2006 Movie Titles
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Movies Central
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The unforgettable story of a group of heroic American men who volunteer for the French Military and become fighter pilots before the US enters WWI.
In 1914, "The Great War" - WWI - began in Europe. By 1917, the Allied powers of France, England, Italy and others were on the ropes against the German juggernaut. While millions of young men were dying overseas, arguing that the freedom of others was none of its business, America chose...at first...not to fight.
Some altruistic young Americans disagreed. They volunteered to fight alongside their counterparts in France; some in the infantry, some in the Ambulance Corps. A handful of others had a different idea: they decided to learn how to fly. The first of them - a squadron of only 38 - became known as the Lafayette Escadrille. In time, America joined their cause. The Escadrille pilots became legendary. Flyboys is inspired by their story.
Forced to abandon his family's ranch, Blaine Rawlings finds his future in a newsreel chronicling the adventures of young aviators in France. At a small train station in rural Nebraska, William Jensen promises to make his family proud. In New York, spoiled Briggs Lowry embarks on a trans-Atlantic passage.
Meanwhile, in France, black expatriate boxer, Eugene Skinner, vows to repay his debt to his adopted racially tolerant country. Together, these American boys arrive at an aerodrome in France, eager to learn how to fly. What they didn't realize was that they were about to embark on a great, romantic adventure, becoming the world's first combat pilots.
Assigned to their own squadron, the new aviators are commanded by the battle-weary French Captain Thenault and the equally battle-scarred American pilot Reed Cassidy, the cynical sole survivor of his group. Ignoring Cassidy's grim admonition to quit and go home before they meet their inevitable fates and snubbed by the other aviators as unqualified to call themselves "killers," the mismatched boys study, train and finally learn to fly.
In time, the young Americans prove themselves, routing the "Fokker scourge" and flying like the united team they have become. The squadron is finally welcomed by the veteran pilots as seasoned equals - now, they are official "killers."
Fighting a war that wasn't theirs, these young, naïve adventure-seekers slowly learn the true meaning of love, brotherhood, heroism, courage and tolerance and, in return, gain a true reason to risk their lives.
Inspired by the true story of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille. Soaring high above the earth in a fragile, flammable, open-cockpit biplane, outracing better-equipped enemy aircraft, and knowing the average life expectancy of someone in your line of work is at most six weeks: this was the daring and heroic story of the men of the Lafayette Escadrille, the first American fighter-pilot squadron to see action in World War I, when a few brave young men volunteered to fight for democracy. And this is the story of the new epic motion picture FLYBOYS, starring an international ensemble cast in a story of love, loss, and adventure; featuring a fleet of real WWI airplanes, state-of-the-art special effects, and ground-breaking digital camera technology, to put the viewer in the cockpit with these courageous flyers. Barely a dozen years after the invention of powered, controllable flight, these pilots invented, experimented with, and simply dashed headlong into the modern era of aerial combat.
Flyboys: America's First Fighter Pilots
The year is 1916: World War I has been raging for almost two years. On the Western Front, the Allied powers of Britain and France are bogged down in stagnant trench warfare against Germany, and millions of men have been killed. The United States remains doggedly neutral and isolationist, preferring to let Europeans fight their own wars. But a number of Americans have journeyed to Europe to assist the Allies, as volunteer ambulance drivers and members of the French Foreign Legion.
Soon, some of these American volunteers form their own squadron to take on the better-equipped German pilots and aid in the Allied war effort. It is in this tense, life-or-death context that FLYBOYS takes place. Texas-born Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) finds himself evicted from his family's 900-acre ranch, and sees a new future in a newsreel reporting on the squadron's heroics. French Foreign Legion recruit, Higgins (Christien Anholt) transfers to the squadron from the ambulance corps. Nebraska-born William Jensen (Philip Winchester), the son of a Calvary officer, joins to uphold the family tradition of military service.
Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) enlists to make something of himself, yielding to the pressure of his wealthy and powerful father. Eddie Beagle (David Ellison), a cocky character who can't shoot straight, seems to be escaping from his past. Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis), a black American expatriate, wants to defend France, a country that has shown him tolerance by allowing him to compete and become a boxing champion, whereas in America he would not be allowed inside a cockpit.
During the initial weeks of training, Rawlings encounters squadron leader Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), already a veteran fighter pilot at age twenty-eight. Cassidy has seen firsthand the dangers of this new air combat and knows few of these young men will survive. An object of respect and mystery, Cassidy, the squadron's top ace, has defied the odds time and again with more than 20 kills to his record…but at the cost of his own innocence.
Under the command of French Captain Georges Thenault (Jean Reno), the French pilots put the Americans through vigorous training in preparation for their first aerial combat. As the boys train to fly the latest French biplane, the Nieuport 17, they quickly realize the gravity of their situation: a pilot's life expectancy is a mere three-to-six weeks. They learn that they are outnumbered and fighting against a superior German military power. They are even denied parachutes, since the military places more value on the airplanes than on their pilots' lives.
 Soon combat begins, and Rawlings and his fellow pilots are engaged in a furious aerial dogfight with shocking, devastating casualties beyond their worst expectations. The highly-trained German pilots, in their superior Fokker aircraft, are adept at coming from nowhere to outmaneuver a French plane and shoot it down. The shockingly short life expectancy of the pilots is reinforced with each new burial in the squadron's cemetery.In-between battles, Rawlings finds moments of hope and happiness when he meets and begins to fall in love with Lucienne D'Arcy (Jennifer Decker), a young French woman who lives in a town nearby with her war-orphaned niece and nephews. Through her, Rawlings learns firsthand the disturbing costs of war as it has affected her and her family. When Lucienne's farm is surrounded by German infantry, Rawlings risks everything to rescue her. Soon thereafter, he must say goodbye to his new love as the chaos of war engulfs them.
As the pilots who survive re-group and prepare for their next battle, Rawlings and his courageous flyers must leave their fears behind as they face the deadliest battles yet, and all thoughts of idealism and thrill-seeking take a back seat to a single notion: staying alive, and helping to save their comrades and loved ones.
The "War To End All Wars" on Screen
When producer Dean Devlin first read the script for FLYBOYS, he realized that no one had ever been able to make a film that truly did justice to the men who fought the dogfights of World War I. "I've never seen the kind of chaos in the sky that these people experienced," says Devlin. "I knew that using modern equipment and special effects to recreate another time, we could show how it happened, what it was really like for those extraordinary and brave young men."
Whereas World War II was exhaustively documented and has inspired numerous films and television programs recounting its horrors and heroics, the First World War, specifically its unprecedented aerial battles, have been long ignored by filmmakers, documentarians and authors. Aside from Charles Schultz's long-running comic strip, "Peanuts," which featured a Red Baron-obsessed Snoopy (who imagined himself a member of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille) what little most know about the world's first fighter pilots comes from a handful of books and a few films…all of them made decades ago.
"There are several generations that have never seen these planes in action," says Executive Producer Philip Goldfarb. "In my memory, there's The Blue Max and Von Richthofen and Brown, and that's about it....It's been a long time."
