Saving Private Ryan
 
Saving Private Ryan

"How do you find decency in the hell of warfare?" asks director Steven Spielberg. "That was the paradox that first attracted me to the project."

Screenwriter Robert Rodat agrees, "The film is about decency and how patriotism ultimately has to do with one's responsibility to family, to neighbors and to those one fights alongside in the military."

"I've always been fascinated by World War II," Hanks reveals, "and I'm perpetually searching out books and other material that depict the war as a human experience as opposed to a tactical one. That was a very vivid thing that came through in Saving Private Ryan - on the one hand, it is a grand adventure story, but it is also a very human story."

Contributing to the heightened sense of realism, Spielberg took an almost documentarian approach to filming Saving Private Ryan. He did not do any storyboarding prior to shooting, and used hand-held cameras much of the time.
Synopsis

World War II was a pivotal event of the 20th century and a defining moment for America and the world. It shifted the borders of the globe. It forever changed those who lived through it, and shaped generations to come. It has been called "the last great war." 		Saving Private Ryan
Nothing could have prepared the soldiers at Omaha Beach for the battle they are about to wage. Filled with hope and resolve, none of them knows if they will survive the small strip of beach ahead of them. As his eyes scan the Normandy coast, Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) believes that getting himself and his men past the gauntlet is the greatest challenge he has faced in the war. But his most difficult task still lies ahead.

Even as the Allied forces begin to get a foothold at Omaha, Miller is ordered to take his squad behind enemy lines on a dangerous mission to find and retrieve one man: Private James Ryan (Matt Damon). The youngest of four brothers, Ryan is the last survivor, the other three having all been killed in action within days of one another.

As the squad pushes deeper into enemy territory, Captain Miller's men find themselves questioning their orders. Why is one man worth risking eight…why is the life of this private worth more than their own?
Hanks in Saving Private Ryan

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks became the first actor in over 50 years to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards when he took home his second Oscar for his unforgettable performance in the title role in Robert Zemeckis' "Forrest Gump."

In addition, his work in the film brought him a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

The year before, he had been honored with his first Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, for his moving portrayal of AIDS stricken lawyer Aridrew Beckett in Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia."

He had previously won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a little boy in a man's body in Penny Marshall's "Big." He garnered another Golden Globe nomination for his work opposite Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy hit "Sleepless in Seattle," directed by Nora Ephron. Hanks, Meg Ryan and Nora Ephron most recently reunited for the upcoming romantic comedy "You've Got Mail."

Hanks received widespread critical and audience acclaim for his work in "Apollo 13," in which he starred as astronaut Jim Lovell. His passion for the space program has most recently carried over to the acclaimed HBO mini series "From the Earth to the Moon," which chronicles the story of America's Apollo missions. Hanks executive produced and hosted the series, in addition to directing one segment, writing or co-writing several others, and acting in an episode as well.

In 1996, Hanks made his successful feature film writing and directing debut with "That Thing You Do," in which he also starred. The title song spawned a hit single and also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. His other film credits include "Bachelor Party," "Splash," "A League of Their Own," "Punchline," "Nothing in Common" and "Volunteers."
Steven Spielberg, director/producer

Steven Spielberg has directed, produced or executive produced seven of the twenty top-grossing films of all time. Last summer, he enjoyed back-to-back hits with "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," which he directed, and "Men in Black," which he executive produced.

In 1994, Spielberg won two Academy Awards-one for Best Director and another for Best Picture for his work as a producer-for the internationally lauded "Schindler's List." The film collected a total of seven Oscars, in addition to receiving Best Picture honors from several of the major critics organizations, and seven British Academy awards, including two for Spielberg. 		Spielberg and Damon
He also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, and he was honored by his peers with his second Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award, the first having come for "The Color Purple."

Spielberg has also been recognized with Academy Award nominations for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,"Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Additionally, he earned DGA Award nominations for all of those films, as well as "Empire of the Sun," "Jaws" and, most recently, "Amistad." His total of eight DGA nominations ties him with directors Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann for the most career nominations. He is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Spielberg made his feature film directorial debut on "The Sugarland Express," from a screenplay he co-wrote. His film credits as director also include "Jurassic Park," "Hook," "Always," and the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" sequels "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

He formed his own production company, Amblin Entertainment, in 1984. Under the Amblin banner,he has served as producer or executive producer on more than a dozen films, including such successes as "Gremlins," "Goonies," "Back to the Future I, II, and III," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," "An American Tail," "The Land Before Time," "The Flintstones," "Casper," "Twister," "Men in Black," and this summer's "The Mask of Zorro."

In 1994, Spielberg announced the formation of the new studio DreamWorks SKG, in partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

Spielberg has also devoted his attention to many philanthropic causes. His experience making "Schindler's List" led him to establish the Righteous Persons Foundation with all his profits from the film. He also founded Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which has recorded over 42,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies. Most recently, Spielberg executive produced "The Last Days," the Shoah Foundation's third documentary, set for release in December 1998. Spielberg is also the chairman of the Starbright Foundation, which combines the efforts of pediatric health care, technology and entertainment to empower seriously ill children.


 
FILM CREDITS
Producer Steven Spielberg, Ian Bruce
Director Steven Spielberg
Screenplay Robert Rodat
Photo Janusz Kaminiski
Production Designer Tom Sanders
Editor Michael Kahn
Music John Williams
Costumes Joanna Johnston
Art Director Ricky Eyres, Tom Brown, Chris Seagers, Alan Tomkins
Cast Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg,
Running Time 170 min
International Sales United International Pictures