Original subtitles

(patriotic bugle music)

- [Effects Artist] That's how it's gonna look on camera but

it's also like not only how will it read on

camera but also what's it look like now?

This is obviously a very tan penis

and I have to make it white.

So,

that's problematic, because it's vinyl

and nothing sticks to silicone or vinyl but vinyl paint.

- For me,

I'm game,

whatever.

Let's have some fun.

Let's make some epic shit,

and this is pretty epic shit.

Zombies out here, mother fuckers.

My dick's grown like three times the size as it normally is.

The shit's not even erect. (laughing)

- This is a first for me.

I just want everyone to know. - Really?

- A virgin to this experience. - Not the first for me.

- I've never shot a dick before.

- Right there, right there.

Yes, he's good right there.

The penis looks great.

Let's shoot it. - Here we go and

ready and action.

- [Evan] Taking a piss.

(grunting)

Holy fuck, holy fuck!

Fuck!

Fuck!

Fuck!

Fuck!

Fuck! - Keep screaming, Evan.

- [Evan] Fuck.

(laughing)

- Keep screaming, Evan, keep screaming.

- We knew reading through the script and doing the script

that we knew it was gonna be ridiculous and outlandish

and be pushing boundaries but seeing it actually happen,

it's like really hitting me, like I don't about you.

- Yeah, you're just watching that like fucking dick get

ripped off and then watching the blood and like, oh fuck.

- This is where we're making magic here.

We're making magic. - We're changing the game.

(relaxed harmonica music)

- Can I be like the normal veteran that's like

"I'm kinda nervous but at least it's not combat."

(laughs)

All right, let's go, wheels up.

- We doing photos or video? - Dude, I'm tired.

- Oh, okay. - Dude I swear to you man,

I couldn't sleep, I was so nervous about this shit.

- I just did some meditation and I just slept like a baby.

- [Evan] I was in my bed sleeping sideways

and then here and sideways.

(relaxed ensemble music)

- [Crew Member] Morning one.

- [Crew Member] Those gotta come inside.

- It's pretty wild, pretty wild.

Weird to see how fake all of it is,

you know?

It's like, it really feels like an old, shitty army base.

There's like giant weapons silos.

That's what this feels like.

- This is where Mr. Shatner will be and Mr. Best.

- [Nick] That is a basic interrogation room.

- It sure is.

- [Nick] We've probably seen this interrogation room--

- Thousands of times. - Really?

- Yeah like six, 10, I mean,

you name it, The Usual Suspects, everything.

- [Nick] It's in everything, right in this room.

- I consider myself a gregarious introvert.

In the sense of social settings, it's good but then

when it's time to work I'm never like, let's go dick off.

It's not like you're nervous or anything.

It's just like time to be professional, so.

- [Man] Evan just got completely naked in a jail cell.

- Good, are we already getting kicked out?

(relaxed ensemble music)

Are we filming a movie? - Is this a movie?

Is this a movie yet?

- Good morning, everybody. - Pleasure to meet you, sir.

- Nice to meet you. - Mat Best.

- Mat. - He's in this scene with you.

- Yep.

- We will run through a quick rehearsal in

a couple minutes and then we'll hop right into it.

- Cory, you good over there? - How do you feel, Clay?

- All right, quiet all around.

Settle, ready and action.

- He did really well and

I was filled with

a sense of security,

that if anything untoward happened, he could handle it.

As a matter of fact, it's kind of shocking

because I didn't read it as me being the zombie.

I saw zombie, I don't think it says

the character's name is the zombie.

- Cut. - Great cut.

- You want to know how real independent

films get made, you're about to see.

- With this film, the lead actors are also

the producers and the writers and to some extent

the directors in the way that they contribute.

It's very collaborative.

I'd really just like a lot of heart.

The people are here not 'cause they're getting

shit tons of cash, they're just here because

they love film and they love what they're doing

and in this particular case, they love kind of

the cause of veterans and life after war.

So that's been cool to see that community

kind of rise up in support of this film

in like way more ways than just crew members.

You know, we have people on set every day

who are just fans of these guys.

- These guys are awesome and everything that they do,

for me it's therapeutic, coming out here

and hanging out with guys that are of like mind.

You know, I'm from Nebraska so

the veterans are few and far between a little bit.

- One guy came in from Alaska this morning

just to be in this movie, just to be extras in the movie.

It's really cool.

- [Erek] Get that dolly off the tracks.

- So we got the wides, now we're gonna make each

of you kind of look awesome in a single death scene.

(cheers)

Exact same thing.

- [Erek] Right there.

Is that good enough?

- This is breaking the mold of how Hollywood works.

The veteran-financed film between two veteran companies.

You guys are now part of the largest

military fan base on the planet.

So you guy are gonna get access to Medal

of Honor recipients and each of these

respective companies have millions of followers.

These are not regular followers.

These are military, crazy, awesome,

infantrymen, Marines, crazy followers that will

worship you guys forever for being part of this.

- Produced by veterans, written by veterans,

starring veterans, supported by veterans,

for the veteran community to show all of us

that hey, we can follow our dreams, too.

- Here we go, first position.

Background.

(shouting) (grunting)

- So, you're doing this in 13 days.

- [Mat] Crazy, right?

- Because 13 days, that is not a lot for this script.

It's a big script.

- The average Hollywood movie films three pages a day.

We filmed eight to 12 pages a day, every day.

(anxious electronic music)

- [Actor] Are you happy with Jesus?

- Let's get that hallway light on.

- Yeah, I'm sure you're all innocent.

Don't try to fuck anyone in there, it makes a mess.

- Nice, so after that line-- - Then it's me.

- Bravo. - And then,

- And then Nick's clapping will wake you guys up.

- [Veteran] Oh bravo.

- [Mat] Collings was a parting shot, good luck is my drug.

- [Veteran] We wouldn't fuckin' be here.

- [Nick] This is exactly where

I thought we'd end up actually.

- And cut, fuckin' fantastic.

One more exactly like that and then moving on.

No zero, just do exactly that.

- That looks good, brother. - It's a nice pump.

- Is it too over the top for facepaint, Punisher?

- No, for who, who's getting it?

- I am. - Are you really?

That'd be fuckin' awesome.

- If I came in, gotta be painted up right, combat time?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- [Marcus] We would paint ourselves up like that.

- Really? - Oh yeah.

So we'd come through the door,

it's a fuckin' nightmare dude.

- There's full makeup in there,

so whatever you wanna do. - I just wanted to ask you.

- I think it's fuckin' cool.

- [Makeup Woman] Do the basic shape of the skull.

(laughs) (overlapping voices)

- What I always saw comin' up was if it was a military

movie, it was either us in combat killin' or dying

or guys comin' back home and having a problem

and I don't think that's Hollywood's fault at all.

I mean, I kinda shoulder a lot of that blame myself because

of how introverted we are in the military when we come back.

What this movie does is it kinda brings you into the fold,

into how we perceive things, you know what I mean?

And you watch it and yeah, is it dark?

Sure it is man but I mean our humor's gotta be

dark because of the life we live in during that.

Now we come back and I'm married now and kids and I

integrated back into society man and I get along

and I watch it and I'm like man, you know that's crazy.

I don't know if I could do that, that kinda thing.