In fact, it's been even longer - over 75 years - since any major film undertook to portray the remarkable Lafayette Escadrille. WINGS, the first film to do so, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929 and played for two years. THE DAWN PATROL and HELL'S ANGELS followed in 1930 and were also hugely successful. (Tellingly, like FLYBOYS, they were all directed by experienced pilots.)
"World War I has not really been featured in any [modern] films, with the exception of France's A Very Long Engagement and twenty-some years ago, Australia's Gallipoli, both of which focused on trench warfare," says Devlin. "It's been decades and decades since we've seen anything about the aerial battles. I think one reason we haven't seen these films in a long time is because these planes haven't existed for a long time. And the technology to do these kinds of battles has only existed recently."
But that doesn't mean that the impact and drama of WWI dogfights has been entirely forgotten: George Lucas used the aerial battles portrayed in those early movies as the prototypes for the battles in his original STAR WARS. In fact, when he test-screened the movie in its earliest incarnation, while waiting for the special effects to be finished, he used aerial sequences from WWI movies as a substitute for the finished scenes. Many of his friends were puzzled, if not dismayed, by the imagery of WWI biplanes as spaceships. But his comparisons, as it turned out, were apt.
 Devlin says the first director he thought of when he read FLYBOYS was his longtime friend, Oscar®-winning actor/director/producer Tony Bill. Devlin knew that not only had Bill been a licensed aerobatic pilot since he was 14, but that he was a dedicated World War I buff with one of the world's largest private collections of books on the subject. Devlin knew Bill's passion and talent would enable the director to translate to modern audiences the unprecedented thrills and dangers these men experienced."When World War I broke out, most people had never seen an airplane, much less flown in one," says director Bill. “The Wright Brothers had flown at Kitty Hawk in the last few days of 1903 but, incredibly, the airplane had languished, practically unnoticed for several more years. Aeronautical technology had barely advanced before WWI. This was a time when most people had never even driven a car, so the airplanes of World War I were the space vehicles of their time. They weren't in a cockpit, they didn't have any protection around them or parachutes. A mere spark was almost certainly fatal. They were basically flammable, flying targets.”
Bill was determined to show in detail what it was actually like for these courageous pilots, who chose to become fighter pilots in open planes made of nothing but canvas, wood, wires, and linen. "If anyone has ever wondered what it's like to fly inverted or to do loops and rolls in the sky in an open cockpit biplane with people shooting at you, this is their chance to find out," says Bill. "There's no template for this movie. No one's seen this movie before.”
"Before we started shooting, Tony gave me some books and stories to read about these guys," says co-star Tyler Labine. "These stories were amazing: like the story of a pilot whose plane had flipped upside down, and he's in an inverted spin hanging from the wing, trying to pull himself back into the cockpit, control the airplane and avoid being shot down….all before he hits the ground!”
Co-star Jean Reno says he realized the extraordinary bravery of these men when he first set eyes on a real plane from the period on the FLYBOYS set. "When you see those planes up close, it's like flying a kite in the clouds!" he says. "You have only leather, wood, wire and cloth and you wonder how...how people could fly and fight in these planes? They're basically sitting on clouds…completely open to everything around them. They were very courageous."
Unlike modern warfare, aerial combat in World War I often retained a courtly feel; in the skies, the fighting was dubbed "the last gentleman's war," by military and aviation historians. "The part of WWI history we deal with is the war in the air," says Bill. "The horrible filth and pain and suffering on the ground was pretty much left behind in the air. It was a different war up there." This contrast stemmed in part from the elite stature of the men who were able to become pilots. Many of these young volunteers were well-educated, aristocratic, or in the case of the Lafayette Escadrille, Ivy League graduates. As aerial tactics developed, this new combat became reminiscent of medieval military tournaments, with one-on-one dogfights between pilots, resembling warriors on horseback; soon they were called “Knights of the Air”.
"World War I was the last time there was a direct connection between combatants in a war," says Goldfarb. "You were close enough to see the other individual's face while fighting and flying. There are stories about firing a weapon and the blood of your enemy would literally end up on your windshield and face. It was graphic, but it also gave an intimacy and personal connection that never existed again."
"When these men went into the war they had these old concepts about marching across the fields with their guns…only to get plowed down by this new automatic fire, by the thousands and thousands," says actor James Franco. "Then, you have the pilots up above, still living out those old ideas of chivalry. War had always been face-to-face, man-toman. The idea was to be knights of the skies; a duel; the last kind of duel, in effect, since modern weapons have taken all that away."
Co-star and aerobatic pilot David Ellison, who plays Eddie Beagle, agrees with these notions of chivalry: "While in the air, if you shot down an enemy over foreign territory, you either saw him make it home to fight another day, or he died. But if he made it to the ground and lived, you didn't try to kill him on the ground."
Making this film was an exciting historical re-creation for filmmakers and actors alike. "I think part of the reason everyone is so excited about making this film is that what we are making has never been done so realistically before," says Tyler Labine, who portrays the aristocratic Briggs Lowry. "World War I was so long ago that it's largely been forgotten. Our generation doesn't even think about it. It was a war of epic proportions and so is this film. It'll remind people of its significance."
"We're not trying to put gauze between the audience and story, creating this magical period world," says Director of Photography Henry Braham, an experienced aerial cinematographer. "The film is accessible in a modern way. It's a terrific story that doesn't stop. Yet emotionally, it's very intimate. While we have an epic visual scale, we've worked hard to retain the intimacy with the characters. These men were flying basically in wicker baskets, completely open. There's a strong element of exposure and human frailty that perhaps you don't get in modern action and war movies anymore."
"The great films about aerial warfare have been made by pilots: William Wellman, Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes," says Devlin. "Our director, Tony Bill, is a pilot… I think having him as the film's director allows us to tell the story in a way that's very truthful to that joy, that rush, the adventure and thrill it is to be in the air. We want people to get the feeling of what it was like to fly these biplanes for the very first time-- just like these young men experienced."
Real men in a real war.
The real-life Lafayette Escadrille was commanded by French Captain Georges Thenault, who had a handful of Americans assigned to him as pilots: Kiffin Rockwell, James McConnell, Norman Prince, Victor Chapman, Laurence Rumsey, Bert Hall, William Thaw and Elliot Cowdin.
These men were soon joined by additional pilots, creating a core group of 38. Some of the most famous names include James Norman Hall (coauthor of the classic novel Mutiny on the Bounty), the legendary Frank Luke, and Raoul Lufbery, a Frenchman born in America who became the squadron's first ace. Eventually, some 265 young Americans served as pilots for the French, as the Escadrille expanded into the Lafayette Flying Corps.
FLYBOYS focuses on the group of young Americans who served from 1916 to 1918, and combines many of the colorful real-life characters in this story about an original and diverse group of heroes.
"They were all very young and innocent," says Bill. "Most of them were barely out of college and some were teenagers. If they lived more than six weeks they were considered a veteran. We didn't want 35-year olds playing these kids, so casting our actors was the culmination of a lot of thought.”
Bill and Devlin chose to make the film independently so they could get the best actors for the roles, rather than have studio pressures for name actors and stars. "We wanted to hire great actors, whether they were famous like Jean Reno and James Franco, or if they were new stars who we've never seen before, like Jennifer Decker," says Devlin. "We wanted audiences to be immersed in the story, in the film, and often big names affect that. This is a movie about the characters, not the actors playing these characters. The one thing our actors have in common is that they bring humanity to the part, they pull you in."
