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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Andy Seiler

Aired December 01, 2001 - 11:45   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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEHIND ENEMY LINES")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We were able to track the emergency radio signal to somewhere in this radius.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's pretty far away.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: But we think the power transmission came from here.

GENE HACKMAN, ACTOR: That's Burnnet?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Yes, sir.

HACKMAN: What's going on? He's down.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You've been shot?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Well, if you were sleeping, you're probably awake now. That was a scene from "Behind Enemy Lines," a new movie about a Navy pilot who's been shot down in Bosnia. Combat is hot in Hollywood right now.

Joining us from Washington with more on the fighter flicks is Andy Seiler of "USA Today" -- he's a reporter for "USA Today."

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SEILER, "USA TODAY": Hi, how are you doing?

PHILLIPS: A lot of these films were put on the back burner, though, after September 11, correct?

SEILER: There's been a 180 in the way they think out there apparently, because right after September 11, we heard that "Wind Talkers" from action movie king John Woo, and Nicholas Cage starring in that, was going to be delayed.

They thought because of the war and everything, people were glued to their sets, they wouldn't want to see a war movie. It's coming out next summer. Since then, I think around four movies that were actually supposed to come out next year or a few months from now, are being rushed to come out between now and the end of the year, with "Behind Enemy Lines" leading the charge.

So obviously their marketing is telling them that the initial reactions -- we heard a lot of things right after September 11 that aren't turning out to be true, and this is one of them.

They seemed to think -- I mean we won't really know until the results are in -- that people want to see this kind of thing, no matter how much they're watching CNN and seeing it on TV.

PHILLIPS: Sure, I think there's a different understanding. I mean would you agree this is a good thing? I mean I saw the trailer for "Black Hawk Down" and I just, I got so pumped up; it was exciting. I identified with it in a very different way.

SEILER: Yes, well "Black Hawk Down" is the one that everybody thinks is the one to beat.

A lot of these movies have very similar plots, and "Behind Enemy Lines," which is pretty high concept -- I mean when you see a title, "Behind Enemy Lines," you know it's about a guy trapped behind enemy lines. That's the first one.

I think they're trying to get that one out there before "Black Hawk Down," because if it came out after, maybe no one would pay much attention to it.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you bring up a good point. These pretty much should be pro-military -- or do they need to be pro-military and have the big heroes, because I don't think anyone wants to see the good guy going bad or any of these type of war films, right?

SEILER: That's right. A famous example: the original anti-war movie that so many of them owe a lot to is "All Quiet on the Western Front." Well, the guy who directed that during World War II, he didn't make anti-war movies, he made pro-war movies. And the fact is that you only see those anti-war movies and those shades of gray kind of films in times of peace.

You just don't see them in times of war. Or if they come out, you don't see them because nobody bought tickets. I mean, there are going to be a couple like that, and I don't know whether people are ready for something that complex or not.

PHILLIPS: So you've written about there is a demand for this now, and people are getting ready to see them. I think -- I was just thinking about this the other day, "Top Gun." I remember when I went to see that movie, you go because it was Tom Cruise.

Now, I saw the rerun on TV and I was looking at the strike fighter formation. Do you think people are getting sort of a different appreciation for the military, for U.S. soldiers, and maybe not necessarily going for the entertainment, but sort of the education?

SEILER: Yes. You know it's interesting, "Behind Enemy Lines" apparently the original script for it was a lot more along the lines of something like "Top Gun." And I understand they reworked it to make it a little more sophisticated, to show the politics of it, to bring in -- it actually ends up being a little smarter than you would think it would be.

I do think that there is going to be a problem for movies that are very cartoonish, because people are becoming much more aware of all the intricacies of this kind of thing.

I mean, for example, Sylvester Stallone has said he wants to make another "Rambo" movie. Well the problem with that is, the last "Rambo" movie took place in Afghanistan, and he was on the other side. He was fighting against the Russians, who are now our allies, with the Mujahideen, who evolved into the Taliban. So he would have a little bit of a continuity problem if he wants to go back now. He'll have to say, "well it was really not the Taliban I was fighting with, it was the Northern Alliance and they were good guys" and you know, so...

PHILLIPS: Blah, blah, blah.

SEILER: It's not going to work.

PHILLIPS: Well it's interesting, you mention Afghanistan. Do you think that we will see any movies about, or on Afghanistan in the future? I mean that's a pretty delicate issue, right?

SEILER: Well the interesting thing about it, the reason why all these movies exist is because of "Saving Private Ryan." That's why they all have the "Behind Enemy Lines" angle and all that kind of stuff, and that was a couple of years ago, which gives you an idea.

It's not like World War II where everything was filmed in the studio. Everyone was on contract. You could churn these movies out as fast as the war was going on.

It takes a long time, so there's a big problem because "Behind Enemy Lines" was smart. Their advertising makes it look like it is the war now. It's actually Bosnia. If they try to make a movie right now, OK, by the time it comes out, is this war still going to be going on? Are people still going to be supporting it as much? Will we even be in this country?

So there's a real problem there. I can't imagine anybody that's going to want to tackle this thing, because everything will be so old and out of date by the time the film comes out.

I don't think we'll see any movies about this. And also, how do you portray this war? Are the Arabs the bad guys? Is that politically incorrect now? So I think they're going to take a wait- and-see attitude until it's well over before they decide what they might want to do with it.

PHILLIPS: Andy Seiler, reporter for "USA Today," thanks so much. Good flicks to go see this weekend.

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