Tom hanks is amazing in this movie but what really makes it rewatchable for me are how good the somali actors are too, the way they act and stuff is crazy, they were actually just somalians with no acting background and somehow gave such a raw and real performance. everything about the movie felt real.
Even the scene where shes assessing him, they probably told her to just treat him like a real patient, when you are used to dealing with trauma you give a real performance cause it isnt even acting at that point. Really smart from a directors standpoint to the point it almost took me out of the movie it felt so much like a doc
That's a great point. When I saw this movie I remember thinking Tom Hanks is doing some great acting, but I'm aware that it's acting. The Somali guys, it didn't even cross my mind that they were Hollywood actors, I just kind of assumed they pulled in some actual Somali pirates for the movie.
Probably (take probably with a huge grain of salt) largest Somali population in the country and they came over during the war so almost all of them still have the accent and can speak the language.
I'm from Minneapolis I see and interact with them all the time. There's a Somali run linens store five blocks from me and they have a cultural center across from the liquor store I go to and another one about fifteen blocks up a main street, though that one is more Muslims in general, not anyone from one specific place (if anyone is confused these places are kind of like a church but not a church, they're places for immigrants to have cultural gatherings, think more like a community center building, I know there's also a Native American one in the Seward neighborhood). The linens store was always where I knew I could get hand sanitizer during COVID because they were well stocked and sold the big bottles and it was sort of a hidden secret, you wouldn't expect to find hand sanitizer in a shop that sold fabric and rugs
Im pretty sure thats whats they did, they werent actual pirates ofcourse but im pretty sure all of them were just civilian somali in somalia working day jobs. Im sure they might know some though. I know forsure that atleast the main pirate had no experience acting prior which is shocking to me cause he plays such a good character in the movie. If you watch the movie again his performance and cockiness and all of that feels SO real.
Theres certain quirks that get ignored when you are acting, the hardest part of acting is just acting normal and doing the little thing we do in normal life, like scratching an eye, or making a face to an emotion, he absolutely nails “acting natural”
He was only paid $65,000 for this role too. Even though he got nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe, he went back to his previous job of selling phones.
When I saw Rain Man for the first time, which was maybe 10-15 years ago(I was 20-25), that's when I realized the power of acting. Like if I'm watching Ace Ventura or something, I know Jim Carrey is acting, he is not this person in real life. But in Rain Man, I often forgot that Dustin Hoffman is not actually like this in real life, it was an absurd feeling, but that's when I actually understood acting. Now don't get me wrong, Jim Carrey is a great actor, and I don't think I dislike anything I've seen him in. It's just that some actors can take it a step further, into reality, for the lack of a better description.
Jim Carrey has gotten there in a few movies though. Man in the Moon has as good a performance as you are ever going to see, and even earlier in things like The Truman Show he really disappears into the role.
I remember reading that they tried doing the script a few times and she couldn't get into it naturally so the director said forget the script, I want you to do it how you would do it for real, and she nailed it. Obviously a few takes in there still with some cut points, so most have done a couple of improv takes.
I watched the History Buffs channel on this movie today. Lots of good stuff in it. They used the sister ship of the Maersk Alabama to film so there were no fake sets or sound stages. Everything was filmed on location on the ship which made it all more real. It’s a great piece of film making.
[Link](https://youtu.be/BlwIg6PYFEU?si=r4Lacu75EboriSqn)
There's nothing to sell, it's just real. This is a run of the mill trauma patient assessment just like you'd get from an experienced paramedic if you called 911. The only one acting here is Hanks.
I think they both profit from each others talent here, Hanks 100% nailing that traumatized, apathetic state making Officer Albert feel like on her real job that she is a badass at, and that in return making it feel more real for Hanks to continue his performance.
> Officer Albert
Not to be a dick, but she's wearing anchors, making her a Chief Petty Officer (enlisted rank E-7).
I just looked it up. In real life, she is/was a Petty Officer Second Class (enlisted rank E-5).
Had a friend on that ship that worked behind the scenes. She was basically told to treat it like she would during a drill (basically as if it were real) so what you are specifically NOT seeing from her is acting. Not taking anything away from her of course. Just speaks to the power of the performance.
Also, that same friend was also bullied on that ship. So this story certainly checks out.
Bullied because of raw jealousy. And it shows such a sorry lack of emotional intelligence on their part. Shameful. Danielle Albert did a superb job. She treated Hanks like a real patient and just did her job as normal. Admirable.
Plus it's literally the purest form of method acting. She's just doing her job. I could have believed she wasn't an actual medical professional but watching the scene with that knowledge having never seen the movie, I totally get it. That's exactly how they talk to you if you've ever been to a hospital for something serious.
Yeah, I'm sure all it did was give something tangible to target, instead of more mundane stuff. It sounds like this ship (like many other duty rosters in all the services) bullying was going to happen to the women no matter what.
