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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Director Kimberly Peirce Gives Her Thoughts on Channing Tatum's 'Stop-Loss'

In a recent article posted on the Austin360.com community and entertainment news site, one of the writers had a great summary for Channing Tatum's upcoming drama 'Stop-Loss' where through director Kimberly Peirce we get a good synopsis of what the film is all about.

Here is an excerpt from the article...

'Stop-Loss'

With her second feature "Stop-Loss," which arrives nine years after her Oscar-winning debut "Boys Don't Cry," director Kimberly Peirce shows again that she can address hot-to-the-touch topics without purposely stirring the pot of controversy.

Human themes — love, friendship, family, duty — remain her focus, even if the subject is a true, tragic story about a transgender teenager in "Boys" or the personal repercussions of the Iraq war in "Stop-Loss." She's more interested in how extreme situations tap immediate personal concerns and how we deal with them.

"I don't think people want to see a polemic. They don't want messages," says Peirce, who shot the film during the broiling summer of 2006 in and around Austin. "What interests me are human emotions and good scenes."

The term "stop-loss" derives from U.S. military policy, which states that soldiers can be forced back to duty even after their contracted term has been completed. Peirce says that 81,000 soldiers who served in Iraq have been stop-lossed — "patriots who have done their time and want to get out."

This is what happens to Sgt. Brandon King (played by Ryan Phillipe). Home after a rough stint in Iraq, he is called back by the Army. He makes a wrenching decision to go AWOL instead of returning to battle.

King wants to be a great leader, Peirce says. "But when he realizes he can't save his men under the current circumstances, he won't go back. He says he doesn't want to lead more men to being wounded or killed. 'Because they won't let us fight the way we need to win it,' he says, 'I don't want to keep fighting it.'

"His patriotism, camaraderie and need to be a leader is what wins out," Peirce says. "That's what it's really about."

Calling "The Deer Hunter," "Best Years of Our Lives" and "Apocalypse Now" the "psychic blueprints" for her movie — "profound human stories that transcend the war genre" — Peirce refuses to call "Stop-Loss" an Iraq war film.

"These young men go to war, but it's about them coming home and trying to retrieve the lives they left behind," she says. "It's about the moving relationships between the men and between the men and their families."

— Chris Garcia

Channing Tatum's highly-anticipated drama 'Stop-Loss' will hit theaters March 28, 2008. I'll see the movie a little early next week at a couple of screenings, so make sure to stay tuned to Channing Tatum Unwrapped where I'll be posting photos from the screenings and publishing another one of my "famous" survival guides to let fans know what to do before, during, and after seeing what I know is going to be an incredible film!

In the meantime, you can CLICK HERE to check out the world wide release dates and to watch both of the movie's trailers.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am so excited about this movie! I cant wait to hear all about it, Q!!
Thanks,
Jan