James Franco portrays Blaine Rawlings, the Texan farm boy who finds himself flying for the French. "I jumped at the opportunity to play a character who embodies a lot of strength in a classic kind of film," says Franco. "Frankly, nowadays, a lot of the roles I see around are these weak, scummy young guys, and that is not as appealing to me. This was a big, romantic, dynamic film. I wanted to be a part of it."
"This is a huge movie," says Martin Henderson, who portrays Cassidy, a character loosely based on the American-born ace Raoul Lufbery. "It has strong characters and says a lot about relationships and love and friendship and death. Yet, it's also an action movie with planes diving across the skies, shooting at each other, going down in flames and crashing into each other." As the veteran of the group, Cassidy is at first rigid and unwelcoming to the new pilots. Filmmakers discovered that often veteran fighter pilots would not even speak to the new pilots until they had been there for a month or so. "There was just the assumption they'd be dead, so why get to know somebody who's not going to be around?" says Devlin. "They were hesitant to make friends because it was so painful to lose them."
"For all our characters, the war in the air is sobering and it's not what they were expecting," says Bill. "That's what I've consistently read in the letters home from these men. Yet, their experience is infused with this sense of adventure and romance. Some of these letters were full of, 'Gosh, I can't believe I'm here and this is so great. And flying is so great. I had a couple of accidents last week, but no problem. So don't worry about me.' Then, a few days later, he's dead."
Ingenious, daring, resourceful, reckless and determined, the young Americans of the Escadrille were a rare breed, and the actors playing them were in awe of what they learned. "What those men did was at another level," says Abdul Salis, who portrays fighter Eugene Skinner, based on Eugene Bullard, the first African-American combat pilot. "What I liked was that they all came from different walks of life and had different reasons for being there," says Tyler Labine. "Some of the men wanted to fight for others' freedom, others were trying to leave their past behind, and some just wanted to fly. But once they get up in the air and start to fight, they really band together and the things that have separated them on the ground start to change."
Star-Crossed Lovers in Wartime
To prepare to play these unique characters, the actors began to do research. To play Blaine Rawlings, a composite character inspired by ace pilots such as Frank Luke and Eddie Rickenbacher, actor James Franco turned to Westerns and flying lessons. "I watched a lot of old John Ford movies, although it may seem odd to watch John Ford movies to prepare for a World War I aviation movie, but it was the spirit of John Wayne and the spirit of young Clint Eastwood, which I watched," says Franco. “I studied those guys."
Franco also studied for his pilot's license. "I flew every day and trained for months in advance to get my license," he says. “So now I'm a legal pilot, and that helped a great deal. A big part of the story in this film is about the training and getting used to airplanes and I had that very experience in life."
To that end, in the months before production began, the director took his star out for several aerobatic flights in his Marchetti SF260 - one of the finest aerobatic planes made, and known as “the Ferrari of the skies.” The two of them went through all of the combat maneuvers that could be expected in the film. Bill encouraged Franco to fly them all.
Director Bill sees Franco embodying Rawlings as "a Gary Cooper loner, quiet, taciturn, heroic,” he says. “Rawlings represents the purest of motivations, a man who volunteered out of personal conviction. He's an innocent, an unsophisticated guy, but he hangs in there with his eye on the prize, so to speak. Through everything that happens, he focuses on his original motive for being there."
"James has this quiet intensity, which he put into Rawlings," says co-star Labine. "He's very subtle, understated, which is key for this type of role and film."
Audiences who saw Franco's acclaimed performances in Spider-Man 2, or his Golden Globe®-winning turn as the screen icon James Dean (in TNT's bio-pic of the same name), will undoubtedly agree with Winchester's praise of his co-star. "He's amazing, such a great actor," Winchester says. "He's got such a strong presence and working with him was quite a dream come true for me, because I really look up to him as an actor. He's brilliant as Rawlings. "
Franco believes Rawlings is transformed by his experience in a positive way. "Maybe some brightness of his spirit is lost, but what is gained is strength. He goes into the war with a lot of naiveté and ideals, but he leaves as an experienced man with new ideals."
Key to the changes Rawlings encounters are two relationships, with the beautiful French girl Lucienne, and with the veteran ace, Cassidy. "Cassidy's the mentor, the one who passes the torch of experience, and Lucienne is kind of a first love for Rawlings," says Franco. "When he arrives, he's fighting for ideals, but after meeting Lucienne, he's now fighting for someone he cares about whose life and world is at stake."
Lucienne, portrayed by newcomer Jennifer Decker, has the responsibility of looking after her brother's three children after he and his wife are killed in the war. "Jennifer is so comfortable in front of the lens," says Bill. "She has brought an enormous reality and life to the character of Lucienne. We think the audience is going to fall in love with her just like Blaine Rawlings does."
"I think she brings Rawlings this space of peace and love in the middle of the war," says Decker about her character. "While I don't pretend to know exactly how these people felt or how hard it was for them, I do have a strong feeling of Lucienne being there for Rawlings, strengthening his will to live and fight and win."
The French-speaking actress discovered she did understand her character Lucienne's frustration with the language barrier. "My first language is French," says Decker. "In both cases, not knowing how to speak English to him, I had the same problems as my character."
Franco, who does not speak French, agrees, "There's a natural language barrier set-up that we've incorporated into the film. More than any other relationship in the film, we were able to play and use what's there. We got to know each other on film as the characters do in the story."
Decker, who is making her American film debut in FLYBOYS, credits Franco with making her feel at ease. "James has allowed me to learn," she says. “He has been patient and guided me through the scenes. It's a fine line between work and real life, a similarity to what our characters experience with language in the story."
Filmmakers Bill and Devlin see the real-life love story in the film as a metaphor for the overall loss of innocence of these people, trapped by war. "It was very important for us to have that heart running through the center of our story," says Devlin. "Because I think these characters are motivated by love. It's that loss of love that becomes so tragic, that moves these people to act and fight."
The Ace and the Lion
The loss and loves that motivate these men was also exemplified in Cassidy, a veteran ace inspired by the legendary fighter pilot Raoul Lufbery, who joined the squadron one month after the unit was organized. He quickly became the unit's ace, eventually downing nearly 20 enemy aircraft. Major Lufbery also led the squadron in the unit's first flight across the front lines. Cassidy is played with a delicate mixture of idealism and weariness by the talented New Zealander Martin Henderson.
"Cassidy is our voice of experience," says Bill. "Cassidy is not so much a mentor as an example of a person who has gone from being an altruist to being a realist. Martin has an intelligence and an edge, a kind of devil-may-care appeal, and I like that."
Having survived when so many of his comrades perished, Cassidy has no illusions about why he is still flying and fighting. "He's really just fighting for revenge," says Henderson. "He's out to get the guys that took his friends down and he doesn't want a lot to do with the other pilots. He's already lost too many friends. So he sort of removes himself and is rather enigmatic when we first meet him." According to co-star Franco, "Martin's got a great grasp of who Cassidy is. He's perfect for the character. He brings across this dark-horse quality as a man who has seen a lot. He's everything I imagined that character would be."