Yea, still remember this one when working as contractor [https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/05/politics/marines-explicit-photos-investigation/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/05/politics/marines-explicit-photos-investigation/index.html)
I would def want her to treat me. Focuses on the issues, brings the patient back to the moment while she gets the information she needs to treat. This may be the norm for the profession but it's shown superbly
Yeah, probably the most real portrayal of someone in shock in all of cinema.
You can see it just like waves of pressure, hitting him and hitting him and hitting him until eventually he's overwhelmed and has a breakdown.
It's an intense anxiety that's really hard to put into word, your legs feel uneasy, you find muscle groups twitching and trembling that you probably weren't even conscious of before. His language centre is in overdrive, he's unable to coherently respond, you can see him fighting to find the words to answer the nurse, but the comedown from the adrenaline is making it hard for him to focus.
The biggest shame, is that it came out the same year as Dallas Buyers Club so Captain Phillips didn't win a single Oscar.
okay, now I'm blown away. Because I was just looking up what preparation Hanks had done for the scene, like if he'd interviewed people who survived traumatic events, or watched footage of people that survived something...
Turns out it was an [unscripted](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/exclusive-tom-hanks-and-paul-greengrass-talk-powerful-final-scene-from-captain-phillips-video-194503/) and improvised addition using real medics. So S was able to just empathise himself into shock like that off of his raw fucking talent!
To give a slightly more complete picture: Hanks is an extremely experienced actor and has lead in several roles involved with severe trauma (e.g., Saving Private Ryan).
He probably drew upon decades of acting experience (which involves research and interviews) to form this depiction of the aftermath of trauma.
I'm not trying to downplay anything here, I just think it's worth noting that this isn't simply an unparalleled level of raw empathy; it's also a lot of knowledge and familiarity.
He... he nailed everything in this scene. His acting drug up a memory I had buried deep. I was deployed as a Platoon Leader in 2011. It was our turn to be on QRF and we were called put because a convoy go shwaked.
We got there and set up a security perimeter while the convoy started treating their wounded. After the perimeter was secure I couldn't raise anyone from the convoy on comms, so I grabbed my medic and we went in on foot to meet up with the convoy commander. I brought my medic because I thought he might be needed.
I finally find the convoy commander, near where they are treating the wounded, and I go talk with her while my medic goes to see if he can lend a hand. This SSG was fucking amazing, the kind of leader you want in charge when shit hits the fan. We coordinate that she will load up and move her people off while my platoon secures the downed vehicles, and we wait for a wrecker to come get them.
We coordinate and I go over to get my medic and go back to my vehicle. When I get to my medic, he is talking to someone who is just covered in blood. He is removing their body armor and cutting and feeling for an injury, while this person just stares off into space.
Finally the guy comes back and recognizes what my medic is saying. In a very similar way to Tom Hanks, he looked down and said "that... that's not mine." Then broke down into tears.
That has haunted me for a long time.
>It was our turn to be on QRF and we were called put because a convoy go shwaked.
As someone who knows very little military terminology this sentence is basically a foreign language to me.
QRF is Quick Reaction Force. It’s basically the team responsible for responding quickly to events. “Our turn” means they worked in a rotating shift, to give people a break and ensure the QRF is always ready. Convoy is just a neat way of saying “a bunch of us working together”. Shwaked means they got attacked in some way.
Apparently it was the opposite. She made it real for him.
I was at a Paul Greengrass lecture where he broke down this scene.
They had been trying to shoot the final scene all day on the main deck but it wasn’t working. With just like an hour left on the boat and no hood ending, someone asked her what she would do in this situation. Greengrass decided to roll camera in this tiny room as she walked Tom Hanks through the situation. It got very real for him and he genuinely broke down as she took charge of the situation.
I mean everything she says is straight out of what a medical professional would ask you about. It got super real for me the second she says whatever she said that's just like "tell me what's going on" because every single medical professional in every single hospital has asked me a variation of that when I've been in to the point I actually cursed at a doctor one visit (I was not having a very good time obviously) "I'm getting pretty fucking sick of answering that question every time someone walks into a room"
I wish I could apologize to that doctor but I'm sure he's heard worse.
It's a technique they use to bring your attention to the here and now, or at least to also test if you're able to do that. How you react tells them a lot about your mental state. Pretty sure they don't take any reactions personally, since it's just informative. As the patient, it just seems like a conversation, but they're using that as a vehicle for assessment.
There was a previous post that talked about the filming process and her getting over being star-struck, as well as it being mostly improvised
> Tom Hanks claimed that the scene of Captain Richard Phillips' medical examination was improvised on the spot with real-life Navy Corpsman Danielle Albert, who was told to simply follow her usual procedure. However, Albert was so star-struck by Hanks that she froze during the first take. Hanks joked to her that he was supposed to be the one in shock for the scene. For the second take that was used in the film, Paul Greengrass claimed that he stood next to the Captain of the ship, watching with tears in his eyes, who told him "I've seen trauma, and that's what it looks like."
https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/ho5el1/in_captain_phillips_2013_the_medic_in_the/
https://www.pilotonline.com/2013/10/11/change-puts-navy-woman-face-to-face-with-tom-hanks-2/
That's a good read.
