John Milius: The Interview
Posted by Dirty Harry on Saturday, July 12th, 2008
I met Milius at an event a couple years ago. He’s what you call a raconteur. At the time he was much miffed at HBO for cancelling Rome, something he brings up in the interview. It was a hectic night and without thinking I left without paying for a $13 glass of wine The Hot Little Number I Call Mrs. Harry ordered. Yeah, I stuck John Milius with a tab.
Not my finest moment.
TOM’S GAMES: It’s interesting that you did Now with Francis Ford because he seems more left wing, and you’re staunchly right wing.
MILIUS: We both respected each other and we sort of enjoyed the friction, you know? We enjoyed it enormously. We both re-examined our views many times. I remember many sessions that he and I would sit around until all hours of the night arguing about something. We weren’t that far off politically to tell you the truth. Many people think “Apocalypse Now” is an amovie, and there are certain attitudes that are sort of anti-war, but it’s a very pro-American soldier movie at the same time. I felt it was futile to make an anti-war movie; it’s like making an anti-rain movie.
TG: What was the inspiration for writing the line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning?”
MILIUS: I vaguely remember writing that. I don’t think anybody remembers writing much of anything, but I thought that would be cut out. I thought it was over-the-top, but I might as well put it in anyway. I thought it was a little too Strangelove-ian. As a matter of fact, I thought they’d take the whole character of Robert Duvall, that whole Kilgore character and cut him back a ways. I sort of pushed it a bit, the idea of him being a surfer and everything. And I was really amazed when I saw the film how naturally it worked. Actually, you feel perfectly at home with the idea of this guy being a surfer and wearing this cavalry hat, and he’s a very realistic character. It turns out in light of the war; he was a very realistic character.
Filed in General |
David Marcoeon 12 Jul 2008 at 11:19 pm 1How about sending him a cheque?
Outlaw 13on 12 Jul 2008 at 11:37 pm 2Or a check.
Outlaw 13on 12 Jul 2008 at 11:43 pm 3I wish I could tell Mr. Milius that when I went to flight school they played the Kilgore part of the movie to get us fired up…and it worked.
Some people may not know this, but 1st CAV soldiers still wear stetsons and spurs (if earned)…1-7 CAV (the same unit from “We Were Soldiers”) calls their Tactical Operations Center, “LZ X-Ray”…I wish the rest of the country would try and remember history as well as the military does.
LT Nixonon 13 Jul 2008 at 12:39 am 4Walter, the napalm is not the issue…man
wfon 13 Jul 2008 at 3:57 am 5Call The Wind and the Lion a “political drama” - I guess you can call it that, but it´s more likely they haven´t seen it.
USS Benon 13 Jul 2008 at 4:06 am 6Outlaw 13-
If just a majority of our country knew history as well as most in the Military they would quit electing idiots to Congress.
Phoenixon 13 Jul 2008 at 4:08 am 7Lanterns, lanterns, British are coming!
…We already done that, now let’s scorn the “EU”
But they are one of our fewest buds these days, so bud-props,
strange how this same team-up keeps occurring (Ausies too)…
David Marcoeon 13 Jul 2008 at 4:35 am 8Actually, I’m American. I just grew up learning that that check always had a variant spelling decided to use it. Little did I know it was strange highfalutin Limey English.
Stephanieon 13 Jul 2008 at 5:35 am 9I love John Milius and Outlaw I love those Stetsons. The guys look so hardcore in them. Ya gotta walk proud when you earn those to.
Good interview. Love his making an anti war movie is like making an anti rain movie. Great quote and will be remembering and using it.
Interesting perspective on the issues with Hollywood now. But you know while technology is making it possible, they are still by making crap and marginalizing people doing it to themselves.
GMKon 13 Jul 2008 at 8:05 am 10I wouldn’t send a check, I’d send a bottle of wine.
Bennett Owenon 13 Jul 2008 at 8:16 am 11I’ve never heard of John Milius but I’ve always thought Apocalypse Now is far from a purely anti-war movie. It simply questioned the way were fighting that war and the absurdity of assassinating one of the few commanders who’d figured out how to deal with the Viet Cong.
Patton was touted as an anti-war movie too. But I feel that the screenwriter, Francis Ford Coppola, had great respect for the warrior spirit and that comes through in Apocalypse Now as well.
Troyon 13 Jul 2008 at 8:25 am 12$13 bottle of wine? Did you order the Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill with your Rutti Tutti Fresh and Fruity special? Awesome.
Stephanieon 13 Jul 2008 at 8:34 am 13It was a 13 dollar glass of wine troy. I would say that ain’t Boones Farm. I feel guilty asking for an 8 dollar glass and I don’t drink crap wine either.
Ben Boychukon 13 Jul 2008 at 8:39 am 14Great interview. But I was disappointed slightly to see that Milius’s next project is for the Chinese government. Ugh.
[IMH]on 13 Jul 2008 at 10:24 am 15Send him a case of Two Buck Chuck. It’d make him laugh, I bet.
Synner_manon 13 Jul 2008 at 10:52 am 16I wonder if Milius’s next project (”Genghis Khan”) is the 2nd part of “Mongol”’s proposed trilogy or a separate film. He isn’t clear on whether he’s directing or just writing.
Troyon 13 Jul 2008 at 11:43 am 17glass/bottle… so I can’t read. I am a product of American public schools after all! I don’t feel guilty asking for a $13 glass of wine, but I’d rather have a Stinger.
Troyon 13 Jul 2008 at 11:52 am 18Hey Steph… OT, but here’s an interesting article on the Pack, Favre, and Thompson…. let the PR games begin!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080713/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_packers_favre
Plissken79on 13 Jul 2008 at 12:25 pm 19Excellent interview with Milius, he was certainly right about that awful “Black” game, which exemplifies everything wrong with so many FPS these days.
Another good point about the Oscars, so many that have won major awards are completely forgotten. An excellent example is the film that inexplicably defeated Apocalypse Now for Best Picture, Kramer vs. Kramer.
Stephanieon 13 Jul 2008 at 1:25 pm 20I read it all this morning. My attitude of giving all involved the middle finger is correct. I sure don’t believe either side. THere has been a certain lack of communication and professionalism on both sides. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Bloody Samon 14 Jul 2008 at 4:16 am 21Anyone have any info, or any ideas, as to why the Red Dawn SE DVD didn’t feature a Milius commentary? I would’ve upgraded my current DVD if it had, but I no longer purchase the same movie twice merely for featurettes.
I wonder if it’s a case of no commentary being recorded at all, or a decision to scrap one that had been. Before the DVD release of Salvador, Oliver Stone remarked in an interview that he’d recorded one, but wasn’t sure if MGM would put it on the DVD or not (they did). John Carpenter recorded commentaries for both They Live and Prince Of Darkness, but Universal released them only on the Region 2 DVDs.
Robert Lindseyon 14 Jul 2008 at 7:34 am 22When I was in the Army you could get t-shirts in the PX with a pic of Killgore and “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning” on them. They also had shirts that said “Kill them all, let God sort them out.”
The first time I watched Apocalypse Now, I wished they’d made a whole movie about Killgore. He was great.
SFC Calvin Hubbardon 31 Jul 2008 at 7:55 pm 23Maintenance Control Sergeant 1-7 CAV
GARRYOWEN!!!!