Henderson says Cassidy views Rawlings as the group's natural new leader. "I think Cassidy believes he's not going to be around for much longer and sees in Rawlings someone to take over the reins. He sets up a series of tests to see if Rawlings is capable of assuming that role." For Henderson, Cassidy was also firmly dedicated to the men around him. "He's fun to play, but I was very aware of honoring his function, the role he played to these men and the war. Cassidy was a real hero: a man who gives himself completely to the cause and is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice."
"Martin reminds me a little of Clark Gable in the way he puts his hands in his pockets and just looks at you with a little humor in his eye," says Reno. "He reminds me of young people I've seen in America and England, handsome, but having his own way of thinking and being." Costar Winchester sums it up: "Martin Henderson's just cool. He's super suave. He's super chill. His Cassidy is a nice guy who has a lion for a pet. What more can you ask for?"
During their early days, the Lafayette Escadrille had two lions as mascots, one named "Whiskey," purchased for fun, and the other, "Soda,” bought when Whiskey turned out to be popular. Both real-life lions are represented in the film by a single 15-month-old lion named Shaka. While filmmakers combined the two lions into one mascot in FLYBOYS, there's no doubt the king of the jungle is the star of the film.
"Shaka is the man," joked Henderson. "He's beautiful, a real star." Born and bred in England, Shaka comes from a long line of movie lions, but makes his screen debut in FLYBOYS. "He's from a movie family that's ten generations strong, working in commercials, television and movies," says trainer Rona Brown. "We searched America, the U.K. and Europe for a lion with a really pleasant personality.... When we found Shaka, we knew immediately that he had the best nature. He was the nicest looking animal. He was the right age and he was easily trainable."
It took about five weeks of training to prepare the lion for his role, and co-star Henderson spent extra time working with Shaka before filming began. "It's important for the cast to spend time with him too," says Brown. "We taught Martin, for example, how to pat him, scratch him, to sit next to him. Shaka knows people by their smell and how they are with him. If they're afraid, he ignores them. But, if they are positive and friendly, then he's positive and friendly back."
Henderson, who has the lion's share of screen time with Shaka, enjoyed working with his unusual co-star. "When you first met him, he ignores you and then eventually when he realizes you're gonna hang around, he'll look you in the eye," says Henderson about his feline costar.
"And that's the moment where you have to be real cool. If you run or flinch or turn away, he knows he's on top. But you can't confront him either. You have to be cool, but careful until he decides you're going to be friends."
Henderson sees similarities between the cautionary approaches of Cassidy to his comrades and Shaka to his co-stars. "When you first meet him, he's very scary, a guy that doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Then, he decides that you're cool and you realize he's a big pussy cat."
Not everyone was as fond of Shaka as Henderson was. "No, no, no, no,” laughs Jean Reno. "W.C. Fields said it best, 'Never act with animals and children.'"
Those Magnificent Men ....
The Lafayette Escadrille pilots ranged in age between 18 and 30. The diversity of characters reflects the differences in the men, who journeyed to France to join the fledging air force. FLYBOYS follows these disparate men, who meet under the most challenging circumstances and learn about themselves, each other, and the world at large.
Once you get talented actors who are right for your parts, much of the work is done," says Devlin. "Now, it's sitting back and watching what they bring. Everyone from Philip Winchester to Tyler Labine to Abdul Salis to Christien Anholt…they've all brought unique things to the part that you would never have imagined. It's a joy to watch them come up with new things and explore the characters in a deeper way than Tony, myself, or the writers envisioned."
Briggs Lowry, played by Tyler Labine, joins the Escadrille under pressure from his wealthy and powerful father, when he would rather stay in the life of luxury he has always enjoyed. At first, his privileged lifestyle puts him at odds with the other recruits, but eventually he gains the respect of the others. "Lowry puts his life on the line with other men and is rescued by other men," says Labine. "He becomes a man, like his father wanted, but he becomes his own man…not the man his father necessarily wants him to be."
William Jensen on the other hand, is a well-educated young man from Nebraska. His father, who was in the cavalry, inspires Jensen to become a pilot. "I think he wants to prove to his family and prove to himself that he's a man," says Philip Winchester. "I think he slowly realizes the reality is not the heroic, pretty pictures he's had in his head. It's death and destruction. The war doesn't build him up, it breaks him down. He can't handle it. He snaps… I think he realizes he's not a knight or hero. As much as he wants to prove to his father he's a warrior, it's not going to happen."
Abdul Salis plays Skinner, a composite character partially based on the real-life Eugene Bullard, who made aviation history as the first black military pilot. He learned that his character's decision to enter the war was all about gratitude, not heroism. "When I did my research, I found that he felt he owed France something because they had accepted him, been nice to him, nicer than any country he had ever known," says Salis. "He made his boxing career in Paris and they treated him so well that he felt he owed them something."
The racism Bullard suffered in America is something Salis doesn't pretend to understand. "The first black guy to fly and fight: I can only imagine what it was like for him," says Salis. "He's projected as a bit of a hard man, but he is also very funny, and has witty one-liners. I like the chemistry we have in the film. My skin color's only a problem with one character and apparently Bullard was well-liked and respected by everyone. I think that's really cool."
Salis says playing the first-ever black military fighter pilot was the type of special role which "is one of those parts, one of those stories, one of those honors, where you think to yourself, I've got to do testament to the man. It's great stuff." While researching his character, Salis says he was surprised at Bullard's prominence. "I was amazed at how much information there was on him," says Salis. "He had his own comic book, and it was more or less for black kids.... It had a black guy on the front cover in his plane. When they have Black History Month, he's right up there, you know? A real hero. The very first."
"Abdul may be the biggest surprise of the movie because when Abdul came in and read, he was so in character, he was so this guy, he just blew us away. Absolutely blew us away," says producer Devlin. "One of our fears was how are we going to get this guy to come out of his shell? He's too quiet. Of course, once he got on the set we discovered the person he really is. He's a very different person than the character he is playing. Abdul gives a touching and genteel performance."
To portray the squadron's most hapless pilot, the filmmakers recruited one of America's top aerobatic pilots, David Ellison. Ellison, like director Bill, began flying at age 13 and became an aerobatic pilot when he was 17. "Tony Bill and I had the same coach, Wayne Hanley, who's a world-renowned air show pilot and coach," says Ellison. "I was also in film school at USC and acting, so he wanted to put me in the film."
Ellison portrays the fearful pilot Beagle, a young man escaping from his past by joining the squadron. "When you are 16, 17, and 18 years old, you don't think anything can ever happen to you," says Ellison. "When something finally happens, that first shocking incident kind of wakes you up."
All the actors asked a similar question when researching their characters: What makes a young person want to volunteer to fight another country's war? "It's an honorable trait that perhaps is lost in younger generations," says Labine. "I'm in that generation where we're just lazy. We don't want to get off the couch, you know? We're not that committed to anything... Everything's based in technology and war is a different game. You don't see your enemy. You press a button and they are dead. This story is about a long lost era that we're bringing back. What these young men did was very honorable."
Ellison says his character's ability to overcome his fears is a key to understanding these men. "I think it goes to show what people can do or become when they are put into situations that test them," says Ellison. "It shows the humanity and the ability to come back from tragedy as a hero, to triumph in the end."
