Where he got his start in acting. Glad that the actor couldn't do a drill sergeant as well as Ermey. "Choke yourself!"His opening scene in Full Metal Jacket will live forever.
Ooo-Rah Gunny.
Where he got his start in acting. Glad that the actor couldn't do a drill sergeant as well as Ermey. "Choke yourself!"
I just read at one time that he was hired as a consultant to train an actor to act like a drill sergeant for Full Metal Jacket and Stanley Kubrick decided to use him instead.Not quite, it was the 1978 movie Boys in Company C where he, not surprisingly, played a drill instructor named Sergeant Loyce!
He also had a very brief, uncredited role as a helicopter pilot during the attack scene Apocalypse Now!
I just read at one time that he was hired as a consultant to train an actor to act like a drill sergeant for Full Metal Jacket and Stanley Kubrick decided to use him instead.
Interesting, Thank you.There are several versions of how it occurred, but originally Colceri did have the role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and Ermey was only a consultant. Kubrick later decided to go with Ermey instead but exactly why has been debated for some time. There is also conflicting evidence as to whether Ermey improvised most of his lines or not. In several interviews Ermey stated that he worked closely with Kubrick to help mold the script so that it was more believable, all while retaining certain dialogue crucial to Kubrick's vision. Other sources state Kubrick originally was going to write dialogue for Ermey's character himself, but he became so impressed with what Ermey improvised, he decided it was not necessary.
Even regarding his character's brutal discipline of the recruits, Ermey once said that a Marine drill instructor would never physically slap, choke or punch a recruit (at least not openly), even back in his day as a young Marine; which signifies that he was not able to play his role as he felt it should have been.
Full Metal Jacket--like Apocalypse Now--is one of those epic films where the production history is as spectacular as if not even more so than the final movie itself. As years go by, some facts have been surpassed by myths and legends, which only add to it's legacy.
Not quite, it was the 1978 movie Boys in Company C where he, not surprisingly, played a drill instructor named Sergeant Loyce!
Also, watch closely and he is in one of the choppers in Apocalypse Now during the beach scene.
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