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American Morning

Actor David Keith: 'Behind Enemy Lines' 'Feel-good, Rock 'n' Roll War Video'

Aired November 30, 2001 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Weeks after Washington enlisted Hollywood's help with the war effort, "Behind Enemy Lines" opens today in theaters across the country.

Actor David Keith plays a Navy pilot who is shot down over enemy territory. His commanding officer, played by Gene Hackman, goes against orders to carry out a desperate rescue mission.

Actor David Keith joins me now from Atlanta.

Good morning, and welcome.

DAVID KEITH, ACTOR: Hi, how are you?

ZAHN: Fine, thanks. Good to have you with us this morning.

KEITH: Good to be here.

ZAHN: We mentioned the film opens today, yet some of the men and women serving our country got a preview of film. Describe to us where you where you were on the USS Vinson when our troops got to see this film.

KEITH: Well, they screened the film on board the USS Carl Vinson, where we shot part of the film back in February, off the coast of San Diego. I got to make a little speech before the picture and got to tell the sailors and guys over there just how mad this country is and how behind them we are and that they are our fists and our teeth and to put them to good use. And they roared. They love the picture as well. It was the greatest night of my life. Honest to God truth.

ZAHN: How realistic do they think the film was? I'm sure they gave you some feedback there, David.

They did. Everybody loved it. They say it gave them a great reissue of their spirit that was beginning to wane a little bit, being stuck over there on a boat. They hadn't seen land since July. These are guys that even though they are in the middle of war, there is a certain drudgery that can take its toll, and the movie helped revitalize the way they feel over there.

ZAHN: Beyond the message that America was behind these troops, what else did you tell these naval warriors?

KEITH: I told them that the anger -- and the United States had not been this angry since World War II -- and they had to our fists, they had to be our teeth. They needed to wreak the havoc that we sought, because it's very frustrating to sit here at home.

At the end, I told them that my wife, Nancy, and I were having our first baby, a baby girl, in January, and the world would be a better, safer place for my little girl to grow up, and I loved them for that too.

ZAHN: I hope you're right, and I hope it comes that swiftly.

KEITH: I think it will. I don't think we are going to back off until it's done, this time.

ZAHN: America, of course, just witnessed its first combat death, and everybody is deeply saddened by the loss of the CIA operative. Within the context of this movie, help us better understand what the decision is that Gene Hackman has to make, to go in and try to oversee a desperate rescue mission.

KEITH: Yes, Owen Wilson, the pilot behind enemy lines, went off course and is down in an area where NATO forbids the admiral from sending a rescue mission in to get him out. This red tape and this new treaty that's in place in Bosnia is keeping us from getting our guy out. As the command master chief, as master chiefs usually do, I kind of nudge my admiral in the right direction, and we get the ball rolling, and we get him out.

ZAHN: It's interesting. This film really was not supposed to open until sometime in January, and the release date was moved up. Why is that, David?

KEITH: One of the reasons is they were going to open another war movie -- I'm not sure what it is -- around the same weekend, and we didn't want to open the same weekend. Then after September 11, this movie, "Behind Enemy Lines" just started testing through the roof; people went nuts over it because it really is a rah-rah, feel-good, rock 'n' roll war video. The testing went through the roof, and they just said we need to get this out while the iron is hot.

ZAHN: I know you've made it quite clear you're a patriot and respect deeply the mission of our men and women overseas now. What is the most surprising thing you have learned about what they are up against, not only when met with them in the Arabian Sea, on the USS Vinson, but in the course of filming this movie?

KEITH: The thing that I noticed was particularly different from when I was over there just doing drills last February in peace time and being over there is just a sense of vitality in the air. There is just this vital, tangible electricity that surrounds even the most mundane jobs. The hands that are on the mop handle are also on the joy stick.

They also let me load a couple of bombs. I got to load a couple 500-lb. bombs under the wings of an F-18 and write my own little message from me and my buddies in east Tennessee to the al Qaeda.

ZAHN: I gather you can't repeat any of that language here this morning, could you, David?

KEITH: Well, I probably shouldn't.

ZAHN: We will let you clean it up another time.

David Keith, best of luck. Your film, "Behind Enemy Lines," opens today. Good luck with your daughter.

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