It is Reno's character, Thenault, who must take these various Americans and in a few short weeks, transform them into pilots and fighters. "He is kind of a father by the end, but at the beginning, he's strict in discipline because he knows the average life span of a pilot at that time was between three and six weeks, so he's very strong, very disciplined," says Reno. "He knows how important it is that they learn what he has to teach since he knows the odds are against them."
Reno, who himself was stationed in Germany during his required service in the French military service, says there was a single element in surviving the battles: control. "All the tests the pilots are put through are about control," says Reno. "Controlling your emotions, your reactions, the plane. The g-forces, the keen eyesight, the ability to fly and fight; all this was about control. These men endured a great deal. They are very tough men, exceptional."
On the set, many of the younger actors were particularly pleased to be working with Reno, having respected the acclaimed actor's work for years. "I don't usually buckle when I meet a movie star, but when I first saw Jean Reno I quickly tried to remember some French, got really nervous and a little bit sweaty," confesses co-star Labine. "He's a very talented, very clever, very funny guy. It was a thrill to work with him."
"Mr. Reno brings a very specific gravity to the part of the commanding officer," says executive producer Goldfarb. "You believe him. This is not playing. This is someone who very well could be that individual."
Reno's not sure how his character, Thenault, felt about flying, but he is sure of where Jean Reno the actor stands on leaving the ground. "No thanks, I am afraid of flying," says Reno. "I'm happy to stay right here." Reno soon discovered he was not the only actor with a fear of flying. "I didn't know we were flying planes until we were about two and a half weeks into the shoot," laughs Salis. "I was on the set and they approached me about my flying orientation, and I asked, 'What do you mean?' They said, 'You've got to learn about planes before we go up. And I said, 'We're going up in the planes?' and they replied, 'Yeah, of course...' No one told me we were actually going up. I thought it was going to be CGI. I'm scared...I'm scared. Everyone else was good to go, but I know me. I'll fall out, a wing will fall off, or the engine will stop."
The Escadrille Take Off
Before filming could begin, the cast and crew had to become acquainted with their subject matter. While the true stories of the Lafayette Escadrille boast all the elements of an epic motion picture, the logistics of staging an authentically detailed view of aerial combat made film re-creations difficult and dangerous, if not impossible, until now.
"One of the things that filmmakers could never really do in any movies that dealt with early aerial combat was to have the airplanes fly as close as they really did," says Devlin. "Almost as many pilots in World War I were killed by collision as by bullets, and that kind of close proximity we haven't been able to show in films before, because to film it would be too dangerous. Now, with digital technology we can do it. We can do the moves the pilots did. We can show how close they got to each other. We can make you feel like you're really in those battles."
To prepare for their roles cast members took a series of aviation classes to familiarize themselves with the aircraft and equipment, and like the real-life pilots, the transition was abrupt. "I forced them into training in planes just like their characters," says Bill. "I've also talked to them about the realities of flying aerobatics and the manner in which pilots conduct themselves when they are not flying, how they talk about their hands, and things to expect in the air. Then we took them up, each of them, for two or three flights a day and filmed them in a real, opencockpit aerobatic airplane, flown by our chief pilot Nigel Lamb. He's an 8-time British National Aerobatic Champion. I had him do everything: rolls, loops, spins.”
Like their characters, the actors began not knowing much about airplanes and learned as they went along. Their lessons were designed to prepare the actors to fly and add authenticity to their characters.
"They're not just sticking us in front of a green screen," says Winchester. "They're going to take us up and scare the crap out of us. The entire time, they're going to be filming us, so that's part of the excitement. We'll be going through those stunts and those aerobatics and also acting up there. Only thing is, I will be gripping the seat, scared to death, so it'll be perfect on screen."
Other actors were more open to the flight experiences, such as Martin Henderson: "I remember being in primary school and drawing pictures of biplanes and like a lot of young boys, at one point, I wanted to be an Air Force fighter pilot," he says. "Now, I get to realize that in makebelieve."
Henderson has also trained to pilot twin-engine planes for an Australian television series. "That gave me a level of comfort with being around the planes and the scenes we were actually gonna have to film up there in the air."
The openness of the cockpit was another revelation to most. "It's surprising how insecure you are," says co-star Christien Anholt. "You're doing loops, going upside down, and you've only got a seat belt, no parachute. There's nothing around you, protecting you." Bill was aware that the experience was a necessity to get his actors ready for the film's many stunts. "Frankly, I don't think any of them are going to know what it's like until they get in the seat of an open-cockpit biplane and get up in the sky and get turned around upside down a few times." It wasn't all thrills, either: Bill had to tell the actors, "If you're gonna throw up, thrown up over the side so it looks real."
Devlin and Bill believe that fellow actors and pilots Franco, Henderson and Ellison gave the rest of the cast a confidence boost. "I think they still have a little bit of nerves about the fact that they're in these fragile airplanes doing wild gyrations in the sky, but they're all willing to do it," says Devlin. "Tony casting David Ellison, who is an experienced pilot; and James Franco's fearlessness in going out and getting a pilot's license brought calm to the rest of the cast".
Under the tutelage of the legendary aerial unit coordinator, Ray Hanna, Ellison and the rest of the main cast received two weeks of flying orientation, learning the basics of flying primitive aircraft. Of the French Nieuport 17's, which actually fly in the film, one is from a museum in Florida; two were from the United Kingdom; and four other replicas were built specifically for the film in Missouri. The full-scale replicas boast eighty CC engines that were built from scratch for the aircraft. Each of these planes are built from original plans, not kits. These planes are all skin," says Yves De Bono, Special Effects Supervisor. "Canvas, wood, and wire, so they are very light."
In addition to the full-scale reproductions, De Bono and his team used the same materials in building several scale models of the planes, which were used during some of the aerial battle scenes. The filmmakers also used a 1909 Bleriot, 2 Fokker DR1's, an SE- 5, a Sopwith 1½ Strutter and a Bristol Fighter, each of which were in use at different points of the war.
In addition to the basic flight experience, the cast also had to grow accustomed to the limitations of these small, primitive aircraft. "The ineffectiveness of the controls is something you have to get used to," says the film's chief pilot, Nigel Lamb. "The rudder is pathetic, actually, and the lack of control is apparent. These planes are also very, very limited in terms of what kind of weather conditions they can fly. There are many days where you simply can't fly these planes."
For the filmmakers and actors, working with these often fragile aircraft posed numerous challenges. These WWI aircraft could only take off and land in specific wind conditions, requiring no crosswinds. Moreover, the open cockpits exposed pilots to all the elements and weather, including windburn, sunburn, rain, and freezing temperatures.
"We have our flight gear on, hand warmers, long underwear, and you still know it's going to be freezing cold up there," says co-star Winchester. "But that's part of the beauty of this film. We get a taste of the reality with the cameras rolling and capturing it all."
Filmmakers used a maximum of six Nieuport aircraft aloft at any one time, given the limits of the flight formations and camera framing. The specific assignments of these planes changed constantly, with the art department jumping in between scenes to strip the colors and insignias from one plane and put on another. With each of the squadron's many pilots creating his own insignia on his plane, there were many exchanges of top hats, knight helmets, bibles, woodpeckers and falcons.
