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CNN Sunday Morning
'Band of Brothers' Premieres Tonight on HBO
Aired September 09, 2001 - 08:17 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you are an HBO subscriber, this is a major debut tonight. The HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers" tells the story of a crack group of U.S. Army paratroopers in the middle of World War II's major European battles.
CNN's Paul Vercammen reports the series' commanding officers are Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Hollywood premier for HBO's "Band of Brothers," executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg strolled through the media gauntlet.
World War II veteran Bill Guarnere made that walk too, he got there on true grit and one leg. He lost the other during a German shelling.
BILL GUARNERE, WWII VETERAN: How you think we got here? You can't be meek in war. Cannot be meek in war. You got to be tough. Only the tough survive, too.
VERCAMMEN: Now many younger Americans can experience the heroic tales of Guarnere and the members of Easy Company from the 596th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
The paratroopers saga first appeared in the best-selling book "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. Spielberg and Hanks and Ambrose, as they did on "Saving Private Ryan," joined forces to bring "Band of Brothers" to the screen.
STEVEN SPIELBERG, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: I want them to appreciate the history of the middle of this century, when we reached a crossroads to determine whether there was to be a 21st century or not. And these brave boys who are now great veterans saved the world.
VERCAMMEN: Spielberg hopes that "Band of Brothers" resumes what "Private Ryan" started, it offered history lessons to young viewers who couldn't grasp their parents or grandparents stories about World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I'd paid a little bit more attention to history back then. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really changes your thoughts about what happened in the war and everything like that, you know.
VERCAMMEN: How so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. It's more realistic now than what they teach you in school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BAND OF BROTHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ninety percent of the men are still accounted for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: One of the original "Band of Brothers," Lynn "Buck" Compton says, the new series can teach young people about unwavering patriotism.
LYNN "BUCK" COMPTON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: In my day, when World War II broke out, you would be embarrassed to be on the streets without a uniform on of some kind. The country was totally unified and we never questioned the fact that we were going to go serve.
VERCAMMEN: Lieutenant Compton went on to become Chief Deputy District Attorney of Los Angeles County and lead prosecutor in the trial of Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert Kennedy.
The actors playing Compton and Guarnere appreciate their dedication to country.
VERCAMMEN: Frank John Hughes, 33 years old, took on the role as gutsy Sargent Guarnere from South Philadelphia, now 76.
FRANK JOHN HUGHES, ACTOR: He was giving to his men, to the men under him, and he was giving after the war, and he still was. He gave me everything in order to portray him accurately. Changed my life.
VERCAMMEN: How did he do?
GUARNERE: I told him we won the war, don't worry about the acting, so he done all right.
VERCAMMEN: Paul Vercammen, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Also sharing the executive producer duties for "Band of Brothers" is Tony To. He is now joining us live this morning from Los Angeles.
Good morning to you, Tony. Thank you very much for being with us at this early hour out there.
TONY TO, CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Good morning.
SAVIDGE: Let me ask you, why the genre of a miniseries and why ten parts? Why not a major motion picture?
TO: I guess the story that we had to tell, from Ambrose's book, was best suited to a miniseries format.
SAVIDGE: This was said to cost about $120 million. Seems to be a very big budget for a project for, basically, television.
TO: I think that for all of the producers and for HBO it was about trying to tell the right story in the right way, so whatever that cost was we agreed to do, and that decision was held by trying to do it right.
SAVIDGE: How do you divide up the actions of this remarkable unit into basically ten chunks?
TO: We took the book and we tried to look at all the decisive action that they went through, and then we took the characters that would be the needle that pulled the story thread for us in each hour through each decisive action.
SAVIDGE: One of the interesting things, as you watch through time, is the evolution of war movies depicting World War II. You had a great deal immediately after the war, in the 50's and even into 60's. It died down somewhat, and then we returned with, say, "Saving Private Ryan" to the genre, but it's a different look now. It's a much more grittier, at times very gruesome, very real depiction. Why that sort of change? And what happened to bring about that change?
TO: I think a couple of things. I think after the war, immediately after the war, you had a lot of movies that were done to celebrate that patriotism in a, I wouldn't say superficial way, but in a more glossy way. And ever since "Ryan," Steven took us into this world that was very real and he did it in a documentary style, a subjective style. And so, that's how it changed.
SAVIDGE: Well, I have a very personal connection to this. My father was one of those that was first in at D-Day, so I have a strong appreciation, but what is it that draws audiences in, particularly young people who have only known this through history, obviously, and yet they are drawn to a movie like this? What is it?
TO: Well, I consider "Band of Brothers," firstly, not a war movie, but really a human story. It's a story about the human spirit, what it can endure. So, I think that all audience members are going to be drawn to it because it's about human beings, not about war.
SAVIDGE: But, I guess I'm digging, or trying to go a little deeper in that, is there something in our society today where we feel perhaps we've lost a bit of our moral compass and we look back on that generation that seemed to be so solid in where it was they were going and what it was they had to do.
TO: I think that what you're saying is absolutely true, and it was our aim, I guess, part of our aim, in making this, so that this next generation would find direction from this last great generation. SAVIDGE: Tony To, executive producer of "Band of Brothers," co- executive producer. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. We look forward to the miniseries.
TO: Thank you very much.
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