius’ cast, which also includes Sam Elliott, Gary Busey and Brad Johnson, lived exactly like the Rough Riders, a.k.a. G Troop, did nearly a century ago. “Maybe worse,” says Milius, “because Dale Dye, who ran the boot camp and plays Col. Wood, is an ex-Marine D.I.” He enforced Marine Corps standards--”but more primitive, because they had to eat everything and use the same type of utensils [as back then], including grinding their coffee by hitting it with the butts of their guns.”

There was one concession, says Milius, to “modernity.” Instead of having to dine on “embalmed beef,” the cast was treated to Spam luncheon meat.

Milius would visit the camp on a daily basis. “Being the brigadier, I would be shown the troops,” he explains.

The boot camp, he says, created a tremendous sense of spirit and camaraderie among the actors. They became G Troop. “At the end of boot camp, Dale said, ‘You can all go back and become actors and complain about the size of your trailers, or you can stay a member of G Troop, and if there is a work detail you will be called upon.’ ”

Which in fact happened. During the 46-day shoot in Texas, Milius used his G Troop whenever he wanted something moved. “If I wanted the wagons taken across the river or a canon taken through a gully, I would say, ‘Assemble G Troop,’ and they would [take] it across. They would love it. They would take great pride in that.”

Berenger (“Platoon,” “Major League”), who also is executive producer of the movie, first thought about doing a project on Roosevelt and the Rough Riders more than 20 years ago, when he met an elderly actor who was working as a day-player on a film.

“He started telling me little vignette stories that were very interesting,” Berenger says. “I thought it would be a great movie idea.” The notion returned when he starred in TNT’s “Gettysburg” in 1993 and saw how willing the cable network was to tackle an ambitious story about U.S. history.

Hugh Wilson (“WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Police Academy”) wrote the original script and was set to direct “Rough Riders” but had to relinquish the project when he became tied up with “First Wives Club.” Berenger and his producing partner, Bill McDonald, called their friend Milius.

“He was totally enthusiastic about it,” Berenger says. “He did a rewrite, which was about 10 pages a day. I didn’t know he had wanted to do [a film on Roosevelt] for about 15 years until we were halfway through the film. I also didn’t know that Teddy Roosevelt was his favorite character.”

“I wanted to do [a film on Roosevelt] all my life,” says Milius. In his 1975 epic romance, “The Wind and the Lion,” Roosevelt was a supporting character (played by Brian Keith, who also appears in “Rough Riders,” the last film he made before his death).

Roosevelt’s adventures with the Rough Riders was the first story Milius’ father ever told him. “He was 10 years old when [San Juan Hill] happened,” Milius says. “Teddy Roosevelt was his No. 1 hero. He just loved Teddy Roosevelt. I just sort of feel like I have kind of justified my existence because I brought my father’s hero to the screen.”

Berenger believes Roosevelt was a true American hero. “He’s not a movie star or a rock star,” he says. “It’s sort of sad that we don’t have people like this any more. We will never see the likes of him again. On Mt. Rushmore, he’s the only president from the 20th century. His wife called him a 6-year-old and in the film she calls him a force of nature. He’s just so enthusiastic and genuine and kind of innocent about everything he believed in.”

To Milius, Roosevelt was the country’s greatest president. “He was a great leader,” he says. “He has sort of been, in the latter part of the 20th century, not discredited, but deliberately ignored. He presents sort of a challenge--he lived a strenuous life, an engaged life. I think people can’t live up to that challenge, so they have to run him down.”

Roosevelt, Milius adds, was a great Populist. “He really doesn’t fit in the right or the left. He loved the whole American experiment. He spoke about eight languages. He could remember poetry he had read, like, 20 years before. He was a great intellectual, a political thinker and warrior.”

“Rough Riders” airs Sunday and Monday at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. on TNT. It repeats Friday at 5 p.m. and throughout July.