A majority of the film was shot on location in parks and open fields in the English countryside, primarily in a park at the Royal Air Force (RAF) airfield in Halton, Aylesbury, and in Pippingford Park, recently seen in the Normandy Beach episode for the WWII series Band of Brothers. A few interiors and all of the green-screen work was done at Elstree Film and Television Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
"Without a doubt, the biggest challenge in this film was working so heavily on location," says production designer Wood. "It was enormously challenging with environmental, noise, wildlife and other issues. The weather and wind also affect us and our structures and our ability to fly, very much like what the original pilots and fighters experienced when they took to the skies."
At the same time, the cast appreciated being on location: "One of the things that England has that America doesn't is the age, history and culture," says co-star Philip Winchester. "There's a weight to everything around you. The trees, grounds and buildings look tired, established, with a touch of class. Shooting here, with the airfield that is like a moving museum, it feels like it's supposed to feel. It wasn't hard to imagine ourselves in 1916 France. Being here has been incredibly important."
Re-Creating an Era: Production Design
From day one, director Bill and producer Devlin were clear on one thing: They wanted this film to be a realistic depiction of the Lafayette Escadrille and World War I. From script and character development, from casting to design, the key creative mandate was simple: keep it real.
"The attention to detail, the research, the level of authenticity on this film is very high," says Devlin. "We had a mandate that we wouldn't build it unless we could find photographs of it from that time. So every prop, everything out on the airfield, matches exactly something from World War I."
If filmmakers couldn't find the actual item from that time, they built it from scratch using the actual patterns and designs. Production Designer Charles Wood, Set Decorator Eliza Solesbury and their teams worked closely with London's Imperial War Museum. Striving for authenticity, the filmmakers even invited the curators and historians from the Museum to inspect dressed sets for accuracy. "We certainly haven't struggled for information,” says Wood. “It was extremely important to us collectively, to respect the Lafayette Escadrille and maintain authenticity in telling their story."
Wood estimates that more than ninety percent of the on-set props came from the period, an extraordinarily high level of authenticity. "A lot of the props came from Paris," says Wood. "Because we could source locally and work with many people who knew the planes, locations and history, being in Europe was essential, very important."
Thanks to the Imperial War Museum, Tony Bill's personal library of research materials, and extensive French documentation of the period, the production team was able to find plans and images of almost everything required to make the film as authentic as possible. When the production had difficulty finding original plans for the French Nieuport 17, only produced briefly in 1915 and 1916, the producers ended up discovering German design plans, created when one would go down behind enemy lines. "The Germans got hold of the aircraft, dismantled it completely and did technical drawings of it," says Wood. "So, we used the German technical drawings of a Nieuport 17 to build our French planes, which is fascinating, in its own right."
The cast and crew all felt the extraordinary re-creations and replicas created such an authentic environment it was easy to react -- and act. "Every detail is so real," says Reno. "Especially when you seen the planes. It is unbelievable -- the size, the colors-- and when you look inside, 'Wow!' What they built is amazing."
Tyler Labine agrees: “The set is like a really cool World War I museum…You look around and are surrounded by all these amazing, real details. Every day for weeks we've gotten up early, put on our flight suits and come out to the airfield to get our mission briefings from Thenault. It gives an idea of what it might have been like."
Like the sets and production design, re-creating the costumes from the period was made easier by the voluminous reference photographs and books available. Costume Designer Nic Ede was very aware of the importance to get things right. "With the military, especially, you have to get it right since there are so many people who are passionate about military history," says Ede. "If you don't get it right, they will be on the phone in three minutes flat." To match the distinctive blue wool of the pilots' uniforms, Ede searched until he found a manufacturer in Scotland. “It's about three or four different colored threads and they had it right."
Ede was able to individualize his costumes thanks to changing styles in military uniforms of the era. "Our film takes place right on the edge of time when they formalized military uniforms," says Ede. "But before that, it was the last gentleman's war, with goggles and scarves, leather jackets and helmets. There's still a bit of individuality in the photos of these men." Ede says that the styles given to each individual pilot were based on photographs and research: "Every single one of those natty looking pilots is based on reality, on photographs and other images we saw."
The flying coats, worn by the squadron, had to be practical in addition to being stylish. "The flying coat is an extension of the driving coat and that's what they wore," Ede says. "There were no synthetic fabrics. It was leather, particularly fur-lined leather, which kept them warm, because at ten thousand feet, it is bloody cold and they're open to the elements."
Battles in the Sky: The Visual Effects of Flyboys
While the battles themselves were chaotic, the filmmakers needed careful coordination in order to make the dogfights came alive. With storyboards depicting various flight and dogfight sequences, the filmmakers and actors re-created many of the key aerial battles of the conflict. "There's a lot of choreography involved and a lot of coordination between the aerial camera unit and the pilots flying the required sequences," says aerial unit coordinator Hanna. "We can modify and adapt the story boards to the specific conditions and terrain each day."
Six of the world's top aerobatic pilots worked with the actors to create the film's extensive flying sequences. With cameras in helicopters and mounted on planes, Bill and director of photography Braham sought to place the audience in the middle of this amazing aerial action.
"We shot an enormous amount of battle footage with real airplanes that we will augment with footage of real bullets and tracer fire, which we've never seen in a movie before because it was physically impossible without killing the other pilot or planes colliding," says Devlin. "No WWI film has ever captured tracer fire, yet it was a vivid part of aerial combat.
One of the WWI diaries described the sky during a dogfight as a spider web of tracer fire and we wanted to show that in the film. You simply can't do that with real machine guns and real bullets. That's where CGI comes in."
Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Franco says, “We started out making this film with the plan that we would first design the aerial battle sequences via traditional storyboards and then translate that content to full 3D computer-generated `pre-visuals'…From these computergenerated mock-ups, we were going to be able to structure our plans to how we should shoot the battles--which shots would be done on the green screen stage, which would be shot as actual aerial photography and which shots would be entirely computer-generated. However, what eventually happened was that due to the limitations imposed by the aircraft and weather, we had to switch to a plan where literally ALL of the battle shots are in some form or another CGI.”
This created a multi-faceted challenge for Double Negative, the special effects house hired to handle the CGI for the film, with credits including such films as Batman Begins and Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire.
Franco explains, “Double Negative rose to the challenge and created a system to generate images that are `photo-real' in terms of the appearance of the aircraft and the environment, which consists of sky, clouds and terrain.”
To achieve the most realistic imagery, all of the airplane replicas were built - rib by rib - in the computer and modeled to exact dimensions, which were then textured and colored down to the smallest details, including scratches, scuffs and dirt. Next, careful rigging and controls were devised for all the aircraft which would replicate exactly how a real plane would function during various maneuvers. The movements of the real and model planes were then digitally captured and integrated into new animation programs. This proved extremely successful in replicating complicated aerial moves as well as subtle aerial motion.
The final challenge was not only to make the environments look real, but to manipulate them to match the corresponding live photography. The clouds were first created in 3D and placed into different computer-generated backgrounds representing various weather and lighting schemes. As for the terrain, “the ground was created by stitching together actual digital aerial maps,” says Franco, which were then enhanced with texture, and modern landmarks were removed.
