For my behind the scenes piece, I decided to watch a 30 minute breakdown about the making of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.  The film talked about all aspects of the film from the historical context of the film, how the casting evolved, and some of the notorious quirks that Kubrick displayed as a director.  The film only explained a few of the camera and technical techniques used by the crew but it still gave a good insight into how this iconic movie about the Vietnam War was made.

    On of the interesting aspects of the film they focused on was the amount of attention that was paid to casting.  One of the most famous characters in Full Metal Jacket is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the abusive and foulmouthed drill instructor from the beginning of the film.  In the behind the scenes piece, they explained that Kubrick had not originally casted former Marine R. Lee Ermey as Hartman and only had him involved with filming for technically advise.  As it was explained in the film, Ermey was only given the role because he decided to use his time as the technical advisor to showcase his ability to curse out and terrify the people around him.  After showing Kubrick that he could be the dominating on screen presence that he needed, the infamous, foul mouthed drill instructor we know today was born.

    One of the other details that was brought up about the production of Full Metal Jacket was the infamous abnormality of filming with Stanley Kubrick.  According to the film, Kubrick was notably unwilling to travel far for his movies.  All of the shots toward the finale that appeared to be in Vietnam were actually shot at an abandoned industrial complex in East London.  The illusion of it being in Southeast Asia was largely due to the selective demolition that Kubrick was permitted to do in addition to the palm trees he imported for props.  Many of the actors explained how Kubrick's critiques of their acting was rarely specific and often times simply involved him saying, "Act better." Among other things, one of the scenes that was frequently reshot was the one where Eightball was shot by the Vietnamese sniper.  In the scene, after he was shot, the other Marines fired hundreds of rounds at the building where the sniper was. The rounds fired were real and the holes in the buildings had to be fixed before the scene could be shot again. The film, according to many of the actors, lasted many months long than they anticipated as a result of these kinds of reshoots.

    Lastly, the themes of Full Metal Jacket were heavily discussed in the behind the scenes film due to the controversial era of history it covered.  The film made note of the relationship between the peace sign that was pinned to Private Joker's flak jacket and the phrase "Born to Kill" written on his helmet.  Details such as this, the fact that they only refer to each other by their nicknames, and countless other points were all meant to highlight how their preparation and involvement in the Vietnam War stripped them of their humanity and individuality as they fought in one of the ugliest wars in US history.