Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon star in 12 Strong, a powerful new war drama that tells the declassified true story of the Horse Soldiers. Based on the best-selling book Horse Soldiers, it is a story of heroism based on real events that unfolded a world away in the aftermath of 9/11.Playing the 12 Strong U.S. Special Forces team are Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Austin Stowell, Ben O’Toole, Austin Hébert, Kenneth Miller, Kenny Sheard and Jack Tesy. The ensemble cast also includes Navid Negahban, Elsa Pataky, William Fichtner and Rob Riggle.
Award-winning director Nicolai Fuglsig directed the film, which is produced by legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer, together with Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill under their Black Label Media banner. The executive producers are Alcon principals Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, together with Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Ellen H. Schwartz, Garrett Grant, Yale Badik, Val Hill and Doug Stanton. Ted Tally and Peter Craig wrote the screenplay, based on the book by Stanton.
Check out our exclusive interview with legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Trevante Rhodes:
Nicolette Acosta: Why in 2018 is the time for this story to be told?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Well I like to celebrate men or women who make a difference of our world. You know we’ve made movies like Pearl Harbor, Remember the Titans, and Black Hawk Down, about individuals that have done very heroic things to change this world, to make it a better place. And that’s what 12 Strong is. These twelve guys went into Afghanistan with bounties on their head of $100,000, they met up with a warlord that they knew very little about, and they were outnumbered ten to one. And yet they went in fighting on horses against tanks and most of them didn’t know how to ride a horse, only one of them had experience riding on horseback, so the fact that they accomplished their mission, the fact that they came back alive, left their families, their families had no idea where they were, what they were doing, or even if they’d be coming back. So it’s great to tell the stories of these great men who made enormous sacrifices for our country and a better way of life for everybody in the world, not just Americans.
NA: You’ve worked with a lot of stories that are true stories and based on real events; as a producer how do you find that line between the entertainment and the honesty?
JB: Well it’s difficult. And especially in this movie. It’s a big movie, you want to see it in the theater, the fact that we have live explosions, those guys are actually riding on horses and they’re doing what you see on screen is very exciting. But the hardest thing to do is to accomplish a true story and yet make it entertaining and when we showed it to the men who were actually on the mission and the special force guys, they were very supportive of it, and I think we captured the essence of that operation, and they’re very pleased we made the movie which gives us kind of a good feeling when you get it right, and that’s the scariest thing when you make a movie like this, to disappoint the people that actually had to go through this experience.
NA: What is something that you would like people to leave with having watched this movie?
JB: I think first of all it’s entertainment. You want to see it on a big screen, it’s funny, it’s heroic, it’s scary… It’s got all the things that big movies have, it’s gonna be on IMAX, it’s something that it’s a time and history that the world should know about, and these men should be remembered, and thanks to Doug Stanton’s book, this movie, they’ll be remembered.
Nicolette Acosta: Why in 2018 is the time for this story to be told?
Trevante Rhodes: Perspective. Because for me that was the main thing about reading the book and reading the script was developing perspective about what really happened with the situation. And that’s just important. Perspective is everything because whenever you don’t know something you’re afraid of it.
NA: One thing that was really interesting was the family aspect, you both have families, how much of that did you connect to having to travel a lot for your jobs and also putting your mindset on these men who had a high likelihood that they weren’t coming home?
TR: I had an opportunity to meet quite a few guys who were really honest and open about their experiences wherever they were stationed. That was super valuable for so many reasons. And that along with the two-week ranger training we had…
NA: How did that go, and compared to your athlete training?
Trevante Rhodes: It was interesting. Honestly compared to that it was pretty much the same, I mean the exertion and the focus and everything it’s the same in a lot of ways being an athlete is the same as being an actor to me so that’s valuable. But yeah, that two-week training it was cool, it was intense, and it was very particular obviously, it was ranger training, so very particular to being a soldier, so it was cool.
NA: Did you get to talk to your character?
Trevante Rhodes: Not mine, Bob, and Mark, the two guys who Chris and Michael Shannon played in the film, they were on set so that was cool.
NA: What was the craziest story that they shared with you guys? About their experience?
Trevante Rhodes: The stories that I got from the other guys I won’t speak of but they were open and honest, those were some intense stories. Stories that Bob and Mark spoke about were mainly about the camaraderie and kinsmanship, the love between the guys, as they were over there doing this for us.
NA: Did you feel like you recreated that feeling of camaraderie? How did it feel going into those battle scenes?
TR: Yeah. It was intense, obviously, we are recreating these moments, but it just felt like you were in there with your brothers, like I assumed it would be.
NA: Like part of something bigger than yourself?
Trevante Rhodes: Absolutely. That’s always the goal when you are doing a film. At least I always try to put myself in a position that’s something “bigger”.
The film hits theaters this Friday.