Using the Sun: Fighter Planes and Genesis Cameras
As aerial combat developed in World War I, one of the most effective strategies for surprising the enemy was to fly at them with the sun in their opponents' eyes. Unsuspecting young pilots were often ambushed in this manner by experienced fighters. "These pilots used light to their advantage in fighting," says director of photography Henry Braham. "They attacked with the sun behind them, so their enemy couldn't see them because it is impossible to look clearly into the sunlight."
Similarly, the filmmakers of FLYBOYS found themselves searching for the ideal way to capture the movie's aerial battles, in a wide variety of shooting conditions. Eventually, the filmmakers decided to use the most technologically innovative digital camera available today, Panavision's Genesis High-Definition Video system, which was also used to shoot Superman Returns and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. “Genesis is not just a better HD camera, it's truly the first major advance in filmmaking since frames and sprockets," says producer Devlin. "It's a tool allowing us to tell our story in a more beautiful, elegant and cost effective way."
"Genesis is a camera that basically, in my opinion, spells the end of film," says director Bill. "Like film, it looks beautiful. But, unlike film, it has no limitations in terms of light exposure. It has virtually zero expense in terms of film used. It allows you to see your film instantly, rather than sending the film to a lab, then going to dailies and seeing it two days later. It allows the actors the freedom to forget they're being filmed."
Genesis lent itself well to the film's visual style. "This film has a modern, realistic style, with a touch of romanticism," says Braham. "So, I was looking around for the right format and right style to shoot this film and I became keen to use this new HD camera…I was particularly knocked out by the flexibility and latitude of the medium. In this film, we are working in every kind of light condition imaginable. We have to be able to go with the flow, if you like. And we can."
Utilizing natural light and existing conditions, Bill, Braham and their team translated their visual style into a flexible shooting method, with greater freedom to adapt to constantly changing weather and light conditions. "Weather and light are characters in the film," says Braham. "And we have to work with them, as opposed to constantly trying to control them."
Braham sees parallels between the rapid technological changes in WWI and the ever-increasing quality and options of digital filmmaking. "Technology brought massive changes in the way the First World War was fought," says Braham. "Similarly, this new tool, Genesis, changes the way in which we can make films. After using this, it'd be hard to go back to film. It would be a backward step. If you'd asked me three months ago, I would have said digital cinematography isn't here for another ten years and nothing is as flexible as a film negative. Well, digital cinematography is here. We are shooting on material that is more flexible than any negative."
Co-star Jean Reno recalls a night shoot where he emerged from his character's officer tent to see the next scene being quietly shot nearby. "I saw James Franco and the young actress, who was sick on a bed in this little tent, and they just had a little light there in the middle of the night," he says.
"This new camera can shoot without a lot of light, so as I was looking at this small light in the tent and I thought, that's how it must have looked like at that time. No big lights, just silence, a person on a bed and another taking care of them in the middle of the night." Director Bill loves the film's look and says he was "surprised at the romanticism coming out from the images," he says. "We've taken advantage and really focused on the light and it is beautiful."
Thirty Years in the Making....
"The Devlin-Bill partnership has gone on for more than thirty years," says Dean Devlin. "My father was a producer who produced the first movie Tony Bill ever directed, My Bodyguard. I've known him my whole life. He's wonderful with actors, helping to discover John Turturro, Tim Robbins, Matt Dillon -- a long list actually. And he's absolutely knowledgeable and passionate about flying."
When Devlin sent Bill the screenplay, he included a note. It had only one line: “Tony, this is the script you were born to direct.” Devlin and Bill's great enthusiasm for the story helped the duo raise their approximate $60 million budget independently, and the two set out to make a film with a sweeping, epic scope but an intimate, indie-film feel, using their combined abilities and experience.
Actors and crew credit Bill and Devlin with creating an extraordinary on-set atmosphere that not only informed them, but made the often difficult work much easier. "Tony loves flying and Dean just loves movies, so their love and belief in this story comes through," says co-star Henderson. "It makes it a joy to come to work when someone truly, truly cares, the way these two do. It enables you to find a part of yourself that really cares too. It's contagious."
The relaxed confidence that Devlin and Bill brought to the set was welcoming to the actors, as well: "Always the same rhythm, always the same sweetness, that's Tony Bill," says Reno. "I came here and discovered a man who is not in a hurry, who never yells, always the same level of voice and energy and so smart at the same time. It is rare to work with someone who is so talented and content. It's exceptional how at peace he is with himself."
Devlin, a hands-on producer full of ideas, was involved and active in every aspect of the production. "Dean Devlin is a genius," says Philip Winchester. "Working with him has been an absolute dream-come-true. It's incredible working with people like Dean and Tony Bill, who's the perfect director for this film.”
Braham sees complementary strengths in the Bill-Devlin partnership. "Tony has wonderful insight into an actor's mind and visually is very aware, but is fine to give others that responsibility," he says. "Dean's very clear on storytelling, very visually literate, which has been an exceptional help to me, with this new camera system. It's a terrific collaboration."
That collaboration, spread out to include the entire cast and crew of FLYBOYS, finds its ultimate triumph in recounting the long-ago tales of courage and determination of the Lafayette Escadrille. With an unparalleled level of authenticity and devotion to detail, the filmmakers take audiences into the skies, on a hero's journey.
As Bill says, "Pilots are people that can do something that most other people on earth can not do. They can leave it." And the experience of being in the air can change a man: "What it does is really open up the world to you," says star James Franco. "There's something about a bird's-eye view that allows you to connect everything up. Things seem bigger and a lot smaller at the same time. You never see the world the same way again."
Reality, then and now…
In the writing and filming of FLYBOYS, every effort was made to be as real - and realistic - as possible. The fleet of aircraft assembled by this production is second only to those amassed by Howard Hughes for HELL'S ANGELS in 1929. Among them, the legendary Bristol Fighter is the last flying model of its kind in the world, and the Bleriot seen at the Escadrille aerodrome is the oldest flying aircraft in the world. Tony Bill was astounded when he learned of its provenance. “It was like having an extra working for you in the background and discovering that he is the oldest person on the planet,” he says. “I couldn't believe it. Not only was it part of aviation history…one of the first popular and practical airplanes in 1908, but it was also still functional.”
The pilots responsible for flying the aerial sequences were some of the best in the world. They were as international as the flyers of the WWI Allies themselves. Among the British pilots, Nigel Lamb, chief pilot, was eight-time British Unlimited Aerobatic Champion. Alister Kay is eight-time UK Gliding Champion and an airshow aerobatic pilot. Ray Hanna, the aerial coordinator (who died shortly after shooting FLYBOYS) was the most experienced film pilot in the UK and flew Spitfires, Mustangs and other warbirds for decades at airshows. John Day, who flew one of the Nieuport 17's, built it himself.
Another “flyboy” would have shocked any WWI airman: Anna Walker, a professional test pilot and WWII warbird pilot. Two American pilots were on the aerial unit: Andrew King, one of the foremost WWI-era pilots in the world, and Ken Kellett, an expert on early aircraft and the only pilot in the world to have flown a replica of the Wright Flyer - the world's first airplane. Finally, Fred North (his name notwithstanding, a Frenchman from Paris) flew the helicopter camera-ship…often within mere feet of the dog-fighting airplanes. Special care was used, and special equipment invented, to make the aerial sequences utterly real.