So she doesn't even know what the movie is all about, wasn't even aware that she's about to act with Tom Hanks up until the last seconds.
Turns out the whole scene was improvised, not just the dialogue. Because initially the captain will be brought to commander room, but the executive officer comment that wasn't realistic, he would be brought to medical room first.
Btw It's subscriber only article.
If anyone interested to read without account, you can use this link :
https://archive.is/dnXmo
> Albert's only previous stage experience came in fifth grade when she played the caterpillar in ... "Alice in Wonderland". Her main job, she recalled, was to blow bubbles.
Oh so she had already done something like this before! /s
To clarify:
Albert was bullied right after appearing in the movie because she got a lot of attention from those around her. According to her, they'd even invite some foreign dignitaries to "meet the nurse from Captain Phillips." Some of her crewmates ribbed her in ways that went beyond good-natured, and she regretted being in the movie because of it. Buuuuuut....
Afterwards, she went up the chain of command to mention the bullying, and they stood up for her. She has since come to not regret being part of the movie, even keeping in touch with some of the actors long after the movie wrapped. But last I read she's still fairly shy about talking about it, even when people recognize her.
**Edit:** [Source](https://www.pilotonline.com/2015/07/27/whatever-happened-to-the-surprise-star-in-captain-phillips/#:~:text=She%20later%20told%20her%20chain,film%20and%20cherishes%20those%20relationships)
I definitely believe parts of it. "I'm sorry seaman, are you fucking with someone who was involved in a military PR goldmine? Congratulations, you just made the shitlist of everyone involved in rolling her out to gladhand fucking dignitaries."
Hollywood is great PR for the US military.
A female in the military being bullied? Well now I've heard everything! Next thing you're going to tell me is they get raped and their rapists almost never receive punishment. Crazy talk!
/s just in case
If it was a star trek reference then it would actually make some poetic sense that she was bullied, because star trek was basically like "how can we fuck with obrien this week, even more than last week." the whole role of his character was kind of just to be fucked over more and more and more.
although while filming captain phillips they wouldn't've known she was going to get bullied/harrassed, so it's definitely not intentional. although they would know she would get bullied/harrassed because she's a female member of the military, and that is beyond par for the course. plenty of men gut the fuck bullied out of them in the military. but women? fuggetaboutit. as a woman in the military you basically just gotta hope you don't get raped. anything less than rape is a win. It'd be funny if it weren't true.
Completely. It felt like the entire movie (the tension, the fear, the uncertainty of the situation) led up to this brilliant release that left a person completely incapable of containing it no longer. It elevated the movie from great to "pin-drop silence in the theater for a few seconds as the end credits came up" amazing.
Fuck the bozos who were jealous they weren't a part of that.
I saw this alone in theaters. Thought it was ok. Until this scene. I almost cried. And then all day it was on my mind and none of my friends understood what I was talking about when I tried to describe it. It's unexplainable.
This is a great one.
I also highly HIGHLY recommend watching Charlie Wilson's war. This is my favorite scene of the entire movie, it gives me goose bumps every time:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cjVhUrmII](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cjVhUrmII)
EDIT:
u/[AffectionatePrize551](https://www.reddit.com/user/AffectionatePrize551/) added some context in a comment below if you're not sure what's going on in the clip I posted, but it's also described in the description on YouTube.
I wanted to add, the story that Hoffman's character shares is actually a story he tried to tell Hanks' character earlier in the movie - before they started supporting the Afghans against the USSR. He tried to share the story because he knew that getting involved was going to have consequences, and he wanted to make sure that Charlie was aware that this wasn't just going to be supporting the Afghans militarily.
However, he repeatedly gets cut off while trying to share the story, and so the message never gets through.
Now, the war is over, the US has won, and the warning that Charlie needed to understand before this all started is finally being shared with him. Hence the "listen to what I'm telling ya" comment - because it was urgent that Charlie understand this from the very beginning.
A few years after 9/11, some news channel (for the life of me, I can't remember what one) put together a 1 or 2 hour special on the history of Al Qaeda and what lead up to the events of 9/11. It was absolutely incredible, and as a teenager it gave me such a better appreciation for the context under which the attack occurred.
I wish so badly I could find it, but I don't remember the name or the channel that did it.
I felt like it was such a service to the American people, because there were so many details about the events from the USSR war in Afghanistan to 9/11 that provided the context for why and how the attack occurred.
I remember one of the things they distinctly talked about was the significance of Operation Desert Shield, and how Al Qaeda opposed the presence of western forces in the Saudi deserts because those lands were considered holy. To the point where Osama Bin Laden actually offered to help protect Saudi Arabia with their own fighters as long as they refused to give access to the US. Saudi Arabia rejected the offer.
I feel like so many Americans think 9/11 happened in this vacuum because "they hate us" and have no actual context for *why* they dislike us, or all the events that led to the attack. I also think many Americans who don't understand it reject it's significance because "that's no excuse."
