'Last Flag Flying' brings Legionnaires to tears, laughter

The film “Last Flag Flying” was screened before an audience of American Legion members in conjunction with the organization's annual Fall Meetings in Indianapolis earlier this month. The room full of war veterans was filled with laughter and tears from the film, which they described as an extremely accurate, hilarious and emotional, yet crude, depiction of what it’s like when three U.S. Marine veterans get together.

A discussion about the film was conducted by Executive Producer Thomas Lee Wright, and one Legionnaire who described himself as being speechless from the film, said actors Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne and Steve Carell acted like real Marines. Another audience member was so moved she tearfully hugged Wright, and another one said the film did an excellent job bridging together generations of war fighters from Vietnam to the Global War on Terror.

Wright, who is perhaps best known for his original screenplay "New Jack City" starring Wesley Snipes, Chris Rock and Ice-T, said “it was a profoundly moving experience to watch 'Last Flag Flying' with (American Legion members) and then to speak with them after. I know the film's director (Richard Linklater) wanted this film, more than anything else, to be about healing and brotherhood.”

Based on a 2005 novel by Darryl Ponicsan, “Last Flag Flying” tells the story of former Navy Corpsman Larry “Doc” Shepherd, played by Steve Carell. Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, Shepherd reunites with his old Marine buddies, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Rev. Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) to bury his son, a Marine killed in the Iraq War.

Ponicsan is now in his 80s and served in the Navy in the 1960’s, so the authenticity of the salty veteran is true.

Wright said he wished the Ponicsan and Linklater could have been there to witness the reaction of veterans seeing this film. “Daryl would have been particularly gratified with the response because every scene in that movie came right out of his heart.”

Linklater directed the 1993 film "Dazed and Confused" and is executive producer of the television show "School of Rock." Many of his films revolve around social commentary on realistic coming of age.

“I thought this was a perfect marriage between Daryl’s real life experience and Richard’s artistic general compassion and approach to a story that we seldom see told which is what happens on the home front and with the people that are left behind,” said Wright, who has also been a story editor at Walt Disney and Columbia Pictures, and a creative executive at Paramount Pictures where he helped develop "48 Hours," "Trading Places" and "Flashdance," among other movies.

To prepare for his role in the film, Cranston said he did some extensive research. “I learned a lot about that sentiment at that time. The division between civilians and military at that time never felt greater,” said Cranston in a later interview, who was inspired by war films like "Coming Home," "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Platoon" for this role. And he has a lot of relatives who served in the military, including his father who was in the Navy Air Corps during World War II and his mother served in the Coast Guard after World War II.

“It’s a male bonding movie, a road movie, and it’s very emotional,” Cranston said. “It’s very revealing and available. I think a lot of people will find it honest and funny as hell. It’s a good two hours.”

Cranston not only did a lot of research for this role, but he and his wife recently returned from a USO tour where they met a wide variety of servicemembers who told them about their experiences on everything from helicopters and fighter jets, the bomb squad and military police.

“Today’s military is in good hands. I feel good about that, and I find that I feel like it’s my civic duty to spread that word to people that I talk to now,” Cranston said. “(The USO tour) was really eye opening and it just filled us with hope and with pride. The level of dignity and knowledge and enthusiasm that these young men and women have in service of their country, it just made us beam.”

Wright's connection to the military is his father, the reason the film means a lot to him personally. “We worked on this film for 12 years,” he said. “My father passed away two years ago; it’s still pretty fresh.”

Wright has a personal connection to The American Legion from his time with American Legion Boys State. “I think perhaps many folks may think of the Legion in one context solely as a veterans organization,” he said. “Its other programs, such as Boys State, that surely deserve the widest possible exposure. I was a (Boys State) delegate in Minnesota in 1971. My father went to Boys Nation from Idaho in 1947 or '48 I believe.”

“When this comes out in the theater hopefully people will come out to see it and they’ll understand a little bit more about the 1 percent and the sacrifice that people make, that’s our goal,” Wright said.

“We’re very proud of the film,” Cranston said. “We think it has something important to say about duty and responsibility and honor and we hope everybody enjoys it.”

The film opens in select theaters Nov. 3.