The ‘Saving Private Ryan’ star who wished they had a bigger role: “I didn’t really have a character”
In most cases, it’s either impossible or hubristic to predict that a movie will become a classic before it’s even finished shooting. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rules, and Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan is definitely among them.
From the first day of shooting, the cast and crew knew they were a part of something special. Of course, it helped that almost the entirety of the film was shot in chronological order, which meant the jaw-dropping D-Day landing sequence was the first scene captured on camera.
It required hundreds of moving parts, ranging from Spielberg’s surprisingly improvisational directing to the extras, stunt performers, and special effects teams, leaving Tom Hanks and the rest of the ensemble under no illusions that they’d waded headlong into a cinematic masterpiece.
The actors weren’t entirely sold on Saving Private Ryan from the beginning, though, with everyone except Hanks despising their intense stint at boot camp. Things got so bad that they threatened to quit altogether until the two-time Academy Award winner got into character, talked them down from the ledge, convinced them not to walk away, and forged a bond that was reflected onscreen.
It also made them resent Matt Damon, which is exactly what Spielberg was going for. The grunts at the centre of the story weren’t exactly thrilled at being dispatched behind enemy lines to rescue a solitary soldier, and the Good Will Hunting breakout was deliberately omitted from the boot camp to foster real-life hostility.
Looking back, Saving Private Ryan is filled with recognisable faces popping up in minor roles. Ted Danson, Brian Cranston, and Nathan Fillion are all present and accounted for, while Andrew Scott would have played a much more substantial part had Disney not prevented him from doing so.
Another soon-to-be famous face who showed up was future Oscar nominee and Golden Globe nominee Paul Giamatti as William Hill, a sergeant who encounters Hanks’ John Miller and the rest of his unit in Neuville. The actor knew he was in the midst of greatness, even if he wished he’d been given more meat to chew on during his fleeting contribution.
“It was not terribly structured, necessarily,” he admitted to GQ. “It was very loosely blocked so that these guys were running around catching whatever they can, almost like documentary filmmakers. And so they were all falling over and banging into each other. He didn’t want it coordinated. It was a living scene.”
As a result, Giamatti was given almost nothing to work with, instead taking direction from a legendary filmmaker on the fly. “Spielberg started developing this idea that the guy, his leg was messed up, and he had a thing in his shoe,” he continued. “And he just started making that up.”
The director would “come over and give us a scenario and some lines,” Giamatti recalled. As a result, “There was no part, really,” he lamented. “It was very, very sketched in. I didn’t really have a character.” Still, it was enough to leave an impression, even if it would have been preferable for the actor to have a little more to work with than what he was handed seconds before Spielberg called action.
