It takes more than a strong jawline and sharp salute to successfully play a soldier on the big screen. Consider Tom Cruise as a Navy Air Force pilot in “Top Gun,” Mark Wahlberg as a Navy SEAL in “Lone Survivor,” Martin Sheen in “Apocalypse Now,” or Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan.” You just believe these actors have gone beyond the wire. So, how do they do it? There are many paths to glory, but here are just a few tricks of the trade.
Go to boot camp.
The best model for getting in the zone is what director Oliver Stone put his “Platoon” (1986) cast through. Vietnam veteran military adviser Captain Dale Dye USMC (Ret.) subjected Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, and others to what must have been living hell—three weeks of camping out in a jungle in the Philippines. Sleep deprivation, little food, humping heavy packs through dense terrain, and hearing true tales of real wartime experiences made the cast think and feel like soldiers. And the results tell it all: eight Oscar nominations, including two best supporting actor nods for Dafoe and Tom Berenger, and a best picture win. Since most productions can’t offer this kind of pre-filming experience, go out and create your own by doing some serious backpacking, talking to veterans, and pulling several all-nighters.
Take it seriously.
In war, humans are pushed to the extremes of human emotion; they can be at their best and worst. (No wonder actors are eager to play soldiers.) We’ll go back to Captain Dye for this one, since he also was the adviser on Steven Spielberg’s modern classic, “Saving Private Ryan” (1998). Dye told Hanks that he and his fellow actors needed to not just portray D-Day soldiers but to do it by honoring them. Soldiers make the greatest sacrifice. You can’t just play war. Give veterans and those who have died in combat their due by giving your performance the gravitas it is owed.
Use your props.
No one says it’s easy playing a soldier, but the role often comes with extra tools. Like they say, everyone loves a man (or woman) in a uniform, so put it on and disappear into the role. And while you’re at it, use the gun, the heavy boots, the helmet, the Bible in your pocket, and the dirt smudge on your cheek to lean on for maximum effect. Plus, you might even have an actual set of crutches to lean on.
Accept the antecedents, but make the role your own.
Portraying a soldier is a classic role. Audiences are not only seeing you, the actor, but they’re also seeing the myriad performers who’ve come before you in similar roles. That’s OK. War movies are a genre. Study the archetypes and then use your skills to put your own spin on the part.
For starters, here’s a crib sheet garnered from the soldier “types” featured in “Saving Private Ryan,” which you can use as reference while still creating your own character.
- The soldier with a heart, the one with PTSD who knows more about life and surviving a battle than anyone (Hanks as John Miller)
- The young, bumbling, totally green, clueless soldier who becomes a man through experiencing war (Jeremy Davies as Timothy Upham)
- The lethal killer, the slightly odd guy who has a superhuman ability to kill (Barry Pepper as Daniel Jackson)
- The lovable big guy, kinda dumb, can carry a big gun (Tom Sizemore and Vin Diesel as Mike Horvath and Adrian Caparzo, respectively)
- The reliable, corn-fed soldier who will die for his comrades (Matt Damon as James Ryan)
So, go ahead and act the hell out of that role—or, as Hanks says in “Saving Private Ryan,” “Earn this.”