Green Zone film with Matt Damon
 

Ok so here is the story. Back in 2003 I was in Iraq as part of a small team doing the search for chemical weapons. As you can imagine it was a pretty crazy time and we were all convinced that we would find stockpiles of WMD and get our picture taken and make the news blah blah blah. Obviously that didn't happen. During our search we discovered the intelligence was very bad (very bad intelligence) so we began conducting our own investigation...in a way. It was a very crazy time as you can imagine and my boss, Monty Gonzales, Chief Warrant Officer, was the man searching for the truth.

Anyway 4 years after I got back from Iraq and out of the Military I receive a call from a producer making a film based on those events. They asked me to be an advisor and basically play myself in the film. We filmed in 2008 and the movie is due out March 12. As you can imagine that was a crazy fun experience. Since this is my first Thread I don't know how to imbed video so I will just add some links to a CBS interview that has me in it and the movie trailer.

I would really be interested in peoples take on the subject matter and the film itself. I have been on Chiefs Planet for years and I find that there is a solid mix of good points and good humor.

CBS Interview
http://www.imdb.com/video/cbs/vi2081292313/

Movie Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkTpAYrLcOo

Wow! That's pretty awesome man. Congratulations, and thank you for your service.

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saw a preview for that before I saw wolfman the other day. looked pretty interesting. how true to the situation did they hit things?

Did you ask Matt Damon if he really f**ked Sarah Silverman?

FIlm trailer looks decent, and Damon always entertains. I'll probably check it out.

Well it starts off dead on accurate. Then it turns into an action flick where Matt is not quite Jason Bourn but still a bad ass.

So I would say 30% very true 70% total BS

I just watched the trailer. That looks good. I'll be watching it.

well, that's still around 20% more 'true to life' than most hollywood movies 'based on true events.'

ROFL That's funny. When I read that post I thought "Wow. Pretty realistic."

That's badass.

Awesome Brah!

I suspect the film will be top notch. Paul Greengrass is one of the best directors working today.

Of course I say that now. I go to the premiere on the 25th and see the finished product for the first time so expect that number to slide to the left...pun intended.

There will be lots of the shaky camera which is hit and miss with some people. Paul was great to work with, we basically had no script and he would tell us to just react as if it were real and whatever we said was good for him.

How was Matt Damon?

so, ultimate question: does matt damon still do that whole wide-eyed stare and simply say his name thing? 'maaaat....daaaaaamon...'

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you get in trouble for looking him directly in the eye?

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Very cool.

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I love that.

Matt was cool as hell. The first day me and the guys were pretty star struck but by day two we were giving him shit. He had just been voted prettiest man or something like that so we would leave that picture around for him to find. I worked side by side with him for about 4 months and I have to say that he is a class act all the way around.

Nice, Oregon chief has taken over jwhit's spot for most famous planeteer.

Congrats!

Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Nice story. Congratulations, hope you hit the motherload on the big screen.

:spock:

http://www.njsweatsox.com/paul_reubens.jpg

Congrats, man! Are you Adam Wendling (who's uniform says Michaels)?

Sweet. I'll make sure to watch. I love Matt Damon. Bourne Identity's are my favorite films. I'll watch anything w/him in it. Especially now that I know he's a cool dude too. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I don't get it.

Flawless victory jd.

explain.

Thanks for sharing dude. Very cool.

I love the prospects of this movie.

Thank you for your service.

Thanks for your service from San Antonio, Texas.

You bet I will watch it.

Are you Brian, the guy at the end of the clip?

That's awesome OC! Congrats on the movie and thank for the work you did over there. I will definitely be seeing this one. What kind of royalties you getting from this gig :)

Typo of "load" for "lode".

"Hit the mother load on the big screen".

Paul Reubens, a/k/a Pee Wee Herman.

:whackit:

I know about Pee Wee Herman's big adventure in the theater.

I think your joke was a foul tip, but I congratulate the effort.


Anyway, I'm glad you've had this opportunity for something personally good after doing your time O-C.