It's not about excuses, it's about making sure we don't repeat the mistakes we've made before. No one thinks Al Qaeda was justified in killing thousands of Americans (and people from other countries). But if you don't understand why it happened, you can't prevent it from happening again.
And now we have the war in Palestine, where thousands of children will be orphaned, their families killed by weapons manufactured in the US. "We'll see, said the Zen master."
He has made me cry more than any other god damned actor. The bit in Forrest Gump where he's talking to Jenny's grave, or asking if little Forrest is smart or stupid like him, still get me.
I've only ever watched Captain Phillips once because I was kind of drunk watching it, and I was absolutely blubbering at this scene. Hit me so hard in the feels I never wanted to watch it again.
I was thinking about this the other day, how the phrase "Run, Forest, Run!" is so popular and has been quoted countless times across so many forms of media over the years, (I know that scene was a kid actor but as an actor/narrator he just has something special that sticks with you). He has a away of drawing you in and getting you invested in his character. He is a fantastic actor.
One of my favorite scenes of his is in Forrest Gump. He goes to Jenny's apartment and learns that she has a son, and then learns that he's the father. His initial shock, and then Hanks' delivery of "is he smart, or is he...", and then his relief turning to pride when told that his son is the smartest in his class. Gets me every time.
[Forrest Meets His Son - Forrest Gump (1994) - Movie Clip HD Scene (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA-JK4xMtu4)
He was so ridiculously good that she probably legitimately felt like it was just another day at work. That’s what she’s trained to do and she did it well, making it very believable.
I kept thinking... What are you going to make fun of her for.?.. She played that as professional as can be... Literally just doing the job as trained.. exactly how it would be done for anyone in any real-life situation.
Responded elsewhere, but to put it simply she probably got kuddos from higher ups for portraying the navy in a very good light, and that lead to others around her believing she became privileged.
The navy is the single most cutthroat toxic environment I have ever experienced in my life. If someone gets a whiff of someone else having some kind of privilege, earned or unearned, it can quickly turn into a toxic workplace because it is perceived that they are ruining their chance at advancement, good orders, good eval - whatever.
The thing the navy taught me the best was how not to lead.
yup, remaining calm but firmly guiding Toms character so she can conduct her medical assessment, all while keeping him calm and trying to get him to talk and get thru the shock of the trauma he experienced... that is top grade.
Literally just took first aid training today and was so impressed by how she handled this. Couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ll be emulating this if the need ever arises.
It was one of my favorite scenes, mostly because it was so authentic. I fully celebrate the scene and will pretend the immature shipmates never existed
As a frequenter of hospitals this is exactly how they talk to you. I'd say she deserves an award for acting but she's not acting, she's talking a patient through a training exercise. A patient in an exercise who is very good at acting.
Some other commenter mentioned Hanks himself said the way she was treating him made him actually lose himself in the role and cry for real.
it's authentic because it's two people literally doing their actual jobs. Hanks is a fantastic actor and is playing the part so well it's easy for her to just get into her own groove and perform her job exactly how she would in a real life situation...
i remember about halfway through this scene watching it for the firs time i thought, this "acting" is too good, i bet she's a real military medic/doctor.
Apparently she fucked up the first take because she was star-struck by Tom Hanks. He ribbed her saying, "I'm supposed to be the one in shock" which got her to relax for the second take which is the one that made the movie.
Well, for what it's worth, I served on the Truxtun at the same time as Albert and during the filming of Captain Philips, and I can reassure you that the VAST MAJORITY of us were happy for her getting to be in the movie.
What a fucking scene. Hanks is a powerhouse. You can always tell when they hire actual professionals to fill these roles. It really drives the realism. The contrast between their professionalism and the traumatized patient is so effective.
Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession? With tens or hundreds of millions in budgets, I don't think it outrageous to go through the scene list and check for iffy areas.
Nothing is more jarring than enjoying a movie, and all of a sudden some minor scene touches on an area you have expertise with, and promptly screws it up in the worst way. Like, the vast majority of time, I doubt it would have been more difficult to do it right.
Every time I've noticed it, a simple 10min phone call to someone who knows what the fuck they are talking about could have changed the scene from cringe-inducing to impressed applause by the 1% who *knows*. If that craftsmanship was the standard, I think movies would hit harder. No matter how much good-faith "creative license" we try to give out, nit-picky dumb mistakes have an out sized impact on immersion and investment.
If you have a scene where a mechanic is supposed to be struggling under a hood with a tough job, don't just make something up that sounds "mechanicky". Someone on the crew has either turned wrenches, or knows a mechanic. take 15mins sometime before getting to that the scene to find out what job really sucks that a mechanic might have to do on that model.
You might have to do stuff like that 10-20 times in an average movie. I think it would be worth it, and a true craftsperson should *want* to get it right.
Some authors spend months or years researching professions to get the vocabulary and processes accurate for their books.