But it's that mindset we have

to deal with while we're there.

But you know I mean war is hell and

so are human emotions and I think people just,

everything gets so twisted up man that people

just are apprehensive about saying anything

and I think we mitigate a lot of that by

puttin' that on the screen.

I mean who better to make fun of ourselves than ourselves?

- [Ross] Rockets, you are screaming,

"Oh my God, oh my God," and then at the end--

- So am I screaming like a bitch or am I talking shit?

- [Ross] Yeah yeah, you're talking shit.

- I'm gonna fuckin' kill you. - Is this all you got?

Is this all you fuckin'-- - You want a piece of me?

- Yeah, yeah exactly. - Perfect.

- Never quit and then at the end,

I just want you to say the one line like

"Really, this is how I'm gonna go, by fuckin' zombies?"

- [Erek] Take one, mark.

(groaning, moaning)

- [Marcus] You mother fuckers, you want some of me?

(screaming)

Can you believe this, this is how I'm gonna die?

(relaxed ensemble music)

- Got it, that was perfect. (clapping)

- I've lived in one of these for

a long time, they're pretty awesome.

So we would go out and do like 30 day missions,

60 day missions, stuff like that.

So you'd have four, sometimes five guys living in here.

There's plenty of ways to entertain yourself when you live

in a six foot by six foot steel box with wheels on it.

You find ways.

But yeah, this was home for a long time.

Unless there's an IED back there.

- No, I don't think so. - Did you sweep it first?

- Roll over, roll over. - Roll over, yeah.

If this thing tips over, this is for real,

if this thing tips over,

go like this because we're super fucked.

I'm gonna put a seatbelt on,

you should probably do the same.

A guy had blown himself up just outside of Kabul

and I'd gone out to do the cleanup basically.

So we're pickin' body parts up off the ground

and this isn't a war story, trust me.

I'm pickin' fuckin' dude's hands and feet and shit up.

I'd taken his foot or something like that

and I was like kicking somebody in the ass

and was like "This fuckin' guy kicks your ass."

And it was like dudes were laughing and it's horrible.

You're literally picking up a fucking human being

off the ground that clacked himself off and it should

be super serious but at the same time you're like yeah,

how else are you gonna deal with this?

The coping mechanism of the American veteran

is just to triumph over adversity, right?

So the negative impact of what we're moving through,

don't allow it to get bogged down in the moment

because when you start to get bogged down in the moment,

you become paralyzed

and a coping mechanism to allow you

to move through those things is human.

- I think humor is important just overall for everybody.

It's how we move past things, that's how we stress relieve.

If you can bring a couple smiles to somebody's face

just a couple times a day, that's huge, that's impactful.

So I think a movie like this where you're from front to end

just gonna sit there and laugh, it's good for the soul.

- It's a reflex of human nature.

It's like people that laugh when they get nervous.

It reinforces that part of you inside

that's trying to get away from dark times.

- So here's the makeup right here.

- I prefer PC but I do play Xbox, mostly 360.

I hate the Xbox One.

- How do you play? - With my feet.

- Oh wow. - Yeah I have a,

that's one of the reasons I prefer PC

is because I can adapt almost any game.

You just change all the controllers and--

- [Makeup Woman] Oh yeah, the hotkeys and things.

- Yeah, exactly.

- [Woman] I think you're up right in front

of me if you wanna go through makeup first.

- Woo, wear ze makeup. - This is the magic.

- [Woman] And your scene's right before mine.

- Okay, thank you.

- [Evan] We just need to pretty it up today.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- [Tim] She's not battle-worn or anything.

- Normal, normal. - Normal.

- That will probably take more makeup than battle-worn.

- Once you're done, can you get Mr. David in the chair?

- Yeah. - Cool.

- [Man] He's waiting in the hallway if you want to review.

- Holy crap, it's Keith David.

That's so awesome, I'm okay, I'm okay.

Sorry.

I've been a huge fan since I was like this big.

Yeah, this was so far out of the realm for me and so

not in my element, but it's really cool.

So many times I make a joke and everyone around me's like,

I'm like I was just fuckin' with you, sorry.

Even stuff that I feel like is obviously funny, like

I'll drop something and just be like "Ah, I'm all thumbs."

Everyone around me is just like, "Uh."

I'm like no, I realize I don't have hands.

- Can I get a photo with Neil Morris at Life Magazine?

Thank you so much.

- [Crew Member] Camera.

(humming)

(soft singing)

- That's pretty.

- I think I could die happy now.

- All right, where is he now? - He's at ALC in Virginia.

Otherwise he would definitely be here.

- These suits are no fun. - No, they're very heavy.

There's a reason most military people have a bad back.

I joined the army when I was 19 back in 2004.

I went straight into EOD and was stationed

at the 707th EOD where we deployed to

Iraq and Baghdad, near Baghdad.

Then about 11 months and four days after we got deployed,

I got blown up and lost my arms

and now I'm retired. (chuckles)

We told them to bring it to a safe disposal

area which normally was Cop Constitution.

Instead they put it in between a children's school and a

housing project, so we couldn't blow it up where it was.

I mean legally we could but we're not gonna do that,

there was just too high a risk of a casualty.

Yeah, that's where it happened.

(somber violin, piano music)

- [Mat] The biggest group you ever shot, in a group?

- You don't really count 'cause once the rounds hit 'em,

they all kinda disintegrate.

So there's a bunch of heads and feet

and whatever and some of it's just not even there.

- They just come apart. - Yeah.

The boots will normally be there and their

heads for some reason sorta stay intact.

- So fuckin' morbid.

- Yeah, your feet will survive

pretty well inside the boots actually.

That's why you take your footprint and put it on

file so that like when they find your airplane crash,

that's all that survives is a boot,

they pull it out and they go yeah, that's the right guy.

- You put your dogtag in your boot

because that's normally what they'll find.

- Yep. - Boots will survive.

- Man oh man, we are vulnerable creatures.

- [Veteran] Oh yeah.

- And human beings have found very,

very effective ways to just dispatch you.

It takes so long to build yourself as a human being

and then somebody can just go gang, and you're done.

- Did that hit your head? - No, no, no.

- The big difference between The Expendables

and this movie is these guys are real heroes.

That's the fuckin' difference is that

these guys are acting and they're entertaining

our community but they've also put the rucksack on

and done the heavy lifting for the country

during the hardest times of this country.

A lot of these guys are post nine-11 enlisted guys.

- Going back to the civilian world is weird, man.

Everybody handles it differently.

- I remember how it was for me when I went to

Basic Training and I came home for Christmas

and it was almost like I came from a different planet.

I was speaking a different language all of a sudden.

- The challenge with our generation

is there's so few of us.

The global War on Terror which is the longest war

we've ever had, 0.45% of all Americans served.

You've got a lot of people committing suicide

nowadays because they just feel alone,

they feel like they did all this stuff, it's for nothing.

No one gives a shit, no one cares about them.

- A lot of vets that I know, they get out of the military,

they just don't know what to do.

You go from having a brotherhood, camaraderie and all

that and you're in this tight-knit unit and doing

stuff all the time with the same guys every day.

You get out and it's not there anymore and you

have to try to just find that normalcy in life again.

Having something like this that you know other veterans

are being a part of it and it'll bring some laughs.

