The secretive Navy SEALs are coming out of the shadows for a new Hollywood film, with elite commandos cast in starring roles in a radical departure for America's special forces.
In "Act of Valor," the select troops who call themselves "the quiet professionals" take a turn as leading men on the big screen, reciting lines from a script as they race to prevent terrorists from carrying out an attack on the United States.
Filming began in 2007, before the Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams were catapulted to fame for their daring raid last May that killed Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.
US defense officials did not find out about the movie until after the fact, causing consternation at the Pentagon, which has an office that vets scripts and negotiates cooperation deals with Hollywood producers.
Although troops have appeared in movies before, such as "Black Hawk Down,"
this film ventures into unchartered territory, possibly jeopardizing the anonymity that the special forces have sought to safeguard.
"It's one thing to be filmed parachuting out of a plane, but it's another thing to be parachuting and land on the red carpet," a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Premiering on February 24, the action-packed movie tells the fictional story of SEALs rescuing a kidnapped CIA agent from a Central American drug cartel, only to uncover a terror plot against the United States by a Chechen jihadist.
The project started out as a vaguely defined recruiting movie with directors Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Scott Waugh filming the SEALs training exercises, but eventually evolved into a full-blown feature film.
The initial plan was to hire actors to play the special operations warriors, but McCoy's production company, the Bandito Brothers, managed to persuade active duty commandos to take the leading roles.
"It became an obsession to tell the story in an authentic way. We thought the only way to do it was with the real guys," McCoy says on the film's website.
There has been a decidedly "mixed reaction" to the movie project at the Pentagon, the defense official said.
"Obviously, clearly we wish it had gone through the normal channels," said Vince Ogilvie, deputy director for entertainment media at the Pentagon.
"But under the circumstances if they had come to us, we would probably have approved it pretty much the way it turned out anyway."
The officer who oversees the SEALs and other elite troops as head of Special Operations Command, Admiral William McRaven, has defended the movie as a valuable recruiting tool that reveals no classified tactics or techniques.
"We're conscious of the fact that they are active duty Navy SEALs in there.
I can tell you they volunteered. There was no concern on their part of their individual (security) or the security of their family."
The names of the commandos in the film do not appear in the credits, and instead the movie lists naval special warfare troops killed since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The full range of the SEALs' craft is on display in the film, including a high-altitude parachute jump, commandos rappelling from a helicopter and an underwater exit from a submarine.
The makers of "Act of Valor" promise realistic, jarring action, including footage of SEAL drills using live rounds.
But it's unclear if the commandos can convey the same authenticity when they deliver their dialogue.
"The hardest part was saying the lines. Running around and shooting guns and moving and communicating, that's commonplace. That's nothing," said one of the commandos in the movie, identified as Ajay.
Trailers for the movie offer an appeal to patriotism ("Courage, Loyalty,
Honor,") and a straight-ahead storyline based on a fight against terrorists, without delving into the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Althought a script that avoids political minefields may not win any Oscars, it likely helped win the cooperation of the Navy commandos.
But the screen debut of active duty troops from a community that has always shunned media attention has irked some inside the military, who worry that a line has been crossed.
Defense officials at one point even weighed whether to prevent the film's release by withdrawing legal permission for footage of the SEALs and military hardware.
But the office that handles Hollywood requests reviewed the movie and concluded that it passed muster, officials said.
The Pentagon, however, does not want a repeat of the episode and is spreading the word to commanders that future movie projects -- including a possible film on the Bin Laden raid -- have to be approved beforehand, the defense official said.
"This hasn't been swept under the carpet," he said. (AFP)
<관련 한글 기사>
비밀 특수요원들이 직접 영화에?
미 해군 특수부대인 '네이비실'(Navy SEAL) 대원들이 직 접 출연하는 할리우드 액션영화 '액트 오브 밸러 : 최정예 특수부대'(Act OF Valor) 가 24일 개봉될 예정이어서 관심을 끌고 있다.
네이비실이 작년 5월 알 카에다 지도자 오사마 빈 라덴을 사살하기 훨씬 전인 2 007년 제작에 들어간 이 영화는 중남미의 한 마약카르텔에 납치된 CIA 요원을 구출 하는 과정에서 체첸 출신 지하디스트(jihadist)의 미국 테러공격 계획을 들춰낸다는 내용이다.
'블랙 호크 다운' 같은 영화에 미군이 직접 출연한 적은 있지만 안전을 위해 신 변공개를 피해온 최정예 특수부대요원들로서는 모험과도 같은 과감한 시도이다.
마이크 맥코이 감독은 당초 특수작전 배역에 배우를 기용할 계획이었으나 네이 비실 대원에게 직접 배역을 맡기기로 했다.
그는 "영화를 실제와 같이 만들고 싶었고 그러려면 네이비실 대원이 직접 출연 하도록 하는 방법 외에 없다고 생각했다"고 말했다.
현역 특수부대원의 영화 출연에 대해 미 국방부(펜타곤) 내에서는 엇갈린 반응 을 보였다.
윌리엄 맥레이븐 특수작전사령관은 "그들은 자원해서 영화에 출연했으며 자신과 가족의 안전을 걱정하지 않는다"고 긍정적인 반응을 보인 반면 "지나치다"는 우려의 목소리도 있었다.
영화에 출연한 특수부대원의 이름은 자막에 나오지 않고 대신 9•11 테러 이후 숨진 네이버실 대원의 명단을 보여주기로 했다.
제작진은 '액트 오브 밸러'가 실탄을 사용하는 네이비실 대원의 훈련 장면을 비 롯해 실감 나는 액션을 보여줄 것이라고 장담하고 있으나 대화까지도 그럴지는 의문 이다.
영화에 출연한 한 대원은 "총을 쏘고 뛰고 하는 것은 아무것도 아닌데 가장 어 려운 부분은 대사였다"고 털어놓았다.
펜타곤 관리들은 한때 네이비실과 군사장비가 나오는 장면에 대한 법률적 허락 을 취소함으로써 배포 저지를 고려하기도 했으나 검토 후 결국 허용키로 했다고 말 했다.
펜타곤은 그러나 지휘관들에게 빈 라덴 사살과 같이 앞으로 있을 가능성이 있는 네이비실과 관련된 영화에 대해 사전 승인을 받아야 한다는 점을 주지시키고 있다고 펜타곤 관리는 전했다. (연합뉴스)
