The Bearded Trio

Brad’s April Escape - Part 13 April 21 - Saving Private Ryan Each weekday this month, I’ll screen a film from The Bearded Trio Cinematic Universe and list 10 random scenes, characters, musical cues or performances that I particularly enjoy and look forward to upon every viewing. I’d love to hear similar little things you enjoy about these films, and hope you join me in this escape from the present-day world. Next up is a film that acts as a perfect complement to yesterday's post,  Saving Private Ryan  (1998). Saving Private Ryan - An Introduction Oliver Stone considers Nixon (1995) a sequel to JFK (1991). And that makes total sense. Same filmmaker, focusing on two historical individuals, who have enough common elements in their stories to be strongly linked. I have been trying to justify, in my mind, a sequel connection between Schindler's List (1993) and today's focus, Saving Private Ryan (1998). Reasons to sequel one to the other lie in the o...

A little over a year ago filming started on Public Morals , a new TV-series produced by Amblin Television , ordered by TNT Broadcasting . And to show the world that when he produces a series he also means to get involved with the daily work on set, Spielberg himself visited (director and star) Edward Burns and his team on the streets of New York, to watch the dailies and give them some (additional) advice. According to the official Press-Kit, Public Morals centers on New York City Police Department's Public Morals Division, where cops walk a thin line between morality and criminality as temptations that come from dealing with all kinds of vice can get the better of them. The series focuses on Officer Terry Muldoon (portrayed by Edward Burns) and his team. Muldoon knows the line between the good and the bad guys is very thin, and he is determined to raise his own kids to be honest and hardworking as he deals with the dark underbelly of the vice department...

Most of us can only imagine what it would be like to work with Steven Spielberg.  Some have been lucky enough to work with the director but for some it wasn't all plane sailing straight out of the box.  Take Edward Burns who talks about his time on Saving Private Ryan in his new book " Independent Ed " and in particular how nervous he was.  He admits that he 'botched' many takes: He recalls Tom Hanks leaning in and whispering to him to calm down ("I've seen you act before, and this isn't acting!" he claims Hanks said). Yet despite several uncomfortable takes, Spielberg offered zero feedback, which terrified Burns. "Most directors would have stepped in after my first botched take, offered some notes, and inadvertently rattled my confidence. But this wasn't Steven's approach with us. He allowed us several takes to figure things out for ourselves. So much that he didn't provide any direction for almost two weeks. We did our s...