“You can't fool pilots,” says Tony Bill, “and I didn't want anyone who flies to be aware of any of our techniques. I wanted every one of them to walk away trying to figure out how we did it. And, so far, no one has. Even I can't tell the real airplanes from the CGI ones in some of our shots.”
There is virtually nothing in FLYBOYS...no action, no “stunt”…that didn't actually happen in WWI to the young pilots of The Lafayette Escadrille and others. In fact, many of their original exploits and encounters were even more hair-raising and extreme. Compare Rawlings' rescue of Beagle in FLYBOYS with this passage from Nordhoff & Hall's classic book, “The Lafayette Flying Corps”: “….gliding down, with propellor stopped, he landed between the French and German lines, only a few yards from the latter. Undoing his belt before the wheels touched the ground, he leaped from the still moving machine, dodged two Germans who tried to catch him, and sprinted to a French advance post, escaping, by some miracle, through a storm of lead from the enemy lines.”
Or consider this quote from the same book about the astonishing feat of Courtney Campbell, Beagle's inspiration: “...he lost completely a lower wing of his Nieuport, brought the machine to the ground, and landed it beautifully. Theoretically, the thing couldn't be done, but owing to great presence of mind and a most fantastic bit of luck, Courtney did it.”
Fire in the air was perhaps the most terrifying aspect of aerial combat and almost always fatal; many airmen preferred to jump - without parachutes - rather than face a slow death in flames. Mick Mannock confided in his friend the reason he carried a revolver with him in the air: “The other fellows think I'm going to shoot a machine down with it, but they're wrong. The reason I bought it was to finish myself off as soon as I see the first sign of flames.” Ironically, shortly after, Mannock went down in flames, facing the very end that had so terrified him.
This aerial warfare was brutally unrefined. Dog-fighting airmen flew so close to each other that they could recognize their opponents' faces and hear their guns. Midair collisions between enemy and friendly aircraft alike were common. The engines burned castor oil and it was said that pilots could “smell the enemy” in the air. Guns jammed as a matter of course. Airplanes and engines failed in flight without warning. They flew at altitudes exceeding 20,000 feet…without heat or oxygen.
It's easy today to underestimate the enormous effort and expense of men and machines that the war in the air entailed. Various statistics come close: one in three pilots died; life expectancies were from 3 to 6 weeks; the average lifespan of a British pilot during one terrible, “Bloody April,” month was 17 ½ hours. But perhaps the most incredible, yet telling, number is the following: during the 4 years of the war, the number of aircraft built by the combined forces of Germany, France and England was over 150,000! Each of these aircraft was painstakingly made by hand. Each engine was handcrafted and unique; parts were not interchangeable. And, of course, in each aircraft sat a young man who had most likely never flown one more than a few hours in his life. Not many of these aircraft or airmen survived the war intact.
History's first fighter pilots… the inspirations
The characters in FLYBOYS were all informed and inspired by actual pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille and Flying Corps. These young Americans - volunteers all - came from a variety of backgrounds. Some of the most famous and distinguished of them served as the inspirations for the characters in FLYBOYS.
One of the most colorful of these was Frank Luke, whose legend inspired several books. Even during his short lifetime, he was lionized in the press as “The Balloon Buster”; an allusion to his single-minded and daring attacks on the toughest targets: heavily defended German observation balloons. Winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, America's second ranking ace in World War One, Frank Luke epitomized the reckless, undisciplined, loner image of a fighter pilot. A farm boy from Arizona, guns were a way of life for him, and he came into the squadron as a crack shot. His quiet, purposeful idealism served as the model for BLAINE RAWLINGS (James Franco).
Raoul Lufbery was another legend in his own time. Self-effacing, but driven and relentlessly dedicated to avenging the death of his best friend, he was perhaps the Escadrille's most famous pilot. Whiskey, the company's lion mascot, was said to “follow him like a dog.” Often flying alone, he was renowned for his absolute fearlessness, with dozens of kills to his credit. Papers in France and America were full of his exploits; children were named after him; his suicidal death in a furious aerial battle was mourned by French, American and English forces alike. He became the inspiration for REED CASSIDY (Martin Henderson).
The role of EDDIE BEAGLE (David Ellison) is inspired, in several ways, by the character of the remarkable pilot, Courtney Campbell. Campbell was known as a jester, whose adventures “were always richly humorous, beyond those of any other pilot.” Campbell's most amazing “adventure”, however, bordered on the miraculous: he completely lost a lower wing of his Nieuport and managed to bring it down safely.
Theoretically, it couldn't be done, but “owing to great presence of mind and a most fantastic bit of luck, Courtney did it.” There is also a touch of Bert Hall in Beagle. The black sheep of the Escadrille pilots, Hall was once suspected of being a German spy, and was clearly trying to escape a shady past.
JEAN RENO portrays the role of Capt. Georges Thenault. Thenault was the real-life commander of the Lafayette Escadrille. He was widely respected and liked by his American pilots, a pilot himself… although he had little time to fly. Informal and personable, he took unusual interest and invested extraordinary care in training and protecting his squadron. Sadly, he had to preside over many of their funerals.
The son of a wealthy Boston banker, Norman Prince had gone to Harvard. An ace, with 122 missions to his credit, he was one of the original members of the Escadrille. He was also a millionaire who shared his expensive and eccentric tastes with his fellow pilots. He, too, died in battle and is buried in a special tomb in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. BRIGGS LOWRY (Tyler Labine) was suggested by Norman Prince and several other Escadrille pilots who came from extremely privileged backgrounds.
The role of EUGENE SKINNER (Abdul Sallis) has perhaps the most complete parallel to a historical character in the cast of FLYBOYS. Eugene Bullard was born to a former slave in Columbus, Georgia. As a young man, he stowed away on a ship to Scotland to escape racial discrimination and worked in Europe as a boxer. He joined the French Foreign Legion and was wounded twice, earning the Croix de Guerre before joining the Lafayette Flying Corps, where he distinguished himself as history's first African-American fighter pilot. After the war, Bullard was refused acceptance into The U.S. Army Air Service because of his race.
WILLIAM JENSEN (Phillip Winchester) is an amalgam of several typical pilots: young Americans who, fresh off the farm, volunteered to fight for another country's freedom for the sheer altruism of it. The inheritors of a national sense of righteousness, they discovered that aerial combat was more terrifying than anyone could have imagined.
One such pilot was James Connelly, Jr., who “on the point of a nervous breakdown, hung on with grim determination to do his duty.” Other pilots wrote of being unable to get out of the cockpit…of being incapable of walking, or even lighting a cigarette…for hours after combat.
Finally, CHAKA, the lion, portrays Whiskey. This is not a screenwriter's invention: Whiskey was first acquired as a cub on a trip to Paris by several of the Escadrille pilots. Promoted to squad's mascot and given his name, he was later joined by another young lion, dubbed “Soda”.
 These production notes provided by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. |
Flyboys