- No one's gonna understand quite what's up with you

more so than another vet.

- We're trying to give a support system to the community

because a lot of us, and I speak freely about this,

I had a hard time transitioning out of the military.

That community, that brotherhood,

that's really what most people miss about the military.

So if we're able to create a support system

outside of the military, almost like a transitional piece,

then we're succeeding and that's really

what the ultimate goal is for our brand.

- It's all about camaraderie

and that's a big part of why I came here.

I didn't expect to be in the movie,

I just wanted to hang out.

It's been awhile, I've been out for about two

years and there's just something about that

feeling you get when you're with other veterans.

- No, it's gonna be freakin' beautiful man.

It's gonna be perfect.

- Almost like a happy accident but almost made to happen.

- We talked about that on the scout,

that we were gonna have it so the sun would help us.

- We throwin' him out the plane?

- Yeah. - Head-first?

- Yeah, let's throw him out the fuckin' plane.

- Go up 200 feet and then I'll toss the dummy out.

- [Veteran] Let's lace him up.

- How many have you got, you're in the service?

- Everybody here, all. - Everybody?

- I'm Air Force, Army, Army. - Air Force?

I would've never guessed that.

- Army. - Army?

- Yep, Marine. - Marine, Marine, Army.

Everybody here is-- - That's awesome.

Well thank you all for keeping us safe.

I'm not at all worried about the state of our

country lookin' at the state of you guys right now.

How many jumps do you think you had?

- I think I had 38, I finished off with 38.

Every jump I hated. - Oh hell yeah.

- [Veteran] The worst thing you'll ever do in your career.

But you gotta think about not breaking your legs

or getting your arm caught in the slings and the risers.

- [Veteran] You're falling about 18 feet a second.

- And I'm a big dude, so I always came down

faster than everybody else and you're like,

reserve no, yes, no, yes, no and splat, like fuck.

So it's scary.

- [Sean] You ever hurt your ankles when you land?

- Yeah I broke a foot,

one foot got a good hairline fracture.

I got several concussions as well.

- Did you deploy at all?

- Yeah, it was all on deployment, yeah.

- You can't be in the Army now without deploying.

- Twice to Afghanistan, once to Iraq.

- Fake blood's way more fun, you know?

- It tastes better when it hits your mouth.

It's corn syrup. - It tastes like iron.

- Corn syrup. - That's intense, man.

It sorta messes with your head.

You know a certain way to be, you know to be grateful

for veterans, you know to demonstrate, to thank them

for their service and then they come at you wearing

blood and carrying guns and making stupid jokes

and you're like, is it okay to laugh at that?

And you're like oh okay, so it is okay to laugh at it.

There's a boundary and it's almost like when you laugh

together, there's a way in which that boundary is respected.

- So is sex while camping. (laughs)

- Intense.

- Could you have imagined being

here when you were over there? - No.

- Could you have ever pictured?

- That's why we were laughing the other day, like

mid-firefight I'll just be like "Hey after this is all done,

"we should make t-shirts and make a movie."

"Oh shit, yeah, yeah bro."

- You know the whole concept of

Article 15 kind of came out of nowhere.

I was making internet videos just as a joke

and then I linked up with Jarred Taylor.

Honestly the clothing and apparel company

started because we wanted to just get some

extra revenue coming in to make more videos.

- The videos that we do are over the top,

like we don't take ourselves seriously.

I started Ranger Up as a hobby

in order to kinda fill that void.

This was just something to kinda keep me whole and to

have that connection that so many people miss when they

get out and then it just turned into a passion over time.

- I think there was a point about six months

into it when we realized we can be more

than just a brand, we can be a community.

- Everybody's military, they're all super cool guys

and I mean just meeting Mat and JT and everybody

that I've like watched on YouTube for the

past two years was just a great experience.

(mid tempo drumbeat) (relaxed electronic music)

- To me this is the biggest miracle project

I have ever worked on and this is coming from a guy who

started his own production company on his credit cards,

friends, weird family members, things like that,

throwing in money

and everything was maxed

and I thought that was hard, this was even harder.

- When he first brought it up,

everybody was like that's fuckin' crazy.

Like yeah, we'll probably raise

10, $15,000 and we'll make some really shitty movie.

But Jarred and Mat and all those guys,

they were just like no, we're gonna do it.

We're gonna prove that the impossible is possible.

- Every step of the way I said

there's no way these guys will do it.

There's no way, there's no way, there's no way.

- I got an email from a screenwriter who was like

"Hey man, I'm a pretty good screenwriter.

"I haven't done nothing too big but,"

he goes "but I'm willing to do something for veterans."

And so we were talking like, well what are we looking for?

It's like let's do a fuckin' zombie film.

- Originally when we had a script written,

we came to Ranger Up RU and we were like hey,

do you guys want to be involved?

And Nick immediately was like

"Dude, I've been wanting to do something like this forever."

- When I was in the military, I used to make

funny videos about deployment, ridiculous stuff.

This is all VCR and camcorder kinda stuff.

- Most people don't know I've always wanted to

kinda do this, I've always wanted to be an entertainer.

I mean I have a bunch of childhood videos of me doing this.

- On a serious fuckin' note,

congratulations for even making a film.

- We haven't made a film yet. - No, but you have.

The money is here, we're all here.

Like this is 99.9%, there's a million people in

fuckin' LA with a goddamn script trying to get shit made,

it never gets financed is the problem.

Nobody even gets to this process.

So like a year ago when Jarred called me

and was like "Hey man, I would like to do this thing,"

or whatever, being totally dead serious,

not in one single goddamn moment did I

ever think you'd actually make the movie.

I'm being totally serious because nobody gets financing.

- Well it's resilience, it's the military.

- It really is but going from all of that to

48 hours later getting a call from the President

of Indiegogo saying who the fuck are these guys?

I mean you literally got Hollywood's attention

from a sketch.

(relaxed ensemble music)

- Any time that you put a bunch of big personalities

into a project, you're going to have friction.

- It's two companies who have different personalities.

There's a lot of anger going on between both

groups and we're frustrated, they're frustrated.

I had to call Nick, I was like "Hey man,

"if you have a problem, you need to fuckin' say it."

- Then I did what would become the first of

something like 26 rewrites of this thing.

- Well you're writing this script in North Carolina,

we're writing ours in El Paso and it's like

there's definitely communicating frickin' lost.

- And that's where they're gonna give

him the Medal of Honor in this right here.

I'll get us set up, go ahead and shoot that okay?

- Yes, absolutely.

- Then Gene would come on.

- Yeah, we can just take a beat there.

- [Erek] Take one, mark.

- [Crew Member] Quiet, we're rolling.

- [Ross] And action.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the only true American hero,

Sergeant Major Gene Vandenham.

- No.

Mr. President. - Yes?

- I'm gonna ask you to step down.

- [President] Very well.

- Literally get off the stage right now.

Dear United States of America,

this message is for a special boy in Peoria, Illinois.

I met your mom behind a Carrabba's in 1976.

You'd probably be about 35 years old right now.

(chuckles)

I want you to know that your dad loves you and if you

can ever find me, I've got something special for you.

This, this was a gold medal I won in Downhill

Slope Skiing at the Nagano Winter Olympic Games.

If you come find me, this medal is for you.

