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...
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.
book depends fallen feels join joining letters love metal people somebody thinking war whether
War is always seductive, ... 'Full Metal Jacket' didn't make me want to join the Marines. I already had fallen in love with the idea of combat. I think whether somebody feels that about our movie is subjective. It depends on the viewer. I got letters from people who said 'I was thinking about joining up and I read your book and now I can't wait' and I got letters from people who said 'I was thinking about joining up and I read your book and now I'm going to go to college.'
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.
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.
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.
historical image men metal opened received war watched
We watched 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Full Metal Jacket' before we went to war. It was pornography for us. They opened up this historical and psychological narrative. This is what men do when they go to war, we thought. It's a received image of war through film.
taught
He taught me how to read as a writer,
alone four lasts people room sitting wanting
I was a guy, sitting alone in a room in Portland, just wanting to tell people what it's like to be in a war, even if it lasts just four days. Especially if it lasts just four days.
cared convinced knew men name page quoting scene served
He was quoting me, to me, and he could name a scene and a page number. He convinced me that he knew the story and that he cared for the story and that he cared for me and the other men who had served with me,
changed confirmed corps history kid learned marine retain
I think I learned something more about that history of mine, ... There's a, you know, young kid who had been changed by the Marine Corps but could also retain some of his humanity, some of his personality, and that was confirmed for me.
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.
writing long stories
Right now in American writing there is no genre as exciting as memoir - the writer can do anything, as long as it works. It's like the 1920s up in this joint. So, I'd say, experiment with how you tell the story. In the best memoir it's not the what, it's how the writer tells the what - meaning and effect through form.
young be-young
It occured to me that we will never be young again.