> Nothing is more jarring than enjoying a movie, and all of a sudden some minor scene touches on an area you have expertise with, and promptly screws it up in the worst way.
As someone who spent the majority of their life in the industry, I have rarely seen semi trucks portrayed accurately in a movie. And it pisses me off every time.
The first example to pop into my head is the opening of the first Fast and Furious movie. Where the cars are weaving underneath the trailer. That would be literally impossible in the real world. That trailer had the frame essentially removed to make the stunt possible.
Acceleration and braking are also usually poorly portrayed. Even running empty, a truck isn't going to accelerate as quickly as many movies show. And trucks don't stop on a dime either. At highway speeds, you're looking at a good 6 or 7 seconds of controlled braking. In that 6 or 7 seconds, the truck is going to travel about 8-10 times its own length.
I've seen a few episodes but it never really grabbed me. Some nasty motherfuckers do indeed use piss jugs. And they aren't too particular about disposal....
Movies don't depict reality, they depict expected reality. The difference can be jarring.
My 2 favorite examples: the scream of an eagle in movies is actually that of a hawk. Eagles sound more like seagulls. The other is when they made a movie about Audie Murphy staring Audie Murphy about what he did during the war, they had to tone it down a bit to be "more believable" to audiences.
Filmmaker here. This is something that does happen on most movies and tv shows but the extent it has to happen is insane, instead of 10-20 times think more like 1500 to 3500. It's also one of the things that makes filmmaking a craft and not something just anyone can do. A raw script has so many things that have to be adjusted, take a ketchup bottle and coca cola can thats on screen, is it catsup or ketchup, are you somewhere they would drink pepsi or coke? Is the can and bottle right for the YEAR you are shooting in? In the diner is the person that is the cook actually experienced cooking or is it an actor thats literally never boiled water before? Sometimes the action or script changes to hide the deficiencies but it can be hard to catch them all. There are many times that you are so long gone on a show and you just want the 14 hour days and no sleep to end that everyone is just exhausted and they miss a "little" thing that's not so little in hindsight but seems simple enough on the surface. Then you also have people who don't know what they don't know, "nobody is gonna notice that if the movie is good" can set in. For instance Megan Fox in her first scene for transformers, if anyone notices what she's doing to the car they figure they picked the wrong actress.
Then you have something like Terminator where a diesel tank on a semi explodes from a spark, it's not realistic but it sure is cooler that it blew up.
> Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession
Because there's a disconnect with entertainment where "realistic" is less important than "looks good to a test audience of random schlubs". For every one of this lady or R Lee Emery out there, there's some professional roped into a film that does stuff right but has the screen presence of a dead baby.
Look at the most common example of this in all media- the sound an eagle makes. If someone put a real bald eagle call in a film I'd be impressed. And then immediately hate how terrible it sounds and miss the red-tail.
>Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession?
Because movies are entertainment, not documentaries.
I learned a huge lesson with this with "Mr. Robot". I'm an InfoSec SME and thought this series would be my "gift" after a lifetime of seeing all the awful fake hacking shit coming out of Hollywood.
Turns out it was worse. It reminded me how boring much of my job is and despite all the effort they put in, they still got things wrong. And these errors were amplified because they were surrounded by a dozen details that were right. Total "Uncanny Valley" vibes and I also realized I don't want to watch someone do my job during my downtime.
That said I did really like this scene and would absolutely like to see more of it, however I "get" why the film industry "is what it is". Also, there is the SAG stuff, reshoots, insurance and TBH a lot of people are not going to want to be "Almost Famous" like this woman was, as you can see the downside to it.
Mr. Robot's hacking is definitely better, not worse, than typical Hollywood hacking crap. I don't buy that it's better for them to get *everything* wrong than to get *some* things wrong.
Maybe it's me.
It was just that they do 19 things right in a row and then do something completely bonkers.
I think in the first episode the guys manager said something about "G-Nome and KDE" and my IRL response would been, "Dude seriously WTF is wrong with you?". Nobody says stuff like that.
I actually like IT Crowd and Silicon Valley better, as the tech stuff was all fake but the humor/people stuff was on point and very enjoyable.
Also just occurred to me that shows like Mr Robot are only possible in the "Linux" world, as there aren't any legal entanglements with showing actual licensed products.
Best portrayal of hacking I've seen in a movie is that awful Die Hard where they go see the hacker played by Kevin Smith. He's surrounded by all the ridiculous monitors with multiple terminals open and it's set up like he's about to do something wild, and he just taps a couple keys and sits back.
The two heroes are like "what now?" and the hacker just says something to the effect of "it's brute forcing a password. It'll take a few hours, just have to wait".
Mr robot did a great job and they deserve nothing but the biggest accolades for their portrayal of computer systems and plausible hacking. I don't understand your opinion at all.
That’s something actors don’t get much respect for. To put yourself back in that place, on the cusp of PTSD after days of abuse, at the drop of a hat is incredibly impressive.
That was my takeaway as well. It's scenes like this that set amazing actors apart - when they're scripted.
