Eastwood Goes Underground (ign.com)

- ign.com -

November 27, 2006 - Originally scheduled for February of next year, producer Steven Spielberg gave the go-ahead to release Letters from Iwo Jima, director Clint Eastwood's companion film to Flags of Our Fathers, this December 20th. Eastwood said in a recent press release, "The two films were meant to complement each other, so it just makes sense to release Letters From Iwo Jima this year, closer to the release of Flags of our Fathers."

Of course, everyone knows what this December release date really means: Letters from Iwo Jima will be eligible for Academy Award consideration.

Speaking with IGN, Flags of Our Fathers co-star Barry Pepper says, "Clint shot aerials and effects plate shots while we were filming our movie. When [Letters from Iwo Jima] comes out, people are going to be amazed by this movie. The right thing to do would be release it sooner."

Warner Bros./DreamWorks

After seeing footage from Iwo Jima, Pepper explains that he asked Eastwood what inspired him to follow Flags with a companion film.

"He said he had this profoundly moving experience while researching Flags of Our Fathers," says Pepper. "Clint went [to Iwo Jima]. And no one can just go to Iwo Jima. No one can just visit. It's by military invitation only. He said, 'I walked into one of the caverns and found everything in there was left as it was since 1945 - cigarette packages and shell casings and gear and supplies. They left everything. And there were these letters that told the story of these young Japanese soldiers who knew they were going to die.' That's actually the reason for this: In addition to the letters, Clint was so inspired by what he saw in the tunnels on Iwo Jima."

Beneath the sulfuric, volcanic rock of Iwo Jima lies 16 miles of subterranean, concrete-reinforced tunnels. "These incredible, underground reinforcements," says Pepper. "Which is why the battle engaged for months and the U.S. Marines hardly even saw a live Japanese soldier." And what the Japanese saw through their gun emplacements, Pepper adds, was "the full force of the American Fleet sending wave after wave of bombardment from land and air."

Warner Bros./DreamWorks

"That's where the Letters from Iwo takes place, in these caves and tunnels," Pepper says. "It's not the Supreme Emperor's perspective of the war. It's not about the policy makers in Japan. It has nothing to do with how that whole side of the war was waged. It's from the perspective of these 19-year-old Japanese kids in the caves. These young kids, who, like the Americans, have the exact same sensibilities and worries. These kids were writing letters home to their Mom and Dad saying things like 'I'm scared and I don't want to die,' 'I miss my dog,' 'You're my girl and I love you.' All the same identical themes of war that are time eternal. Culturally this is very different, but the themes are identical."

Whereas the American Marines were determined to take Iwo Jima, the Japanese soldiers, on the other hand, knew they were going to die. "They were sent to Iwo knowing this," says Pepper. They had orders to fight "in the face of an overwhelming force, and they knew they wouldn't live."

Warner Bros./DreamWorks

Pepper, who also starred in Saving Private Ryan, believes Letters from Iwo Jima is revolutionary in its approach to the war film genre.

"We think of ourselves as seeing things from a certain perspective," he says. "We are good, you know? We're the good guys. But a movie like this hasn't been done before by an American production. It's not preachy. It's not offering any kind apology. It's about the fact that Clint realized these are Japanese kids who we just as easily could have been friends with. As easily as you could identify with the young American Marines, there's this other side of the gunplay."

Adds Pepper, "I think that Flags of Our Fathers will stand the test of time primarily because of Letters from Iwo Jima."