Q&A: Ron Maxwell of 'Gods and Generals'

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Sure to be one of the more controversial films of 2003, Ronald F. Maxwell's Civil War epic "Gods and Generals" opens Feb. 21. This Ted Turner-financed war movie, an adaptation of Jeff Shaara's best-selling historical novel, is the bigger budget prequel to Maxwell's "Gettysburg" of 1993.

The political climate has changed since then, however. It has never been more unfashionable to portray Confederate soldiers in a positive light, and the main protagonist of "Gods and Generals" is the Southern hero Stonewall Jackson.

Already, some Republican commentators, smarting from the brouhaha over former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and hoping to pin the "Southern racist" label on a Democrat, have attacked Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., for playing a Confederate general in a cameo in "Gods and Generals." (Republican Sens. George Allen, of Virginia, and Phil Gramm, of Texas, however, also appeared briefly in Rebel uniforms, along with the politically idiosyncratic mogul Turner, who is stepping down as vice chairman of troubled AOL Time-Warner.

Maxwell told UPI that such pundits should "grow up."

"Gods and Generals" re-unites most of the cast of "Gettysburg," and features two Oscar-winning newcomers. Robert Duvall replaces Martin Sheen as the Southern commander Robert E. Lee, and Mira Sorvino joins as the wife of Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels), the Maine college professor who may have saved the Union on the first day at Gettysburg.

Maxwell said, "'Gods and Generals' follows these Yankee and Confederate characters from the outbreak of hostilities in April 1861 through three major battles: The First Battle of Manassas (known in the North as 'Bull Run'), Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville in May of 1863."

The new film focuses on Lee, Chamberlain, and, most of all, Jackson (who is portrayed stunningly by Stephen Lang).

Maxwell took time out to answer questions about his film:

UPI: After the recent controversies over Southern state flags and Trent Lott, do you expect criticism because you don't depict the Virginians Lee and Jackson as nearly Nazis?

Maxwell: As a filmmaker I must work very hard at keeping contemporary politics out of any historical film. Today has nothing to do with the people who lived in the 1860s. It's actually the other way around. Their lives, portrayed with fidelity within their own historical context, provide the foundation and continuity for own time. To distort their story through a politically correct lens would be to render futile the whole endeavor of making a historical film in the first place.

Q: Your movie explores the loyalty of Lee and Jackson to their home state of Virginia. They believed their honor bound them more firmly to their state than to their country. How and why did these kinds of attitudes change?

A: In the 19th century, few people wandered more than 100 miles from their home with any regularity. Before air travel and modern communications, the world people lived in was a more intimate place. It stands to reason, as well as borne out by the facts of history, that most people would be tied by bonds of affection and loyalty to a particular place. In the middle of the 19th century, these bonds had taken deep root. What constituted country and patriotism, the love of that country, was undergoing a metamorphosis -- from the regional to the national. The war accelerated this development in a cataclysmic manner.

Q: Everybody knows the name "Stonewall Jackson," but he's almost never been shown in a movie. Why is he still legendary today?

A: This film is about heroes, but doesn't indulge in hero worship. There's a difference. The characters are presented in their full humanity within the historical context in which they lived.

As epic heroes go, Jackson meets the test: strong moral character, devoted to country, loyal and brave and daring, a ferocious warrior, tender with those he loves, severe with those whose infractions he finds intolerable, dangerous to his enemies. And, he dies at the moment of his greatest victory. Sounds like one of those characters in Homer's "Iliad," doesn't he?

Q: "Gods and Generals" is unusual for a Hollywood picture in several ways. For instance, you depict Stonewall without sarcasm as a devout, outspoken Christian. Is there a market for this?

A: The plain fact is that most people in America say they believe in God and most of these folks profess to be Christians. But like the old ad line went, "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's real Jewish Rye." If we were watching a film about Alexander the Great, it would be important to see an Alexander who believed in his pantheon of Greek Gods. To do otherwise would be false. To ignore Jackson's devout Christian faith would be to conceal one of his most important dimensions.

Q. "Gettysburg" didn't do much at the box office but was a big success on video and on Turner's cable network. How is your new movie different than "Gettysburg?"

A. The budget is much bigger: $14 million for "Gettysburg" vs. $60 million for "Gods and Generals." There are more than 200 Visual FX shots compared to about a dozen for "Gettysburg." The feel and style and cinematic conception is the same, as well as most of the cast. Randy Edelman returns with co-composer John Frizzell with a different score with a similar feel.

Q. How many Civil War re-enactors participated in the battle scenes?

A. More than 5,000.

Q. Is it purely a war movie like "Gettysburg?"

A. "Gettysburg" took place over four days on more or less a single battlefield. All the characters were soldiers in the battle. "Gods and Generals" takes place over more than two years, across the villages, towns, and cities of Maryland and Virginia. Women and African-American characters play important roles in this film. It is much more than a war movie. Battles constitute about a third of the film's running time of 3 1/2 hours.

Q. How did you get Bob Dylan to do a song for it?

A. Simply asked. He responded with great enthusiasm after seeing the first edited assembly of the film in December '01.

Q. You have big name actors such as Robert Duvall and Jeff Daniels, but Stephen Lang stands out as Stonewall Jackson. Who is he?

A. Stephen played Pickett in "Gettysburg," and is known to the profession as an accomplished stage actor. Since he is less well known than some others, he literally becomes Jackson in the film.

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