The Big Picture

• Military advisor Captain Dale Dye oversaw a grueling boot camp for Saving Private Ryan's cast, pushing them to their limits.
• The majority of the cast, led by Tom Hanks, threatened to quit due to extreme conditions during boot camp.
• Tom Hanks convinced his co-stars to complete the experience, fostering camaraderie through the kind of leadership of a military Captain.

Having aged like a fine wine for decades, Saving Private Ryan remains one of Steven Spielberg's crowning directorial achievements and among cinema's most realistic depictions of combat. From the film's iconic and horrifying recreation of the D-Day invasion to a gritty final battle set in a devastated French town, the 1998 epic pulls no punches in delivering audiences an unflinching glimpse into an infantryman's harrowing experiences. To effectively capture the authenticity of World War II combat and the grueling demands of soldiers, Spielberg and his collaborators went to painstaking lengths, not least of which saw the film's core ensemble cast undergo a days-long "boot camp" under the punishing supervision of a former Marine and military consultant. Though the dedicated performers would ultimately complete the challenging task, the process was nearly derailed when many of the actors, disgruntled over the conditions they were enduring, staged an attempted mutiny, requiring their fearless leader-both on and off-screen-to rally his troops and boost collective morale.

Captain Dale Dye Oversaw 'Saving Private Ryan's Boot Camp

By 1998, Captain Dale Dye had established a respected reputation as one of Hollywood's premier sources for knowledge and accuracy regarding cinematic depictions of war. As a veteran who'd spent 21 years in the Marine Corps, Dye not only saw action in Vietnam and Lebanon but had the battle scars and Purple Hearts to prove it. Years after acting as a consultant to several Vietnam War films, including Casualties of War and Born on the Fourth of July, he was tapped by Steven Spielberg to lend military expertise to Saving Private Ryan. As he had previously done with the cast of Oliver Stone's Platoon, Dye was prepared to put Spielberg's cast through quite an ordeal before they stepped in front of a camera.

Taking Spielberg's stellar cast-led by Tom Hanks under his commanding wing, Dye orchestrated and supervised a boot camp rehearsal period that lasted nearly a week. Intended to familiarize the actors with weapons, equipment, tactics, and the camaraderie inherent to a close-knit fighting unit, the experience proved grueling for the inexperienced men, whom Dye often demeaned and screamed at with all the ferocity of a hardened officer. Without the familiar luxuries often afforded to actors, the green performers regularly embarked on lengthy hikes with heavy gear, subsisted on meager military rations, and were left exposed to the inclement weather of the English countryside. Under Dye's tutelage, however, the experience quickly took a toll on the Hollywood players, most of whom reached a breaking point that jeopardized Saving Private Ryan's future.

'Saving Private Ryan's Cast Wanted Out

From daily runs to little sleep to an unforgiving environment, the actors tasked with bringing Saving Private Ryan's characters to life soon found themselves in over their heads. "We get there, we set up our tents and it starts raining and it doesn't stop raining for seven days," remembers Edward Burns, who characterized the boot camp as "the worse experience of my life." "It is 30 degrees at night and you are in a soaking wet tent, a soaking wet uniform, with a soaking wet blanket wrapped around you." Echoing the sentiment, Tom Sizemore said of Dale Dye's relentless pursuit of authenticity, "If anyone referred to a colleague by anything but their character name there were push-ups, if they made movie talk, push-ups, called their gun a "gun" and not a "weapon", yes, more push-ups."Physically and mentally exhausted, the majority of the men involved became incensed over being made to approach their roles as method actors. Furthermore, they were concerned that the rigors of their boot camp would compromise their ability to work on Spielberg's film. According to Dale Dye, "I think there was a phone call that Tom made to Steven Spielberg where he said, ‘We’ve got a little situation here, what do you want to do?'" On their third day of boot camp, the actors took a vote over whether to quit, and Spielberg left the final decision in Hanks' hands. As the only actor who voted in favor of seeing the challenging ordeal through to its end, Hanks took the kind of leadership he'd soon be committing to film as Saving Private Ryan's Captain John Miller.

Tom Hanks Convinced His Co-Stars to Finish Their Boot Camp

As morale was plummeting among the embattled cast of Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks took the lead in convincing his co-stars to finish what they'd started. As Vin Diesel remembers, "We were all exhausted, we all wanted to leave and here was this guy who was a superstar, who doesn't have to be here, voting to stay. He said, 'Guys, 20 years from now, you'll look back on this and wished to God you had finished it.'" Displaying all the conviction, inspiration, and thoughtful guidance of the character he'd be playing in Spielberg's film, Hanks' message resonated with his fellow actors and, despite some initial reluctance, they trudged on through several more days of Dale Dye's boot camp, and the experience ultimately served them well in having the tiniest inkling of understanding of what life as basic infantryman was like.Upon completing their grueling week-long task, Dye congratulated the actors and reminded them that their efforts were part of a larger commemoration of American soldiers who had served and lost their lives in the line of duty. Edward Burns recalls, "We went out a bunch of pansy actors, and we came back, not like soldiers, but as close as you can get in seven days." Aside from the pragmatic knowledge and experience they'd gained from the rigorous week-long process, the actors had developed the kind of bond and close-knit camaraderie required of men in a fighting unit, which would undoubtedly go on to inform their performances and translate to on-screen chemistry when cameras rolled on Saving Private Ryan.

Saving Private Ryan is available to watch on Apple+ in the U.S.WATCH ON APPLE+