Contending With ‘Private Ryan’s’ Legacy

On the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea, Hollywood is building a submarine.

When completed, the 400-ton, full-sized U-boat won’t be able to dive beneath the water’s surface, but it will withstand 9-foot seas and serve as the centerpiece in producer Dino DeLaurentiis’ “U-571,” a World War II thriller about U.S. forces who try to steal a top-secret decoding device from a German sub.

They had better build a very believable sub; the reality check for World War II films now being made or developed by the studios just got tougher because of one movie: “Saving Private Ryan.”

Filmmakers and studio executives say that the public’s embrace of Steven Spielberg’s new film with its realistic portrayal of combat on the beaches and in the towns of Normandy has raised the bar for all future World War II movies. In fact, “Ryan” has changed the very landscape of war movies making them easier to sell to audiences and studios.

But gone forever, they say, are the days when adult moviegoers will tolerate mindless war sequences that do not elevate the combat to the level of a morality play.

“In the wake of ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ I don’t think you can make a World War II movie that exploits elements of World War II strictly as a [thrill] ride,” said Jonathon Mostow, director of Universal Studios’ “U-571.”

“I think it’s going to be hard to make a movie that uses World War II as an excuse for a big scare-fest, or a straight-ahead, mindless action movies,” Mostow added. “I wouldn’t want to make that movie.”

Steve Rubin, who has the film rights to the old TV series “Combat,” said Spielberg has made it harder for future war movies.

“You can’t go in and do ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ now,” he said. “If people are going to go to a World War II movie, there can’t be manufactured heroics, there can’t be comedy. We’re dealing with a very serious subject.

“You just have to be careful about your tone,” Rubin added. “You can’t be flippant about it. You can’t be cliched about it. You can’t soften the violence. Critics will expect it. And veterans will say, ‘This is how it was.’ ”

Rubin said that when he acquired the film rights to “Combat” in 1989, studio executives told him, “People will not go to World War II movies.”

“It’s silly but that was the mentality,” Rubin recalled. “When I first acquired the rights to ‘Combat,’ there was a major feature story in Variety that said, ‘World War II movies are dead at the box office.’ That was right after the ABC miniseries ‘War and Remembrance’ came on and flopped. There was a feeling that people no longer were interested in anything that had to do with World War II.”

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One problem with resurrecting World War II films is that because of the very nature of the conflict being retold, they portray current major allies of the U.S. as enemies.

“Is it politically correct to kill Germans and Japanese now?” asked one studio executive, who asked to remain anonymous. “We’ve become a kinder and gentler world. Just to say the word ‘Jap’? Would they be all over you? We live in a different world today.”

Gary Levinsohn, one of the producers of “Saving Private Ryan,” said Spielberg’s movie has certainly revived interest in the era among filmmakers.

“But whether that actually translates into films could really be daunting,” he said. “The task Steven has put in front of anyone who tries is really incredible.”

One studio that has to be monitoring the public’s reaction to the DreamWorks/Paramount film “Saving Private Ryan” is 20th Century Fox, which is in post-production on director Terrence Malick’s World War II film, “The Thin Red Line.”

Fox plans to release its film at Christmas, but a final determination will not be made until the end of summer.

The movie--which features an all-star cast that includes Sean Penn, John Travolta and George Clooney--is based on James Jones’ follow-up novel to “From Here to Eternity.” It tells the story of a squad of American troops battling the Japanese on Guadalcanal Island. The film is being financed by Fox and Pioneer in Japan and will be released by Fox 2000 and Phoenix Pictures.

Fox executives privately say they are genuinely excited by the prospects of Malick’s film, but they are avoiding comparisons between “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Thin Red Line.”

“It’s the other side of World War II--it’s the Pacific Rim--not the European theater,” said one studio executive. “I don’t think they are similar at all. Where ‘Ryan’ depicts war at its zenith, this depicts emotions. It’s a lot like ‘Titanic,’ what you feel about the characters.”

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A successful movie, filmmakers say, always begins with a good screenplay and World War II movies are no exception. Write a powerful script, they say, and chances are studios will eventually make it. Paramount, in fact, has four World War II scripts in various stages of development. They include:

* “Combat.” Based on the old television series, the screen version has been mentioned as a star vehicle for Bruce Willis.

* “Earth, Wings and Fire.” Developed by actor Tom Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, the project tells the story of the World War II aviators the Flying Tigers.

* “With Wings as Eagles.” Developed by producer Alan Ladd Jr., the story revolves around a German officer during World War II who refuses orders to execute the POWs under his command.

* “The Emperor’s General.” Set in post-World War II, it involves Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who is embroiled in a plot to assassinate a powerful Japanese general. The project, which is being developed for producer Scott Rudin, is based on an unpublished manuscript by James Webb, a former secretary of the Navy.

DreamWorks, meanwhile, is developing another World War II script called “Thunder Below,” which tells the story of World War II’s most decorated submarine commander.

And, at Universal, a script called “To the White Sea” is being adapted from James Dickey’s novel about an American gunner who is shot down over Tokyo during World War II. Ethan and Joel Coen have been mentioned to produce and direct.

As for “U-571,” Universal has decided to go with lesser-known actors after box-office star Michael Douglas withdrew because of a scheduling conflict. Director Mostow said filming will begin sometime between November and January in Malta and Rome.

“All I’m trying to do with my movie is give the audience a taste of what it was like in the Atlantic during that point in the war,” Mostow said. “I’m not representing my movie as the authoritative chronicle of what happened--either in the Navy or the submarine service [and] I’m not attempting to do what ‘Das Boot’ did.

“Steven’s movie showed the real horror of what the infantry experience was when they landed at Normandy,” Mostow said. “He had a vision going in knowing what he wanted the movie to convey. Now, people who walk out of the theater say, ‘The next time I see a veteran, I’ll salute the guy.’ ”