Navy SEALs - Presskit - Production Information

NAVY SEALS

Production Information

Guts. Power. Passion. Triumph.

Super-charged super-fighters who risk all defending America against the world's deadliest forces.

A combat unit of indomitable strength and courage.

A rescue team of unparalleled skill and daring.

The best of the best.

"NAVY SEALS."

A Brenda Feigen Production of a Lewis Teague film, NAVY SEALS is a non-stop, action-packed thriller based on the heroic missions of the world's most elite, superbly-trained commando unit--the U.S. Navy SEALs. As explosive as today's international headlines, NAVY SEALS is the story of courageous young men who conquer challenging, death-defying obstacles to help America take charge of its destiny. Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer star in the Orion pictures release, directed by Lewis Teague and produced by Brenda Feigen and Bernard Williams. The screenplay is by Chuck Pfarrer and Gary Goldman.

One of the first motion pictures to reveal the clandestine operations of this top-secret and potentially lethal fighting force, the exciting NAVY SEALS co-stars Rick Rossovich, Cyril O'Reilly, Bill Paxton, Dennis Haysbert, Paul Sanchez, Nicholas Kadi, and Ron Joseph.

America's real-life Navy SEALs have been defending the nation since the early 1960s when President John F. Kennedy ordered the creation of this most elite of America's special forces. He selected the Navy, because of course, he was a Navy man himself. The Naval unit was named the SEALs, an acronym based on the broad scope of its operation--on Sea, Air, or Land--anywhere, anytime, within 50 miles of any body of water. They are descendants of the Navy frogmen and underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) of World War II.

Trained to survive the most dangerous and formidable odds and armed with the nation's most advanced weaponry and telecommunications equipment, SEALs teams can be mobilized--almost anywhere in the world--within 24 hours. While all SEALS are expert at overcoming such perilous missions as detonating underwater obstacles (to make way for amphibious landings), covert coastal surveillance, and hazardous reconnaissance maneuvers, recent global conflicts have forced the SEALs also to master the tactics of counter-terrorism. And it is just such a terrorist attack that sets the action movie's fictional SEAL team hurtling into motion.

The film finds a crack Navy SEAL team assigned to infiltrate the Middle Eastern seaport where a U.S. Navy helicopter crew is being held captive. But the raid reveals more than just a makeshift prison. Hidden in its stronghold is a cache of American-made Stinger missiles, crated for shipment to an unknown destination, and certain to trigger an international crisis of nightmare proportions.

The Stinger missiles are the ultimate weapons for terrorist coercion--portable, hand-held, precise, deadly. The Stingers must be destroyed, but to take the critical time needed to do so may irrevocably jeopardize the American lives the SEALs have come to save.

That SEAL team is led by James Curran (MICHAEL BIEHN) and Lt. (junior grade) Dale Hawkins (CHARLIE SHEEN). The officers are friends and heroes but with wildly contrasting styles--Curran is the diligent, disciplined team commander, while the brash, aggressive Hawkins has an insatiable appetite for danger and adventure. Under their command are Leary (RICK ROSSOVICH), the medically-trained corpsman; earthy sharpshooter Dane (BILL PAXTON); and combat specialists Rexer (CYRIL O'REILLY), Ramos (PAUL SANCHEZ), and Graham (DENNIS HAYSBERT).

Lt. Curran must make the crucial and difficult decision--during the SEALs' assault on the Arab warship, leaving the lethal Stinger missiles intact.

But Curran's choice is not a popular one. Sharply criticized in a meeting at the Pentagon, Curran is shown a taped interview with Ben Shaheed (NICHOLAS KADI), the fiery leader of the Al Shuhada, a swiftly-emerging Middle East radical faction.

The lieutenant is shocked to recognize Shaheed as the "Egyptian prisoner" the SEALs set free at the terrorist fortress, over the intense objections of Lt. Hawkins who wanted to waste the prisoner on gut instinct.

Determined to recapture the fanatical Arab leader and trace the Stinger missile cargo, Curran follows a false trail of intelligence reports, then finally turns to Claire Verens (JOANNE WHALLEY-KILMER), the reporter who conducted the original TV interview with Shaheed. An American journalist of Lebanese descent, with powerful political contacts throughout the Middle East, Claire refuses to betray her sources, even in exchange for Curran's offer of a rare, first-hand look at the secret world of SEAL training.

Meanwhile, Curran and Hawkins both develop an attraction for the beautiful journalist, which complicates Curran's search for information. But a sudden, savage attack in the skies above Madrid breaks the stalemate. Claire eventually provides the answers that leads the SEAL team into the remains of a ravaged city for one final, no-holds-barred showdown with the terrorists. The startling authenticity of NAVY SEALS is due in no small part to the involvement of co-writer and technical advisor Chuck Pfarrer. Producer Brenda Feigen encouraged Pfarrer, now a retired SEAL team commander, to write about his extraordinary experiences as a Navy SEAL. The challenge was to create a script rich in action and adventure that would reflect the SEALs' true spirit, without compromising national security.

The film-makers did receive limited cooperation from the United States Navy and, as producer Bernard Williams explains, "we had to be very careful about what we revealed. At the same time," he adds, "we were out to make the settings and situations ring true, so we worked within the system without damaging the veracity of the storyline."