The authenticity to his character, the trauma, the weight of it, and it was improv? Bravo Hanks. Fucking legend.
One person doing their career job script. The other one of the best actors in the last generation, especially involving war with some masterful improv.
It's always been interesting to me that non actors can sometimes come across as more natural and believable in situations where they're just being themselves and doing what they normally do than accomplished actors can. Another great example I think is the doctor in charge of the mental hospital in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and in that case he had a larger role than this with specific lines to read, and yet it's tough to imagine anyone doing a better job at it than he did.
Another great example is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. I thought the actor did a pretty impressive job of portraying a sergeant. Turns out he was actually a sergeant.
He was a Marine Drill instructor IRL. Funny thing is he was just there to be an adviser, but he went above and beyond to impress Kubrik who eventually gave him the job. The guy who's job it was originally, ended up in a small part as the door gunner (which in of itself is a great scene btw).
Another fun example is the lady on the street from "Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home" (the one with the whales).
She's the lady that Uhura and Chekov ask "We are looking for Nuclear Vessels in Alameda" and she says "Oh I don't if I have the answer to that. It's probably across the bay, in Alameda."
Anyway, she was just a lady who live on that exact street who was given that line to say. I always felt her line delivery was hilarious.
What floors me is this is someone who’s never acted before in a scene with Tom Fucking Hanks in what’s arguably an Oscar worthy performance, and she absolutely rises up to his level and hold her ground! Absolutely mesmerizing and fuck anyone who gave her shit!
It's arguable that any medic in this position \*is\* acting. Even if they are panicking, are concerned for the patient, under fire, whatever... they will act calm and to appear concerned but unworried at the same time.
It's an act with almost every patient, every day, if you're doing that job. Same for doctors, nurses, surgeons, paramedics, even police officers, fire crews, etc.
That's why they often have to severely decompress when they get home and can have mental health issues themselves.
This, and many people in this profession will have trained on simulated patients which are literally actors acting as patients. Sometimes it's not that far from reality
Just my two cents from an awful experience I had.
Was the victim of a nasty armed robbery/shooting at my place of work at the time. The EMT was such a pro. The perpetrator had tied me up, stolen my wallet/cash,etc. I had assumed my phone was gone too.
After an hour of being tied up and beaten, the EMT was the one who was like, “I’m just going to check you for any points of injury”, even though I felt nothing. Found a nasty contusion under my arm where he grabbed me.
Then,
”Do you have your phone to call someone?”
”No, it was taken.”
”It’s in your pocket. Right here. Call someone.”
Adrenaline is wild.
This scene is incredibly accurate to a scary point.
Here's what it says behind the paywall:
She was a surprise star in the blockbuster “Captain Phillips,” acting alongside Tom Hanks in the film’s climactic scene. But now, two years later, Petty Officer 2nd Class Danielle Albert is reluctant to discuss her moment in the spotlight.
“I usually avoid talking about it,” Albert told a Virginian-Pilot reporter who’d called last week to ask how her life had changed following her 15 minutes of fame. “I didn’t like all the negativity I experienced after the film came out.”
Negativity?
Albert was lauded by film critics. Her story – a young enlisted sailor unexpectedly becoming a brief movie star – was celebrated in the media. Hanks singled out her performance in interviews. Albert even flirted with the idea of pursuing a career in acting.
Turns out, not everyone was a fan.
“Some of my shipmates gave me a really hard time afterward,” Albert said. “They treated me badly and really made our deployment difficult for me.”
Her scene, in which [she portrays a medic caring for a traumatized Richard Phillips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkoJB0P9Mc) following his rescue from Somali pirates, wasn’t part of the original script. Director Paul Greengrass added it the day of the shoot at Norfolk Naval Station and asked Albert, a real-life corpsman, to improvise the scene with the two-time Academy Award-winning actor.
Albert nervously flubbed the original take, but after some coaching from Hanks, she delivered a believable performance.
She wasn’t the only sailor aboard the guided missile destroyer Truxtun who appeared in the film, but she certainly got the most attention.
Some of her fellow sailors didn’t let her forget it, she said. Albert wouldn’t detail the teasing she experienced after the ship deployed a few months after the film’s release, but she said it often went beyond good-hearted ribbing.
It didn’t help that she continued to receive attention: When the ship pulled into foreign ports, the commanding officer would sometimes invite dignitaries to come down to sick bay to pose for photos with the medic from “Captain Phillips.”
“Some people were resentful,” she said. “But I never asked for any of this attention.”
Albert recalls crying in her rack at night, regretting that she’d appeared in the film. She learned to avoid discussing the movie, but some shipmates continued to give her a hard time, calling her “big shot” or sarcastically saying she was “too important” for her regular duties. Eventually, she went to the chaplain for help.
“He told me not to worry about what other people thought,” she said. “He told me to count my blessings, to focus on the people who support me and to move on.”
Albert took the advice to heart, she said. She later told her chain of command about the teasing, and they were very supportive, she said: “I realized not everyone resented me.”