I'll venture a guess that it's probably none so far...

future tense damnit! English :cuss:

Matt Damon is a weird dick.

He seems a bit fake for the camera from some of the stuff I've heard.

:spock:

Sounds cool, man. I'll be sure to jump up and down in the movie yelling "I KNOW THAT GUY!!!"

That looks awesome, and I like Matt Damon movies. Count me in.

I don't like super activist actors and i heard stories about the guy freaking out when asked for an autograph.

:spock:

:facepalm:

I saw the trailer on tv last night for the first time. My response to my wife was that this is a Bourne story that Robert Ludlum never wrote. The family has made quite a franchise out of the Bourne name since the old man's death.

Wow, that's awesome. I'll definitely check this movie out.

And is there any chance you could send me a signed 8x10 photo?

This is wonderful. CP now has an actual movie star in the mix. Congrats OC and thanks for sharing this with us.

Of course. /Christian Okoye

I’ve seen the trailer for this movie before, interesting looking flick. Even more interesting now.
Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely check that out.

Congrats. Just think, if you had found WoMD you probably would have met Clint Eastwood instead.

Y'know, I always thought Damon was kind of a Streisand, but he's rockin' the shit in this one.

I like a few Eastwood movies and all, but I think Damon might actually be a little more "hot" right now.

Could you get Matt Damon to come to my kids birthday party and perform for us? Nothing to tough, just all the Bourne movies would be fine.

Now thats funny

Yeah I am the Brian that was on at the end. CBS is airing a longer story on it that talks about my involvement with the actual search the movie is about.

Very cool! Props to you!

I will check it out now!

Dane McCloud Anyone?

There are parts of this film that will be controversial. There is a scene of torture and of course a right wing representing evil bad guy. They also make a Special Forces team look like they are the tool of the evil Republicans.

On the actual team, none of this happened. There was never anyone tortured and we worked very closely with the SF and other organizations. They put that in the movie to make it more entertaining because that is something audiences have come to expect. Using real soldiers and a partial true story may cause many people to confuse all of this with reality.

You will have to let me know what you think when you see it.

Playing Brian Bronner?

If you like the Bourne films, read the books. The films sucks huge drippy Clydesdale schlong compared to the books. You have to read them in order ("Identity", "Supremacy", "Ultimatum").

I don't read any of the post-Ludlum collaborative or ghostwriter stuff. Here is the list of HIS books.

The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971)
The Osterman Weekend (1972)
The Matlock Paper (1973)
Trevayne (1973, writing under the pen-name Jonathan Ryder)
The Cry of the Halidon (1974, writing under the pen-name Jonathan Ryder)
The Rhinemann Exchange (1974)
The Road to Gandolfo (1975, writing under the pen-name Michael Shepherd)
The Gemini Contenders (1976)
The Chancellor Manuscript (1977)
The Holcroft Covenant (1978)
The Matarese Circle (1979) (this one was really good IIRC)
The Bourne Identity (1980)
The Parsifal Mosaic (1982) (also very good)
The Aquitaine Progression (1984)
The Bourne Supremacy (1986)
The Icarus Agenda (1988)
The Bourne Ultimatum (1990)
The Road to Omaha (1992)
The Scorpio Illusion (1993)
The Apocalypse Watch (1995)
The Matarese Countdown (1997)
The Prometheus Deception (2000)

No I play Brian Keating. I'm not on the IMDB thing because you really need an agent to petition them to get your name on. I have no agent.

Cool, I look forward to watching the movie. This is one I would have watched aynyway, but to have a connection (no matter how limited) to it makes it a little better.

I finished reading the trilogy about 6 months before the first movie came out. I was so excited to see it that I couldn't wait. While it was a good movie for sure, I was highly disappointed at the differences between the movie and the book. The books are MUCH better.