I love you.

(speaking foreign language)

Press,

fuck off.

(laughing)

- [Veteran] I nearly ruined the whole thing.

- It was close. - I was dying, dude.

- Wides, let's go to wides.

- The Carrabba's. (laughs)

The kid got me, dude.

How am I supposed to not laugh at that?

- Ross' character I feel like is sorta making fun of

how every, like Hollywood actually portrays badass

military guys where he just holds the guns all wrong,

he just like doesn't care about any,

you know he's like not real military at all.

- Freedom is calling and I have to answer.

(hooting)

(faint chatter)

- Actually during the invasion of Iraq,

I pride myself on being only of two drivers

in the entire Company that never had to switch out.

- [Veteran] You're such a fuckin' badass.

- Yeah. - A fuckin' badass.

- Hey Jack, you know what's harder that driving though?

- What? - War.

- War. (heavy breathing)

- You know what's even harder than war?

Driving in war.

Oh my God.

I feel like I kinda wanted to get murdered.

- [Crew Member] I think I might have them.

Just place this in with a top piece so

that anything in the bottom-- - Just goes with me, okay.

- [Crew Member] Then you all just sweep.

If we do, I got a couple of softies.

We might put over his cast and maybe--

- We have two pieces of glass that are both $1500 each

and I have to get it done right within two shots

and I have to act like I don't expect

to get pulled through this fuckin' window.

- You won't expect it. - Good.

- That's what I want to do. - Just come straight into him.

- [Crew Member] Okay cool.

- Day 24 alpha, take one,

mark.

- [Ross] Action!

- Surprisingly I am with Nick on this one

because if this was a zombie movie, you'd be

getting ripped through that glass right about now.

- Mat, this isn't a zombie movie.

(glass shatters)

(grunting, screaming)

- Oh yes. (cheering, clapping)

Thank you, Ken.

Holy shit, it worked. - Yeah!

(relaxed guitar music)

- [Ross] Makeup?

- [Crew Member] Penny, can we get a brush off?

- It's good.

But my neck got fucked up. - I saw that.

- Rocco just went through a glass window

and I am getting the little shards off of him,

so he can look his best for the next scene.

- Dump your shit right here. - Yes sir.

- Right hook, now big right ballpark punch.

That's it.

- We got him. (clapping)

(grunt)

- And cut. (cheering)

- Good to see you again, Danny.

- God bless you man, thank you.

There's a couple Medal of Honor winners here.

Wow. - I know, it's awesome.

- Mixing the military with the entertainment

industry is like a no-brainer, it's awesome

because they're legitimate, they're fighters,

they're smart, they're entertaining, they're funny.

Why wouldn't they be in the entertainment business?

And a lot are.

- And I'd always been a movie fan but every military

movie I'd seen and I'd seen 'em all, just pissed me off.

They weren't us.

To some extent it was the business of

they didn't get the ribbons right and so

on and so forth but that's monkey stuff.

What they were really missing is they don't understand us,

they don't understand how we treat each other,

how we feel, the psychology of a soldier.

- Where the rubber meets the road, the firsthand accounts.

It's one thing to tell a story third person but to

truly hear it come out of the mouth and the direct

words of someone that's been there and done that,

you can't fill in those gaps like they can.

- [Erek] All right.

- There you go.

- Hi, this is the First AD.

- [Owner] Yeah hi, I'm the owner of the oasis.

- That's, we need, actually coming down the road--

- Understood, understood.

You're on County property. - Everyone out the street.

Please everyone out the street, thank you everyone.

- Why, what are the chances of that?

- [Erek] Somebody called.

- Somebody had to call 'em, right?

Well they can't get the pageantry of it.

The pageantry of it,

it's just like "What's your fuckin' number?"

- [Nick] Yeah, what do we need to do here?

- What is it gonna take for you to shut the fuck up?

That's all I want, just shut the fuck up and go away.

- I think it landed at like 7:50, they negotiated but like

needed to bribe him and this is just the norm.

Like he 100% knew it was gonna happen at some point.

- Oh, so he was like prepared to bribe?

- I guess this is just the way Hollywood works.

- The owner of the location doesn't like Uncle Sam,

so we had to give him $12,000 in cash for the day.

That's real independent filmmaking right there.

- We're creating a splinter unit with you guys

to go shoot 27 part two, 29 and 64

at a location that I don't even fuckin' know where it is.

I just don't understand how these British car companies--

(chattering, overlapping voices)

- [Woman] Well I don't know if it's good to wait for him,

if he's okay.

- So this is gonna be your ending

point here, no closer than this.

He'll start to fire before you get here but

everyone should die before you get to this line here.

- Hey guys, we gotta go quick. - We're gonna go now.

We're just setting the last people.

(anxious electronic music)

(gunfire booming)

(distorted screaming)

- Cut. - Okay let's load up.

That's it. - Good, we got it.

- [Veteran] Scared me for a second.

I was like oh, a fuckin' malfunction.

(laughs)

Just the four of us.

Good if they came back tonight.

Officer just got them on the ground.

- [Brent] Holy shit.

- [Veteran] Do they really have someone on the ground?

- [Brent] Sittin' on the side with their hands.

- [Veteran] Who is that, the crew, some of our guys?

Isn't that our guys with the Humvees?

- [Woman] Yeah, that's not very fun.

- [Veteran] Is he reaming them out?

- [Brent] He does not look happy.

- [Woman] Two of the guys

with the Humvees, that's all I know.

- All right man, step out. - Everybody?

- Everybody's gotta go? - Yeah.

- [Woman] Man.

- [Veteran] It's at least cooler outside, right?

- [Crew Member] We all have to get out.

(anxious electronic music)

- A bear came out of nowhere. - We're not really shooting.

- We totally got arrested. - That's how we do it.

- It's all non-lethal. - Those are all rubber.

I'm telling you, they're interested.

Just go ask 'em if they want to be in the movie.

- That was a close one though. - No no no, it's all good.

- They thought we were out there killing people.

We are skiddin' by the trouble with the skin of our teeth.

- Somebody really wants this movie to happen.

- Yeah.

These guys have been through worse things than us

and are all in a great mood and always on time in running

this movie, so it's really hard to get too stressed out.

You feel like you've got good backup behind you and you have

people that are in it with you.

So it's exciting.

I feel like we've got just about as many

moving parts as you can possibly have.

It's close, it's close ones every day.

Man, but we get out alive every day and it's in the can.

Pain is temporary, film is forever.

- People that are doing a ton of films,

they're doing it because they really, really want to do it.

It's not just a paycheck,

it's something they're very excited about.

No, no, it'd be hard to get a studio to back this.

(laughs)

- And cut, cut.

Oh oh oh, hey hey, we're gonna punch in.

He can't hear me, he can't hear me.

- No, no, no, no, I can go in there.

- If you want to test friendships, produce a movie together.

This is about 50 times that

joint Hawaii vacation.

- Oh God, the stress.

The biggest challenge is seriously

the stress of worrying if this is going to

be everything that their fans want it to be.

- We have a lot riding on this, man.

It was funded not by us, it was funded by our supporters.

It's pretty heavy man to think like,

are we gonna make them proud?

It's the only thing that goes through my head, man.

- You've got over 9,000 people that have

donated to make this movie, like we can't quit.