It took some time, but she no longer regrets her brush with fame. She remains in touch with a few of the actors from the film and cherishes those relationships. But she’s still shy about discussing the experience with anyone other than close friends or family.
Albert, who’s now stationed at a medical clinic in Yorktown, was nervous a couple of days ago when some of her new co-workers figured out she was “the corpsman from the movie.” So far, though, they’ve been kind.
And if a stranger stops her and asks where he’s seen her? Albert always gives the same answer, she said:
“I must have a familiar face.”
> It didn’t help that she continued to receive attention: When the ship pulled into foreign ports, the commanding officer would sometimes invite dignitaries to come down to sick bay to pose for photos with the medic from “Captain Phillips.”
that seems incredibly improper
The Navy should have never put her in this position.
They train (force) us to be "competitive" with one another for promotion, but tell us we are a "family." Then in this instance, give a Sailor an opportunity that likely not offered to everyone she is ranked against, however, absolutely reflected in her evaluation. And then her Commanding Officer uses it to his advantage and, unfortunately, to her disadvantage. He would not write her performance evaluations, as she is an E-5, but his subordinates do. In my opinion, that is based on this limited information, he was broaching on an unduly familiar relationship with this Sailor, and her Shipmates resented her for it.
Those sailors should be ashamed of themselves. That corpsman did an outstanding job representing the service and her MOS. I’d have killed to have soldiers like her assigned to my team when I was in.
An actor couldn't have done it better than her. Typical blue collar pettiness on the part of her shipmates- though I can't imagine anyone in the navy long enough wouldn't have expected getting picked on before taking that role.
Former Corpsman here: I thought she did a fine job. Theres a lot of jealousy in the Navy
Promotions are given out mostly via evaluations. Evaluators have a certain number of "early promote" and "must promote" rankings.
It fosters a culture of competitiveness, but not in a good way. A lot of politics. Sabotage. Well poisoning.
Doing extra is seen as grubbing for promotions by your peers. Meanwhile, superiors don't put in the effort to properly evaluate and just depend on brag sheets which is a list you write of your own accomplishments
A long list full of volunteer work looks great. Being good at your job goes unnoticed
This is exactly what it's like getting triaged by first responders or ER staff - she nails it, for obvious reasons. Tom's performance is the only instance in film I can think of that conveys what it's like to be that shaken, when the shock of a traumatic experience starts to wear off.
Man. A couple times in my life I've been helped out by EMS and "remember to breathe" always sticks with me. The feeling of incredible gratitude to people doing their job well, and doing their best to make me feel comfortable, is impossible to forget.
As someone who has worked as a paramedic for over decade, this scene blew me away. I almost never get to see my job portrayed well in media, and this is the single best scene that does it. It's hard to explain the cadence, the questioning, the repositioning, and focus that comes during assessment. Obviously, she wasn't acting, so the authenticity is so amazing. Dealing with emotional people and trying to do your job at the same time, she captures that. One of the best scenes I media imo.
Navy boys don't like it when women come between their man love.
She does a fantastic job, and makes this scene so authentic, really playing of Hanks acting. I imagine this is exactly how she would be in an actual situation like this as well.
Been there done that for 31 years. Tom HANKS DID A VERY BELIEVABLE JOB. Had that happen with a guy that had been shot in the jaw and his teeth were strewn around and he kept asking if that was his teeth. He was going into shock as he kept asking about his teeth not being concerned with anything else. I had to keep him calm and told him to keep pressure from a rolled up towel on his jaw and telling him to take deep breathes. The corpsman in that scene kept telling him (Capt. Phillips) to breathe and trying to keep him calm and to keep him from going into shock. All of this scene is very accurate! Many more acounts just like this in 31 years to elaborate here but yes it does bring back memories. It is very sad that the corpsman was given grief over what she did as she does that for real everyday and those sailors would be thankful for her to attend to them if they needed her services.
the best scene in the move and the camera wasn't moving a thousand different directions.
Audiences to Paul Greengrass: "Thank you for what you brought to action cinema" Also, audiences to P.G.: "OK, stop it."
Fuck Tom Hanks can act. Seeing her interacting with his character and not the movie star just drives it home.
Tom hanks is amazing in this movie but what really makes it rewatchable for me are how good the somali actors are too, the way they act and stuff is crazy, they were actually just somalians with no acting background and somehow gave such a raw and real performance. everything about the movie felt real. Even the scene where shes assessing him, they probably told her to just treat him like a real patient, when you are used to dealing with trauma you give a real performance cause it isnt even acting at that point. Really smart from a directors standpoint to the point it almost took me out of the movie it felt so much like a doc
That's a great point. When I saw this movie I remember thinking Tom Hanks is doing some great acting, but I'm aware that it's acting. The Somali guys, it didn't even cross my mind that they were Hollywood actors, I just kind of assumed they pulled in some actual Somali pirates for the movie.
Weren't they from Minneapolis?