I have read a few of those others of his as well. I agree, I have no interest in reading the "new" books put out under his name. Also, if you enjoy these you should also read Ken Follett. Wonderful author in the same genre although my favorite of his is [i]Pillars of Earth[/] about building a cathedral in the middle ages.

I'm glad you have sense of humor. ;)

uh, nevermind.

Haha. Maybe I took your statement a little wrong there to start. Might have to check this movie out after this thread, but war movies generally ain't my thing.

If you are a Ken Follett fan you should check out Lie Down With Lions. It is about the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

lay off there, he's no christian okoye.

Oregon Chief, I'm sure you've seen 'Hurt Locker' by now, what's your take on that. I thought it was great. I was in the Army but that was a long time ago, got out 38 years ago to be exact. So I have no knowledge of the current situation.

Over on the movie site IMDB, some Iraq vet has camped out on the Hurt Locker message board and wants to let everyone in the world know that HL is a terrible film. That it's not worthy of an Academy Award nomination or much less even viewing. I don't know if you want to get into that conversation, his latest thread is 17 pages called "Not enjoyable movie for military folks".

Believe it or not I have not seen it. I really want to though because I have heard good things. HL deals with guys that are EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) and we had some with us on our team. They were a great bunch of guys (and girls) that had a really tough job.

I had some friends that were vets and they went to see it and told me that it was a great film. It obviously had its Hollywood moments but overall realistic and entertaining which is a tuff combo.

I have a picutre of Matt and I hanging out at the humvee. I'll try to attach it but I am pretty novice with this stuff.

I enjoyed the Hurt Locker, it was a blast.

So Brian, what is your over all take on working on a movie set? Good food? Any nice eye candy to watch? Was it all business all the time or did they party some?

Do you think Matt would piss his pants if someone shot at him?

Haha.

Party was a big part of it. The acting and advising really didn't require huge effort except for the scenes of running around and stuff like that.

As for eye candy there is not much of that in Iraq so there really was not much on the film either....that said we made do

I loved Hurt Locker. The only fault i had with it was:

You shot the film here in the USA right?

There must have been some cute little Hollywood types hanging around.

I can't remember the title offhand, but Matt Damon made a war movie about 1996 before he was famous. I believe he played a helicopter crewman and a female pilot was killed, I believe Meg Ryan, and Denzel Washington lead an investigation. It was a good film, but what I remember most was reading an article where Matt Damon said he had lost 40 pounds to play the role and then became very sick. He had some health issues and it rolled over into his next role, Good Will Hunting. This is all from memory, but maybe he mentioned it to you, or you might want to check out that film as well.

Courage Under Fire. Good flick.

Damon made a few good movies in the early 90's before he got really big.

Geronimo
Rainmaker
School Ties
Plus the above mentioned flick.

Hey OC did you happen to know a Master Sergeant Nebeker ?

I stand in real awe of battle tested vets like yourself, you & your unit were kicking ass & taking names early on. Thanks.

As for the movie, i'm 99.9% sure i'll like it, it looked slick & Damon is money for these kind of roles & it was very, very smart of that director to get you guys directly involved... talk about realism & having every detail right... instead of sending actors to Army camp.

I hope you report back about it.

Saw it tonight good flick, the part where he goes to Saddams temple and was like hey saddam you like apples? Then shoots him

Where did you see it at?

What? There was no WPMDs? WTF?!!!1eleven!1!!

And they made a movie of it?

****ing leftist media ****s!

And Dane is the only true celebrity we have here. (Sure, FAX says he played the harmonica in Bruce Willis' '98 tour, but we all know that doesn't count.) That some schmuck from Eugene thinks they are Brad Pitt just because Jason Bourne decides to do a Rambo in Iraq flick doesn't mean that they supercede Dane.

****in' Dane. He's the real superstar. I know. He told me to walk into a flaming AIDS tree when I was a CP n00b.

Anyway, being serious, that's cool as hell. (Not your obvious shit time in Iraq, but movie time thing.) I just hope that your Lt. or CwO isn't offended by being played by a Hollywood Streisand like Damond.