- It's unbelievable how much pressure is on those

two because if they don't perform well, then the rest

of it kinda fails because they're the two leads.

- [Crew Member] We good?

- Again unless, because the end of the script says this.

- In the latest version of the script,

she kisses him twice.

- This was in my draft from many moons ago but--

- I vividly remember, it wast at--

- [Jarred] But I think it's funnier at the end.

- Yeah I don't care, I don't care.

There's no argument but we've done this a few times

now where we've missed things and we try to make 'em up

instead of being ahead of it and making the decision.

We can change anything but we need to make

a collective decision and have a discussion.

- We just did. - What's that?

- We just did. - Yeah but,

we did like by accident.

(relaxed electronic tones)

- [Ross] You got that big scene

tomorrow running up the hill and shit.

- [Jarred] Tomorrow I'm running up the hill?

- Yeah, with the UFC guys.

Tomorrow's all the UFC day. - I'll make it.

I'll get up the fuckin' hill.

I ate it pretty bad with my ankle and rolled it

pretty bad.

It's about one and a half times its normal size and

that's gonna make the next few days challenging

because I have a lot of stunts I have to do.

The fuckin' five ton.

- It broke down, I'm over there helping 'em.

Yeah but they literally killed the fucking battery,

so I'm trying to help 'em get that.

- We're all good, rolling. - Three, two, one, action.

- So day eight has been the slowest

start to a day that we've had.

It's almost comical because it's basically Army

shit that is slowing us down in a military movie.

Our Deuce and a Half won't start

and the only way that we're gonna be able

to jump a deuce is with a slave cable.

We don't have a slave cable and our Humvee actually

has a key in it because it's a civilian version of

the military one and we can't find the fucking keys.

Right now we're behind.

A little scary 'cause this gets very

expensive very fast if we fall behind.

Every day that we're filming costs us 50-plus K.

This is kind of intense.

We're already at a point now where we're gonna

have to come up with about another $100,000

over what we've already paid down for the film.

So every minute that we lose is kind of a big deal.

We all run businesses and that shit weighs on you.

Today is one of those days where kind of

the pressure from everything is hitting.

- [Heard] Pull down the lighter and then throw the lighter.

Any problems with that? - No, no.

That's fine and in fact what we could do, I'm torn.

We could do a little flammable trail-in

so you could follow it. - That would be great.

- But that always takes a little

bit longer for the guy to get started.

- Okay then let's do something so it does start fast.

- [Stunt Coordinator] Yeah.

- Tell me what's happening, tell me what you saw.

- [Stunt Coordinator] Do you have a shot of him with

the bottles going like that? - No, not from here.

- We have like mid, that's it. - Okay.

- [Heard] What I'm saying is tell me your parameters,

then I'll make the decision what I'm doing.

- He said the stunts we asked him to perform

were unsafe, which he's the Stunt Coordinator and--

- That's his job. - Exactly.

- If he deems it unsafe, then we don't do it.

- That's his job and he said he could do the stunts.

- [Jarred] We didn't ask him to do anything.

- Anything.

I met with him six weeks prior to production

to go over every single stunt in the script.

Everything was "Ah, no problem man.

"These are my boys, this is what I do for a living."

- The patch tray's comin' for you guys.

Fuck, fuck's wrong with them?

- You get it? - It works.

- You did? Nice.

- We got it set up, we got it set up.

Get it started up 'cause once it shakes loose then,

we hot-wired the hummer.

Now we are reaching out through the channel of Marines

and they're gonna send over a motor-T guy with slave cables

and get this movie back kickstarted and going again.

- [Veteran] Fuck yeah.

- [Ross] We're all tired, we're running on

pure momentum and drive run now.

- We're having long days, early mornings,

late nights and its exhausting but it's exciting,

it's a blessing for this to happen.

It's just been the best experience I've ever had.

(relaxed guitar music) (rhythmic clapping)

- You're driving? - I am driving, absolutely.

- Yeah? - 35th and Pomona.

- Brian, you got the address right?

* Imperial Highway

* A big nasty redhead at my side

* Santa Ana winds blowin' hot from the north

* We was born to ride

* Roll down the window, drop down the top

* Break up the Beach Boys, man don't let them use

* Now we gonna ride it 'til we, we can't ride it no more

(generator rumbling)

- Today starts the real action

sequences for the rest of the movie.

Basically we've shot all of the dialogue

with the exception of a couple of scenes.

But what's left is realistic action.

We weren't real happy with the way things were going

and so we let the other team of stunt folks go and we

called in a favor with Greg Jackson and Keith Jardine,

who have been friends for a long time

and they hopped on a flight, came out here

and they're here to save the day basically.

So they worked all through the night gettin' ready

for the next three days and basically calling in

favors to friends to film the three most hectic,

challenging days of filming that we have.

- Rubber toolbox.

- Maybe then it won't break.

- We're kind of in a hurried position now,

so I'm writing the other fight scenes and visualizing

that and then watching this and it's dance-fighting, right?

But what's cool is it's what

the tone and need of the movie is.

So this isn't like the ultra Krav Maga,

like slam 'em down stuff.

It's gotta be fun and hokey but still cool,

like have a wow factor.

We got guys zombie bowling

and there's you know,

dummies getting attacked.

It had to be action-packed but really fun too.

It's different because what we do is all subtlety,

so the beauty is micro.

In other words, if you're ever watching a real fight,

it's a subtle, small shift.

It's something that is barely detectable

because if you can detect it, you can stop it.

In movie fighting, it's the exact opposite.

Like if you go "whap,"

people will be like "I didn't see what happened."

So you have to kinda open it up,

so it's much more dance-esque.

It's much more communicative.

Two jabs.

The second one to you.

Third, you go into the well,

he parries it and counter right hand, bang, great shot.

You gotta move around a minute and then

reengage with a jab, he high crotches you.

Bam. - That looks good.

- [Erek] All right here we go,

quiet all around, everyone settle.

- [Ross] No one laugh, no one break,

let's pair off and close.

And action.

- Tim, quit dickin' around, we don't have any time for--

- Shirts, I know. (grunting)

- [Ross] Tear that little piece

of fur off in front of your johnson.

In front of your johnson, just tear it off.

- This? - Yep.

- You sure we don't want to leave that?

- I don't know but we're gonna do it.

We could tape it back on.

How would you like to proceed, Mr. Kennedy?

(laughs)

This is a new one for me, this is a new one for me.

- Do I have a vote in this? (clapping, laughing)

- [Crew Member] A moment, moment.

- Around his dick. - Its disintegrating.

- [Veteran] This just got funnier.

- As soon as he pulls the jeans off, we just blur.

- [Woman] Tim, come to me.

- Hey if you want I can,

I could track it in post and put a blur on it.

- [Nick] As soon as he rips the pants, blur everything.

- He's buck naked, I'll do it, hey but let's move.

- Come on. - Come on, Tim.

(shouting)

- Now the fact that the loincloth failed

and it's gonna look like he's fighting Randy naked,

that's even funnier.

- Whatever's comfortable for you.

It's probably easier if your head's right here.

- [Crew Member] Gimme that one back.

- Are you pumpin' blood into him, or?

That is awesome. - We're doing your pants.

- That's totally disgusting.

