![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/62\/2012\/02\/Act-of-Valor-04-300x232.jpg\" "\\"Act-of-Valor-04\\"")
<\/a>How real is the story told in the Navy SEAL movie \u201cAct of Valor?\u201d<\/p>\nIf anything, it\u2019s toned down, say directors Scott Waugh and Mike \u201cMouse\u201d McCoy.<\/p>\n
They included in the story line five real acts of valor that have happened in combat in the last ten years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you watch it, when you see those certain things that seem implausible. Those things have happened,\u201d said McCoy.<\/p>\n
Filmed over two years, the directors worked their shooting schedules around the deployment and training of the SEALs, who were then, and remain today, active duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperational planning was done by them,\u201d explained Waugh, \u201cWe would have a story point that we would have to address and they would work the operation around it and then we would integrate a camera plan. An interesting approach. One that yielded something authentic as things went down.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a complex project for the filmmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir schedule is really laid out. They\u2019d say, \u2018We\u2019ll be there for 7 days, if you want to come in with cameras for the last two days\u2026 Once we had a four hour window. [Normally] it would take a 7 day shoot and we did in in 4 hours, because that was the only time we had access to that platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SEALs are not identified in the credits, but their faces are shown. \u201cThe guys were comfortable with it,\u201d explained Waugh, \u201cThere are certain missions in the world where you need to be totally covert. All these guys had multiple, multiple combat deployments, so they might not be going off in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNavy had a scrub on the film for TGP \u2013 technique, tactic and procedure \u2013 so they weren\u2019t going to give away any secrets with the making of the film. But they did not have a content scrub. So they respected us and said \u2018we want you to take an honest look at who we are,'\u201d explained McCoy.<\/p>\n
The most complex \u2013 and dangerous \u2013 part? Live ammunition.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these scenes were live fire and we were in the middle of those gunfights,\u201d said McCoy.<\/p>\n
It all came down to trust, added Waugh, \u201cYou\u2019re in a live fire situation with these guys and you know they\u2019re not going to sweep around and take you out and they know you\u2019re not going to do anything dumb and be out of position.\u201d<\/p>\n
The filmmakers also toned down the brutality of the terrorists and drug lords the SEALs fight. In one scene, a thug tortures a CIA agent by drilling through her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very tamed to what really goes on. [the SEALs told them] \u2018We came in this room and there\u2019s six people and what they\u2019ve been through, you could never get that out of your mind.\u2019 These guys, they\u2019ve seen the worst of the worst. We\u2019ve heard stories that make that scene seem like kindergarten. When they had raided camps with hostages, all their toes and fingers had been drilled through. Amongst all the other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some bad people in the world,\u201d said McCoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was 11 years ago \u2013 9\/11,\u201d said Waugh, \u201cWe all think there\u2019s no more threats out there. Americans need to realize \u2013 no \u2013 that threat\u2019s still there. Thank god we just have a fantastic military that\u2019s prevented it from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the directors came to know the SEALs well, they caught a glimpse of who the men are inside and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s their real wives and families in the movie,\u201d explained Waugh, \u201cWhich I think is very special. It gives you that feel of getting to peek into their real lives, which is unprecedented in that world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very strong women too,\u201d added McCoy, \u201cThe women really pay the tax here. The guys go off to do what they do and the women are left to take care of the kids and hold it together. I have as much respect for their wives as for the men. One wife, she\u2019s mother of five. [Her husband] just got back from an 11 month deployment last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they came to respect the men more and more, McCoy and Waugh felt a burden to do their story justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne man told us, \u2018I\u2019m going to do it. I\u2019m going to be in the film because I trust you two.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt a responsibility to tell their story authentically. If you don\u2019t do it justice and be honorable with who they are, well, these eight men came to us and told us \u2018we trust you to tell our stories.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAct of Valor\u201d opens Friday.<\/p>\n
Read Waugh and McCoy on how Hollywood misrepresents soldiers. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen you watch it, when you see those certain things that seem implausible. Those things have happened.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,161,13],"tags":[294,305],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment-news","category-featured","category-interviews","tag-actofvalorfilm","tag-actofvalor"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/62\/2012\/02\/Act-of-Valor-04.jpg\" "\\"Act-of-Valor-04\\"")
<\/a>How real is the story told in the Navy SEAL movie \u201cAct of Valor?\u201d<\/p>\n