In simple terms, say your contract with the military is for 2 years. You’re expecting to get out on the day you contract ends. But instead of going home, the government ships you back to Iraq or anywhere they chose. That’s getting Stop Lossed, and it's what the film is about. Here’s the official synopsis:

Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty.  He tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum), who served with him in Iraq.  Along with their other war buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life.  Then, against Brandon’s will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq, which upends his world.  The conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor.

Anyway, about a week ago I got to participate in a roundtable interview with Ryan Phillippe & Channing Tatum – the two leads in the movie. During the interview they discussed making the movie and everything that went into making it as realistic as possible. And, of course, we discussed what they have coming up.

As always, if you’d like to listen to the audio of the interview just click here. It’s an MP3 and easily placed on a portable player. Finally, if you’d like to watch some movie clips from “Stop-Loss” click here.

Question: Can each of you talk about how Kimberly Peirce approached you specifically or how’d it come about that you were chosen?

Channing Tatum: I chose Kimberly on this one. I totally read the script, you know? I heard that Kim was doing a movie. I loved her first film. I read the script and had no idea about stop-loss. I fell in love with it. I fell in love with Steve (his character). The idea of playing a soldier was always in my mind. I don’t know. I loved Steve. I thought that he embodied someone that I’ve always wanted to, like, be. I just never really had the balls to go and join the military, you know? Then I did a really extensive audition process, long, back and forth to New York and stuff like that and eventually came on the movie.

Ryan Phillippe: I had read the script. I had just finished working and I was worn out and I went to meet with her and we had a decent meeting and she didn’t want me (Laughter) and the studio kind of did. I spent more time with her-

Channing Tatum: I didn’t know that.

Ryan Phillippe: Yeah. I spent more time with her and then at that point I wasn’t sure whether or not it was right for me either obviously. I felt like she was a filmmaker and she have me forced upon her and then I guess she changed her mind. We started spending time together and developed a great working relationship and I decided it was a great opportunity to work with her and to play this character. There was so much range and all of the emotion and stuff with this guy. As we started shooting I was so happy that it all worked out because I loved the experience and everyone I was working with so much.

Q: So how do you see this guy?

Ryan Phillippe: I see him as a guy who has always sort of known hat is right and lived that way through most of his life. I think he is a very straightforward, decent, honest guy and through the events of this movie finds himself having to reconsider all those things about himself. I think that crisis of conscience and that soul-searching over what is duty and honor and weighing what is most important to you, I think his whole life everything is kind of black and white to him, you know? There’s a right way to do things and a wrong way.

Q: You guys play best friends. I wondered if you had to get together separately to get that dynamic before you shot.

Channing Tatum: Well, I had never met Ryan before and we kinda just got thrown into boot camp together- Hollywood boot camp, you know? Six days out in the 106-degree heat of Austin, which was binding in itself. When you camp there’s no TV. There’s no nothing and you just have to sit and talk to each other and Ryan came on and was just the leader immediately. I took to that and we all just sort of fell into our roles. It was learning experience. It was camp. It was like summer camp for kids and you got to shoot guns and learn urban combat and stuff.

Ryan Phillippe: You’d be surprised how close you can get over the course of like six days around the clock with a group of guys and it was one of the best things Kim did for us and for the film because it was genuine and I think you see it and feel it in the movie.

Channing Tatum: Absolutely.

RP: I think even that boot camp laid the groundwork for where we are all at today, like the way we are all still hanging and stay in touch because it was real and we all genuinely like each other and it is a pretty diverse group in terms of age and background.

CT: We all get together. I mean, Ryan’s got kids so he’s a little more locked down, you know, but we all spent New Year’s together. We all spent New Year’s out in the country together. We’re a family like that. A lot of people say that on movies, “Yeah, we’re all family”, but this is really real. I love these guys!

RP: Plus this movie was started a year and a half ago.

Q: Once you heard of the policy of Stop-Loss, how important was that in your decision making process to take these roles?

RP: You know, for me, I never had a political agenda. I didn’t want to feel like the movie did. What is most interesting to me about this movie in comparison to the other movies that are related to this war is that this one is strictly from the soldier’s perspective. It is strictly telling the soldier’s story it’s not about a leftist, anti-war. The fact that the character gets stop-lossed, that is the crux of what he goes through in the film, but that to me wasn’t an overriding reason like, “Oh people have got to know about this”. I think it’s good that people know about it and I think it has kind of been, not covered up, but put in the background. It is important to have an awareness of it, but it wasn’t a crusade like, “The world must know about stop-loss”, you know?

Q: Do you have an opinion about stop-loss yourselves?

CT: I don’t like to get political, but the only thing I have to say about that is that I feel like if there was a regular draft, you know like Vietnam, I don’t think there would be a war still. I think it would effect different families, you know, richer families and I do not think we would not be at war.

RP: I don’t like the term a lot of people are throwing around, you know, “The backdoor draft” because a lot of soldiers know about stop-loss. They know about the clause. Some of them don’t. I think some of it is brushed under the rug and sort of breezed over and not brought to attention, but this is the only war it’s been used in really.

CT:  Yeah, and I think the soldiers now are slightly more aware because we’re four or five years in. It’s happened to a lot of people they know.

RP: Right. 

CT: I think when they signed up it wasn’t something they were told up front. It’s not a big selling point when you are trying to get someone to sign up.

Q: (To Ryan) and your opinion?

RP: You know I’d hate to have it happen to me. I can understand the frustration. I think if someone signs up and dedicates and survives the length of what their contract was meant to be- and I know that these soldiers in Iraq where they hate it. They hate being there and it is boring. It’s a desert and they sit and think about every day, “I’m gonna get out. I’m gonna give my mother a hug. I’m gonna have a baby. I’m gonna get this job”. That’s what gets them through there time over there so I can’t imagine having that all taken away from you.

Q: Particularly at the eleventh hour.

RP: Absolutely at the eleventh hour and I think it speaks to really how unpopular this war is and how people do want it to end to kind of have to force people back into combat. That’s what it says to me.

Q: How did you guys become Texans? Did you just go and talk to a lot of people there in Austin or did you have friends?

CT: Being there helped. It’s so atmospheric. Everyone talks funny.

RP: Yeah, and I know I put on the jeans and the cowboy hat the whole time I was there and I listened to all the country music.

CT: I’m from Alabama and I love Country, but I didn’t listen to it as much as you. (Laughter) I actually love country music, but you listened to it like a maniac! I was just like, “Aaargh”!

RP: I had further to go because I am East coast, Northeast coast, so I had to-

CT: overcompensate? (Laughter)

RP: Yeah.

Q: You were in the barbeque capitol. Do you love that?

CT: Wooh. I was 205 pounds when I got off that movie.

RP: That’s right.

CT: I was a big, old boy when I got off that movie. I’ve been 215 in my life, but that was when I was working out and a muscle head. Oh! It was just barbeque and beer.

Q: That’ll do it.

CT: It’s true.

Q: Are you trying to say that Austin has a party life? (Laughter)

CT: Nah. (Sarcastically) I think there’s a little college there, a little one. I think they do a little drinking and a little partying.

Q: What’s that actually like, being a big movie in Austin? It’s a very film-centric town. What’s that experience like being in that place.

CT: It’s cool. You know, they embraced us. The more we went out and stuff the managers in the bars were like, “Yeah, come on back”, that sort of thing. They embraced us though. It was fun. It was a good time. We lived right on 6th St. so you couldn’t walk out of your house without running into some of dunk person so you are just like, “Oh, alright, y’all wanna get a drink?” (Laughter)

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