Word: dyeing
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...Dye created his consultancy, Warriors Inc., in 1985 out of distaste for what he considered the metaphorical rambling of such films as Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter and for the revenge fantasies of the Rambo genre. Not only was the drama phony (soldiers surfing through an artillery attack in Apocalypse Now) and the detail wrong (Sylvester Stallone launching rockets with the radio button on a helicopter control stick) but an essential point of view was missing. "The story that needs to come out," Dye says, "is the human one: what happened to the people who fought...
...Stone, Dye found a kindred spirit who wanted Platoon's actors to experience the fatigue, frayed nerves and fear that preyed on the Viet Nam infantryman and to understand the casual brutality that often emerged. Willem Dafoe, who plays Sergeant Elias, the platoon's conscience, recalls that "we certainly did get some taste of exhaustion, frustration and confusion." Tom Berenger, who plays the soul-dead Sergeant Barnes, agrees. "We didn't even have to act. We were there...
...Once Dye had the cast thoroughly sore-footed and stinking, Stone began filming, without a break, and continued for nine straight weeks. "They looked mean," Stone says, "and they stayed that way." Roaming the sets, Dye ensured the authenticity of every detail, from Barnes' wicked dagger ("Worn upside-down for quicker killing," Dye explains) to the proper use of white plastic C-ration spoons. No one said "Over and out" on the field radio, and no one wore camouflage fatigues, which came into use after the period depicted by the film...
During breaks, Dye coached the actors in "gruntspeak," the expletive- laced jargon of the Viet Nam foot soldier, and he demonstrated an intricate '60s-era handshake. "I had to keep reminding myself," he says, "that for the younger guys, the '60s are ancient history...
...Dye's politics, not surprisingly, are fervently anti-Communist: between his retirement from the Marines in 1984 and his move to Hollywood a year later, he edited Soldier of Fortune magazine and unofficially trained Nicaraguan contras. Good-humored political arguments raged between Dye and Stone, who called each other "John Wayne" and "the Bolshevik." Dye is not concerned that many, including Stone, see Platoon as an antiwar film: "My hope is that it will encourage America not to waste its soldiers' lives in wars that it is not willing or able to win." That theme is further explored...