- Go right into his eyes and then pull

and you'll feel it go, it's gonna be pretty cool.

- So I'm gonna stay down for about five seconds

and then I'm gonna hold it up.

(shouting)

(upbeat guitar music)

* I feel like a zombie today

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* Don't know where I've been or where I want to go

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* It's raining outside, it's raining in my room

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* Got a feeling like what shall I consume

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

(distorted grunting)

(upbeat guitar music)

* I feel like a zombie today

* Oh oh

- Yeah, I got my arm pulled off too!

Yeah, yeah, pull off the other one!

- Fuck yeah, fuck yeah!

Fuckin' ruin his credit score. (laughs)

(clapping) - That was fucking fantastic.

- [Camerawoman] All right.

Good?

- Awesome, yes.

- [Ross] Great, great fight scene everybody.

- So you're a mean-- - Let it out, man.

- You're a mean, (growling, screaming).

- Do it right now, let it out. (screaming)

- Make it look mean. - More like (screaming).

- Stick your tongue out. (screaming)

- That's better. - Loud as you can go.

- That's the best one. (distorted growling)

- Zombies are dying and then the setup

for a bunch of big fight scenes, so

you have little pyrotechnic stuff called squibs

that you put on the zombies that are gonna get shot.

These are little packets that explode when the zombies die.

Then you have to have blanks for the shooters

and you think you're just like bah, and the zombie's

are gonna fall over and die, like it's that easy.

No, you actually have to plan how the guy's gonna fall,

where he's gonna fall, what's he gonna fall on.

Squibs do not have the response that you'd think.

It's not gonna be like boom and gonna blow you back,

you have to do that.

So just kinda, you have to anticipate

that thing to go off and then you go.

So these will go bah or like pah-pah and then

you kinda, so yeah if you're here, you got bah-bah.

Exaggerated arm movements.

Pah-pah.

Less jump, more of like a fling.

- [Ross] Action.

(gunshots clacking)

- [Veteran] Let's just do it one more time, I like that.

- That was awesome. - Great job guys.

- End of the world scenarios, zombie scenarios,

the characters for this movie are so big and so powerful,

there will be cosplay of Jack and cosplay of Tim Kennedy

and all the different characters because they're just

gonna be so big and so over the top.

Their success shows veterans that they can be

successful at whatever they put their mind to.

There's no barriers, this is the greatest country in

the world for putting a thought process together and

saying that's what I want to do and let's just go for it.

- The collaboration to bring all these veterans in

for such an epic film and just everybody coming together,

it's just great motivation to show everyone,

you know with the organizations Article 15, Ranger Up,

as they are a veteran-owned business that has

continued on after service that is now reciprocating

that and propelling that back into a major motion picture

shows veterans that make that transition out,

there's more to life still to go.

We always have to have a goal and we always

gotta continue to improve our position

and continue forward and it just amplifies that.

- Hey, how you doing?

How you been? - Good, you?

- So good to see you again.

Well you said you weren't gonna be here,

like "I'm gonna miss you" and I was like dammit.

- Yeah, I was supposed to like fly in and fly back out but

then I wanted to stay and do the final fight scene stuff.

- Awesome, glad you're here. - Me too.

(gunshot booms) - Holy shit!

Zombies, one o'clock.

- Got it? - Yeah.

- [Ross] Great, lunch, let's go.

- [Erek] Wait, let me grab wide lines with the crew.

- If I go past his ear,

how am I gonna get the space for the spinning back fist?

- You just pause for a second, then you look at it

and then you spin it and bring it underneath his chin.

- So this is the fight scene that

female super-zombie UFC fighter jumps on top of Jack.

Jack is getting his butt completely demolished.

You're gonna come in and bah, bah, bah, bah,

kill female super-zombie. - All right.

I was gonna stab her with this one like a couple times.

- Yeah.

- Because it's retractable and then I was

just gonna like slice the back of her neck.

- That's genius. - That work?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- Stab her like, like exaggerate it by like ah, ah, ah.

Gah,

you know?

- And then I'm in. - Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah!

Yes, that's awesome.

- Did I, I didn't hurt you did I?

- Honestly Tim's just the sweetest dude.

Sincere, humble, honest dude and we've been

training together for awhile and one thing

about when you train with somebody, you get

to really see what somebody's true character is.

It's like being in battle with 'em.

That's why all these guys are so close from the military

because when you're training and when you're fighting

and when you're suffering, it takes away all pretense.

It strips down a lot of the ego

and you get down to who you really are.

- [Crew Member] And when you walk off Mary,

walk off like you just fuck it, Mary.

- Then you get ready to charge, get in there, kill her.

Get her, get her, there we go.

But own it, live it.

That's right.

All right, you guys get it.

(shouting)

They get one step.

- [Ross] Austin hey, back to one, Tim, we got nine minutes.

- [Erek] First positions everyone.

- Down, we go around the knife first,

then I want to go up so this is really stable.

I know it's gonna be a little tight for right now.

One more on this side.

- On Tim Kennedy's action. - Okay, everybody background.

Action.

(grunting, shouting)

- [Tim] Two, one, charge, draw!

(anxious electronic music)

- [Crew Member] Hell yeah.

- I need a signal with Tim Kennedy

pointing up at the hill to Randy Couture.

- I definitely

don't share my humor at family gatherings

because no one gets it and I get strange looks.

"They got a wounded veteran to crawl

"on the ground and he doesn't have limbs."

It's like I kinda chose to do this.

- [Ross] Action!

(shouting)

- I think that the worst thing that's happened to society

in recent years is this concept of being offended.

- I am pretty sure I would've remembered that.

- Hey daddy, do you have the barracks keys?

- Comin' in hot.

- What the stub fuck?

- [Keith] So, tell me about this cure.

- Why don't you tell me how it happened?

- This isn't fuckin' Clue.

Take shit seriously for once in your life, Mat.

A plane crashed coming in from overseas.

Now we don't know if it was on purpose or if

a passenger unknowingly had the virus and spread it.

- I know people are gonna be like oh,

you're exploiting an amputee.

Well fuck them.

She's an amputee but she's also a person.

She wanted to do this comedy, so what?

She doesn't get to do a comedy?

She can't joke about what happened to her

because other people that have never experienced

what she's experienced don't like it?

Who gives a shit about them?

She wants to do it, she wants to be in the movie.

She wants to make fun of the situation.

She wants to make people laugh

and she will because she was awesome.

- Hi Mat.

- I think it's kinda a little darker

sense of humor from being in the military.

We just kinda run out of jokes and so nothing's off-limits.

- When I was deployed on a ship for six months at a time,

my escape from reality was movies

and especially the comedies.

Any kind of comic relief, escape from reality

is definitely needed.

- And so that extreme humor, the irony,

all those things, that's what gets you by.

When you're sittin' in a foxhole in training

and it's raining out and you're just basically

sitting in mud and its three in the morning

and you're freezing and you're wondering

why did I choose to do this for a living,

that's where that kind of humor comes into play.

Men and women who do that kind of thing for a living

are gonna see this, they're gonna get a lot of the inside

jokes and the innuendos and it's gonna be great for 'em.

I think this has a real chance

to be a real cult classic in the military.

- It's gonna blow the hand off first

and then what you do is you cut and then I ring

a tube up underneath it and then we can do the spray.