Says Feigen, "For obvious reasons, Pfarrer could not disclose the SEALs' participation in actual news events. On the other hand," she continues, "the film portrays what could happen--and very possibly would happen--in a given crisis situation. I only wish that our progress toward peace were making the story obsolete. But, if anything, it's all too timely."

Adds director Lewis Teague, "Large-scale ground wars are a thing of the past. With NATO and the Warsaw Pact disbanding, and alliances shifting all over the world, conflicts will apparently be fought in the future by groups like the SEALs who can nip flare-ups in the bud."

To help ensure the film's accuracy, Pfarrer enlisted eight additional former Navy SEALs to train the actors in their roles and, occasionally, perform specialized stunts. "A lot more than stunt work was involved, however," explains producer Williams. "Each actor had a SEAL double to whom he could turn for help in handling weapons or perfecting SEAL techniques. They were an on-the-spot source of vital research, to make the move as much like the real thing as possible."

"Don't confuse these guys (SEALs) with Rambo, however," cautions Pfarrer. "They're not bullet-proof. Just regular guys who go home to their wives and kids after doing a dangerous job every day."

But the odds of landing that job are remote. SEAL aspirants, must complete Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training (BUD/S) at the Navy's facility on Coronado Island, across the bay from San Diego, California. "They run you, they swim you, they find out what you're made of," says Pfarrer, referring to the astounding 80% dropoff rate. "Unless you're totally committed, one night out there on the sands you'll simply decide that this is something you can't--or won't--do."

The three phases of BUD/S training are basic conditioning, demolitions/reconnaissance tactics, and diving. During the conditioning phase, the candidates are pushed to excruciating physical limits by timed runs, calisthenics, and open-ocean swims. The program culminates in "hell week"--five days of grueling, non-stop activity virtually without breaks or breathers. Although athletic injuries account for some dropouts, most of the applicants leave voluntarily, ringing a large bell to signal their decision to quit.

"It isn't all physical," continues Pfarrer, recalling his own BUD/S training. "These people are intentionally put under maximum stress to simulate the psychological pressure they'll encounter."

"There's also a lot of tough academics," the ex-SEAL explains. "You must learn hyperbaric medicine, cartography, demolitions, communications, and a whole arsenal of foreign weapons."

To simulate that formidable training, the actors playing SEALs went through a two-week indoctrination course at a special training center in northern Virginia. After becoming familiar with the weapons they'd soon employ on film, the actors took part in field maneuvers. "It was war games, the actors against the ex-SEALs, react or die," says Pfarrer. "Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, and the rest of the guys did an outstanding job. They even gave us a few surprises."

Charlie Sheen is no stranger to realistic movie rehearsals. Prior to shooting Platoon, Sheen and the film's other principals joined director Oliver Stone in the Philippines to coalesce as an infantry unit in jungles much like those of Vietnam.

In NAVY SEALS, Sheen feels the focus was largely on "urban warfare, hand-to-hand, door-to-door. In Platoon, , we were dealing with the record of history. Here, we're envisioning the future of combat."

"The experience," he adds, "helped us understand the SEALs' unusual sense of duty as well as the team's concern with secrecy."

"The SEALs have an oath they take upon retirement," Sheen further explains, "never to reveal certain information about their activities. If I asked my SEAL instructor about this maneuver in Honduras or that mission in the Middle East, his answer was direct: If I told you that, I'd have to kill you."

Principal photography of NAVY SEALS began in and around Norfolk, Virginia, home to the world's largest Naval fleet. Even though access was limited, the production crew was able to shoot key scenes in such restricted areas as the Norfolk base and its training grounds.

The cast and crew then moved to southern Spain, where old, walled cities and an arid Mediterranean coastline doubled for sites in the Middle East. The Spanish Navy made a major contribution, providing men and machines, including submarines, battleships, and helicopters in such ports as Tarifa, Cadiz, and Cartagena.

The ancient city of Cartagena served as a principal location. Much of the Spanish Navy is based in its naturally fortified harbor while the crumbling inner city neighborhoods, with their steep, cobbled streets and blanched Moorish houses were used to re-create war-torn sections of Beirut, Lebanon.

The Cartagenians, consummate hosts and tireless workers, took matters in stride as the film crew dynamited buildings, set vessels ablaze in the harbor, and fired machine gun volleys into the normally still night air. As a melting pot of Spanish, African, Arab, and other nationalities, the city also provided a unique pool of extras to fit almost any ethnic description.

The timeliness of the film's story, the broad scope of its action, and the perpetually-closing windows of opportunity, often caused up to seven camera crews to work simultaneously (instead of the usual first and second units). A typical day might have found one unit working with the actors, a second shooting a stunt fight in the streets, a third at sea trailing a surfaced submarine, and so on. The brief availability of military hardware made it vital to stay on schedule, never an easy task in movie-making.

"It was a tough, demanding, exciting film to make," says actor Michael Biehn. "It had to be. Working with the SEALs and portraying them was its own reward--an incredible experience. They're a breed apart. They're unique."

Storming across the screen in a blaze of glory, the men of NAVY SEALS are heroes for the '90s, but with an old-fashioned sense of patriotism, and righteousness. They're proud, valiant, fervent and will stop at nothing to preserve and protect. The group's strength of conviction and tireless devotion to their cause is incomparable. NAVY SEALS is a film about winners and a celebration of enormous achievement against all odds.