Fort Benning welcomed a friendly invasion this week.
At approximately 1300 hours on Thursday, a brigade of huge SUVs rolled up to the Maneuver Center of Excellence and deposited actors Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and Michael Peña, who star in the new World War II movie “Fury,” along with director David Ayer, before hundreds of thrilled servicemen and women. A base spokesperson noted that the personnel on hand for the visit and movie screening happened to have free time. No one interrupted training exercises or other duties in order to mingle with movie stars.
In the movie, which opened to civilians on Friday, Pitt plays Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier, who commands a tank crew battling the Germans and occasionally squabbling with one another. Promotional tours on military bases was a goal from the start, he said.
“We’d sit in the tank and talk about how cool it would be if we could bring it to the actual soldiers,” Pitt said during a quick interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It means everything for us to bring this back as a tribute. Hopefully they’ll agree we got a few things right.”
The movie is set in Germany, at the bitter end of the second World War. The Nazis are done for but not giving up.
“It will end, soon. But before it does, a lot more people have gotta die,” Sgt. Collier says in one of his many prescient speeches.
Another: “Ideals are peaceful. History is violent.”
This movie certainly hews to the latter. Ayer, who shot the graphic 2014 Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Sabotage” in Atlanta, is into flying body parts.
“I looked at thousands of photographs of the war, of the period, of the time” to authentically replicate the era, Ayer said. “I didn’t want to copy anyone else’s film.”
He spent time talking to WWII and more recent veterans and “just really tried to build up a portrait of these men.”
LaBeouf, who was seen in the Georgia-filmed “Lawless” in 2012, plays a devout soldier who quotes Scripture before skirmishes and often holds the hands of the dying (and dead). That somber on-screen gravitas was not on display during Thursday’s visit to Fort Benning.
Instead, he sprinted about, taking selfies with just about anyone who wanted one, and ferried articles to Pitt to be autographed on behalf of grateful troops. He didn’t take any questions.
Lerman, who plays an Army clerk suddenly pressed into tank service, and Peña, who plays a skilled and seasoned veteran, enjoyed meeting heroes in uniform.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Lerman said. “I really hope everybody appreciates the film. I’m curious about their thoughts on it, more so than everyone else.”
Pitt, who also took a slew of photos, selfie and otherwise, and hopped into one of the tanks on display for a little tour, said he related to his character. A tank commander and a busy father must both bring about law and order from chaos, of course.
“Much like fatherhood, he’s responsible for the morale of the group, making sure they’re functioning well,” Pitt said. “Whether that means being tough on them at times or letting them go and get wild.”