- We gotta go all right, going hot.

Let's roll it. - Are you ready?

- You ready? - Let's roll camera.

- [Crew Member] Speed in and tell us.

- [Crew Member] Hold on, tell me when everybody's set.

Three, two, one, bang.

- Mother fucker, not my left one!

- [Jarred] To be kind of in a place where you know

it's a little Hollywood and you're kinda looking behind

the scenes is, you know you're in the right zone

to begin with but as the smoke rolls through

and the chaos is just erupting all around,

you're like oh, well that brings back some visions of stuff.

- All the amputees and severely injured,

they have humor in their life.

They look on the lighter side of life because

when you're that close to death and you realize

you've been spared and you've come out of it,

you may be disfigured, you may be a little different

than before, you look at how we shouldn't take life

too serious because when you can look at yourself

and say this isn't so bad, it makes your life easier.

- Just knock it out, fuckin' ad-lib.

- Right over here by this fence.

- Come this way, yeah. - We're just trying to get--

- Where am I going?

- [Ross] And one more, resetting, quickly, quickly.

- The sheer pandemonium of all the moving parts.

You watch the final product every time you

go spend your 12 bucks to go the movies

and you see that everything's nice and clean

and it looks crisp and perfect but yet to see a scene,

hey we got this angle shot, now we need to move

on to this one and just all the moving parts.

I thought we were kinda complicated on how we did

things logistically in the military and you watch

what's going on behind the scenes here and it's,

it can compete right with that.

- I'll never be able to watch a film again without

thinking about what's going on behind the scenes.

Those actors on screen, there's a whole crew

of people behind them working their asses off

on all the stuff moving around behind the scenes.

There's stuff that the grips have to do, the boom guy,

the lighting people, first AD, the second AD,

the people who are a couple miles down

the road in a trailer sending in payroll.

- I am the Boom Operator,

so my primary function is to cover

the dialogue with the overhead boom mic.

I place body mics on people, I hide microphones around.

I pretty much do most of the legwork so that the mixer

Dutch can really focus on dialing in the mix.

- I'm the production's Sound Mixer.

I am in charge of recording all the on-set audio,

making sure that it's very clean and properly

labeled and recorded and all that kind of good stuff.

- I'm the first AD, the Assistant Director so I

basically run the set, get the talent in,

get camera, everyone on position to so speak,

everyone on the same page.

Yeah, I would be considered

the Platoon Sergeant so to speak.

So getting everyone in the mix,

keeping everyone's energy up.

- I'm the Key Grip, the Key Grip relates

the wishes of the Gaffer from the DP and shapes the light.

There's an expression, the electrics

bring the light and the grips make it right.

You can't just shoot it flat because

no camera is as good as your eye.

- There was this one Robert Rodriguez movie,

I think it was his very first one,

like several shots are out of focus.

Saggy focus issues or it's unstable,

it's shaky, it may not be all that well-lit.

You excuse all of that if it sounds all right

but if the sound is crappy because I don't know,

there was no proper lock up done or you hear

clothes rustle on a body mic or something,

that will take you out of the experience of the film.

I play guitar and sing second voice

in a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band

and it's a great outlet to let out the crazy in you.

(vehicle beeping)

- What's great is that the toddler death scene

happens right next to the grenade thing,

so it should all just be down there.

- Say that again? - The toddler death scene.

Don't worry, they're zombies.

- They're zombied out. - They're zombied out.

- Don't worry, they already died.

Yeah, it's the last day of the movie, I've had a blast.

It's really fun to be with everybody and I'm sure

that even though I have a lot of paperwork to do

and I'm not really done working, I think like

Tuesday I'm gonna start missing everyone really hard.

So thanks for being here and I think

we're gonna have a great last day and, yeah.

(clapping) (cheering)

- Beep, beep, beep. - Beep, beep.

- Well this to me, I've had the most fun

I've ever had and I've been doing this for years.

The vets are amazing, they're hilarious.

They gave me a new perception on

what you guys actually are about.

- I honestly had no idea that they would be this funny.

I find it extremely cool how tight-knit everybody is,

how open the whole thing is.

It feels almost more like one big

extended family with 10,000 uncles and cousins.

- I would think that they would be very serious,

very hardcore, very intense and they are just,

all they want to do is have fun.

They don't want to take this life very seriously.

It's kind of to me like they've seen it all, done it all.

It's opened my eyes and changed my idea

of what that community is like.

- When people talk about bridging the civilian-

military divide, when people talk about the gap,

this is the kinda thing you gotta do, you know?

All these people that don't know anything

about the military, they're all our friends now.

They're really our friends, these are awesome people and

their view of what a veteran is is completely different now.

- And action.

(relaxed electronic tones)

- [Erek] Thank you everyone.

That is a wrap! (cheering)

- [Cameraman] You fuckin' did it man,

you guys fuckin' made a movie. - We fuckin' made a movie.

(upbeat electronic music)

- Thanks for the opportunity.

- We made principal photography,

we'll see what comes after this one.

We got about five months of post

but I'm sure it's gonna be fun now.

- [Mat] Most important right here, I like that.

- [Jarred] The best carry-on.

(radio chatter)

(muffled speaking)

(low electronic tones)

- It was important to us to bring the movie here before

it was out on DVD, before it was out on iTunes because

these people have the most right to watch this film.

They have the most right to see it.

It's hard to explain what it's like

to deploy to somebody that hasn't.

These people are away from home,

they're away from families, their kids.

Their whole life goes on pause for a year at a time

and they're doing, regardless of what their job is,

whether they're going outside the wire and doing

dangerous work or whether they're doing important

work for logistics or intelligence or whatever,

they're making a tremendous sacrifice for

the country that other people just don't make.

- We see lots of goat herders,

little kids that play soccer over there in the field.

Random trucks, so apparently

fuckin' ISIS have trucks, been on this position for awhile.

They've been plotting little bits and pieces around here.

An IED, you probably saw it on the news,

it killed 130 just about two clicks out from here.

- [Cameraman] Could you see the explosion from here?

- No, we heard it.

- [Cameraman] Crazy.

- I won't get into a war story but one of the most

changing moments of my life was my second deployment.

We'd got in firefights here and there and stuff

but I was 19 at the time and we took really heavy

casualties on a mission, I think it was like

10 guys got wounded and two were killed and the

two who were killed were my Team and Squad Leader.

So they were essentially my mentors from day one

up until that point of what taught me it was to be a man.

Because I joined the Army when I was 17,

really had the mindset of I want to learn to become a man.

But they forged me into that and then

they were just one night both taken.

Life is so short and it's so fragile.

That understanding of mortality,

it almost makes you want to succeed in life.

So it's like making the most out of the

opportunities and moments that we have in this life,

I can't imagine what the people

that have passed away that I've known,

what they think of what we're doing now.

Like holy shit, that's what's the motivator for

I think a lot of us in this community is to

succeed because of the people that made this possible.

(laughs)

(relaxed violin tones)

- We showed the movie in places ranging from

a makeshift tent with

a screen that somebody kinda put together attached

to a PlayStation that one of the soldiers had

all the way to a full indoor movie theater

and then like an outdoor amphitheater where

1,000 people are watching the movie

and actually seeing people react to it for

the first time firsthand in a combat zone

was awesome.

