Anthony Swofford
Anthony Swofford
Anthony Swoffordis an American writer and former U.S. Marine, best known for his 2003 book Jarhead, based heavily on his accounts of various situations encountered in the Persian Gulf War. This memoir was the basis of the 2005 film of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes. The title refers to a nickname for the Marines, which itself is derived from the traditional high and tight haircuts favored by the Marines, giving them a "jar-like" appearance...
taught
He taught me how to read as a writer,
definitely good marine trained yards
We were Marine snipers trained to kill someone from 1,000 yards away, and I could have done it all day if they'd wanted me to. And I definitely wanted to. I was really good at it.
book chance happy helped
Writing the book helped exorcise all of that, ... Many years later, I'm happy that I didn't have that chance for a sniper kill.
body exploding fell gore love movies parts private
I don't think so, ... What we fell in love with was the idea of combat, and this movie doesn't really give you what those movies did. It doesn't give you exploding body parts and gore the way 'Saving Private Ryan' or 'Platoon' did. It's more interior.
captured love marine script war
I love Jake's performance, ... It's thoughtful, introspective, rough, brash, conflicted ... and those are things that I was. Through the combination of having read the book, Bill's script and Sam's direction, he really captured that young 20-year-old Marine at war with many things.
asking decide job might open people political responsibility saw viewer
I never saw it as a political book, ... I wanted to open up a world that people might not know anything about. It's up to the people who go to this movie to decide how they feel about it, just like it's their job as Americans to decide how they feel about the war. We're asking the viewer to take responsibility for how they feel.
define exciting point rest singular situation warfare
It's a young man's education. It's character-driven. It's warfare through this singular point of view, a confusing, scary, sometimes exciting situation that will define him for the rest of his life.
corps left marine talked
I'd never talked about it, ... I'd left the Marine Corps when I was 22 ... and I really left.