It was watching the mission come into fruition in person.

- The first time I saw the trailer I couldn't stop laughing,

I cried a little bit, but manly tears.

It was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing even then

and even now my cheeks actually hurt because

I was smiling the entire time I saw that movie.

It was great, I loved it.

- You heard all the laughter in here,

pretty much the soldiers really enjoyed it.

It was like one of the most,

it wasn't a realistic movie but you know,

close to the military as it can be.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

- Major, Mat. - Nice to meet you.

- Pleasure to meet you.

- Thanks for doing what you guys are doing.

- No problem, thanks for lettin' us

come check this out, this is awesome.

- Again man, thanks for what you guys

are doing and keeping us motivated.

All this other stuff just keeps us going.

I mean you know the deal, right?

- Of course, anything we can do.

Everybody wants to support veterans and the military

until it's time to support veterans and the military.

So anything we can do, that's what we try to do because

you guys need it, especially right now.

- It means the world to them.

Everybody's been watching the videos for

ages following you guys and stuff like

that and these guys here, they love it.

They act cool but when they see you guys, they get

like "Fuck, those are those guys, it's Mat and Nick."

It's nice to see representation and when somebody

comes out here like you guys and represents and comes

and takes time and shows 'em love, you know what I mean?

You're still brothers in arms, you know?

So it means a lot.

- Everybody here has got some service ethic to them

but they don't necessarily know how to capitalize

on it or employ that service ethic after the uniform

and you guys demonstrate that and I just think it's awesome.

(relaxed guitar, electronic music)

(chattering)

- It's very offensive, as long as we're on that page.

(cheering)

- Scott,

former Army Engineer.

I'm here to see Range 15.

I do Civil War reenactments. - Oh cool, cool.

- Whenever they need guys to shoot in the movies, I've

done a few, Gods and Generals, House of Cards, big ones.

I'm definitely excited.

I've been looking forward to it since they came out with it.

I contributed to their Indiegogo campaign.

I'm just interested to see generally what

the veteran community can do when they come

together and actually see a product of it.

- And zombies. - And zombies.

- How much fun is that?

- This is something that we've been needing for awhile.

We needed something that could bring us

all together and kind of relieve some of

the stresses that we face in daily life.

- I mean it's just an honor to get here

and get to meet 'em and see what they're doing and

how they were able to make something out of just

starting off as just little YouTube videos and now they're

some of the most successful people you could ever meet.

- Too much crazy, wild people, we love it.

- Yeah, having a great time. - Don't get offended!

- There will be no movie as controversial as this,

as talked about as this.

- It's the team mentality, they come together

and they shoot, kill, smash, whatever they have

to do to get through their obstacles and they

end up laughing about it the whole time and I guess

the humor is kinda what gets them through all the stress,

that's what it seems like.

Very similar to what we do in the real world.

and military on the other end.

They're in two separate rooms,

they're always in their own little boxes.

This movie is that hallway that allows

them to go from one to the other and meet

at least in some capacity, to hang out a little bit.

Like oh, this is what you're really like.

- It's a completely unique perspective.

Like we were comparing it to like American

Sniper and Saving Private Ryan and no one

has ever brought the comedy into it.

Watching this I'm like wow,

I feel a little more light-hearted not about

war but about those people who fought in it.

This is so cool, I want to be like these guys.

I don't know if I want to go to war but I want to be

as like hard-working and cool as these guys.

- Oh, that's funny.

It's like that smell that's terrible,

it smells terrible but you keep smelling it, right?

(sniffing)

That's what this movie is.

It's gonna be like ah, that's fucked up.

God, I gotta watch it again.

(laughing)

- Yet another great night for Mr. Best.

(applause) (cheering)

- [Woman] Come on out,

we'll greet the makers including Mat Best.

- It got serious.

- [Woman] What's going on over there, Mat?

- It got serious. - Arresting the actors.

You guys have been amazing supporting us

and whoever supported this film,

it was one of the most fantastic experiences

that all of us have had and we're literally nobodies.

We're all peers to every veteran that's served

this country and we wanted to make a comedy that

served our culture correctly and we're fucked up,

we're crazy but at the end of the day,

we're gonna serve this country better

than fuckin' civilians think we can do.

Thank you for supporting us.

Let's go get drunk and let's have a good time, thank you.

(cheering)

(anxious electronic music)

- I just love the idea that we're five guys

that have never been in a movie before,

have never made a movie before and we

announced to the world a year and a half ago

that we were gonna make a movie and we systematically

knocked down every obstacle that Hollywood

threw in our way and we made a movie.

That is important because we wanted to show

the community that literally anything is

possible if you are willing to sacrifice for it,

if you're willing to push for it and you know,

so this was a victory not just for us

but it's a victory for the community.

- I've had other movies, I've lost friendships,

I've lost really close friends,

in some instances best friends over movies.

I've never seen a group of people

so excited to make a film together

and

maintain their friendship throughout.

- How amazing that these two companies did find

the ability to come together even though

in the industry, they're two major competitors.

- It could've definitely clashed,

it could've definitely completely crumbled.

But those guys worked together.

They worked through differences,

they worked through obstacles and the whole point

of that is because they wanted to get to this point.

- During filming,

there is nobody that had my back more than Mat.

If I was flat on a line,

Mat would be like "Hey, let's re-shoot that.

"Nick, I think you need to do it more like this."

I would go watch all of his takes even if I wasn't

in the scene because I wanted to give him honest

feedback to make sure he looked as good.

We have a great relationship now.

- Mat Best, I mean that mother fucker

did not miss a line and it was amazing.

He was very prepared, he was very polite to people

and he treated the film like a seasoned actor.

- I think he sees in Mat the ability to be

like a legitimate Hollywood star and I see it too.

- Nick Palmisciano,

the business behind the entire operation.

I don't think people realize how many contracts,

how many phone calls, how many sponsors,

how many fuckin' emails you've gotta deal with

on a daily basis and if you don't have that,

you don't have a film.

- These guys have been workin' on this for years,

writing the script and having meetings about it

and they're still great friends and to be able to do that,

to be able to spend two or three years

putting a project together and not hate

each other's guts by the time it comes around,

that tells you what kind of guys they are.

(relaxed electronic tones)

- There's a lot of different

reasons this movie is a success.

But the biggest success that they will have,

it won't be monetarily, it will be you guys went out

and did exactly what you said you were gonna do.

That's fuckin' powerful.

- You're the fellows who altered your life

to do the job and certainly it was a sacrifice

and all of us who didn't do it

should be very much aware of it.

- This movie is for the veteran community.

It's not for anybody else if they don't want it to be.

I hope many people enjoy it.

I hope that it becomes a big hit.

I hope it makes a lot of people smile.

I hope it does a lot to bridge the veteran-

civilian divide but if it doesn't and the only

thing that happens is that our community

has a movie that they love, then we succeeded

and honest to God and I mean this sincerely,

everybody else can really go fuck themselves.

(relaxed guitar music)

* I feel like a zombie today

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* Don't know where I've been or where I want to go

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* It's raining outside, it's raining in my room

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

* Got a feeling like what shall I consume

* Oh oh

* Oh oh oh

(relaxed guitar music)

* I feel like a zombie today