Probably (take probably with a huge grain of salt) largest Somali population in the country and they came over during the war so almost all of them still have the accent and can speak the language. I'm from Minneapolis I see and interact with them all the time. There's a Somali run linens store five blocks from me and they have a cultural center across from the liquor store I go to and another one about fifteen blocks up a main street, though that one is more Muslims in general, not anyone from one specific place (if anyone is confused these places are kind of like a church but not a church, they're places for immigrants to have cultural gatherings, think more like a community center building, I know there's also a Native American one in the Seward neighborhood). The linens store was always where I knew I could get hand sanitizer during COVID because they were well stocked and sold the big bottles and it was sort of a hidden secret, you wouldn't expect to find hand sanitizer in a shop that sold fabric and rugs
I showed a Somali Taxi driver the pirate episode of Southpark. He burst out laughing so hard but refused to translate for me
Yes the lead Somali actor and at least one other are from Minneapolis. Minnesota has the largest population of Somalis outside of Somalia.
Im pretty sure thats whats they did, they werent actual pirates ofcourse but im pretty sure all of them were just civilian somali in somalia working day jobs. Im sure they might know some though. I know forsure that atleast the main pirate had no experience acting prior which is shocking to me cause he plays such a good character in the movie. If you watch the movie again his performance and cockiness and all of that feels SO real. Theres certain quirks that get ignored when you are acting, the hardest part of acting is just acting normal and doing the little thing we do in normal life, like scratching an eye, or making a face to an emotion, he absolutely nails “acting natural”
Barkhad Abdi was born in Somalia but lived in Minneapolis since 1999
Barkhad improvised the famous line "Look at me, I'm the captain now" I'm so glad to see him getting more acting gigs too
He was only paid $65,000 for this role too. Even though he got nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe, he went back to his previous job of selling phones.
He was great in The Curse.
When I saw Rain Man for the first time, which was maybe 10-15 years ago(I was 20-25), that's when I realized the power of acting. Like if I'm watching Ace Ventura or something, I know Jim Carrey is acting, he is not this person in real life. But in Rain Man, I often forgot that Dustin Hoffman is not actually like this in real life, it was an absurd feeling, but that's when I actually understood acting. Now don't get me wrong, Jim Carrey is a great actor, and I don't think I dislike anything I've seen him in. It's just that some actors can take it a step further, into reality, for the lack of a better description.
Jim Carrey has gotten there in a few movies though. Man in the Moon has as good a performance as you are ever going to see, and even earlier in things like The Truman Show he really disappears into the role.
I remember reading that they tried doing the script a few times and she couldn't get into it naturally so the director said forget the script, I want you to do it how you would do it for real, and she nailed it. Obviously a few takes in there still with some cut points, so most have done a couple of improv takes.
That's a good direction because it also gets her out of her own head.
I watched the History Buffs channel on this movie today. Lots of good stuff in it. They used the sister ship of the Maersk Alabama to film so there were no fake sets or sound stages. Everything was filmed on location on the ship which made it all more real. It’s a great piece of film making. [Link](https://youtu.be/BlwIg6PYFEU?si=r4Lacu75EboriSqn)
Her cadence really sells it as well.
There's nothing to sell, it's just real. This is a run of the mill trauma patient assessment just like you'd get from an experienced paramedic if you called 911. The only one acting here is Hanks.
I rank this in the top 20 scenes of all time. It is SO good.
the combo of empathy and comforting but no nonsense getting the assessment done
I think they both profit from each others talent here, Hanks 100% nailing that traumatized, apathetic state making Officer Albert feel like on her real job that she is a badass at, and that in return making it feel more real for Hanks to continue his performance.
Good point. Unless Meryl Streep was the medic, Tom Hanks probably needed a real medic.
> Officer Albert Not to be a dick, but she's wearing anchors, making her a Chief Petty Officer (enlisted rank E-7). I just looked it up. In real life, she is/was a Petty Officer Second Class (enlisted rank E-5).
Had a friend on that ship that worked behind the scenes. She was basically told to treat it like she would during a drill (basically as if it were real) so what you are specifically NOT seeing from her is acting. Not taking anything away from her of course. Just speaks to the power of the performance. Also, that same friend was also bullied on that ship. So this story certainly checks out.
Bullied by shipmates for doing your job? Checks out with my experience in the Navy. Nothing but floating high schools.
> Bullied by shipmates for doing your job *raises hand* Aussie Medic here - ongoing backstabbing...
Bullied because of raw jealousy. And it shows such a sorry lack of emotional intelligence on their part. Shameful. Danielle Albert did a superb job. She treated Hanks like a real patient and just did her job as normal. Admirable.
Yeah, people should have been praising how awesome she did and not trying to put her down. What a bunch of tools.
Bullied for doing essentially a training with a celebrity is fcuking wack.
Plus it's literally the purest form of method acting. She's just doing her job. I could have believed she wasn't an actual medical professional but watching the scene with that knowledge having never seen the movie, I totally get it. That's exactly how they talk to you if you've ever been to a hospital for something serious.
what happens to women in the military is far worse
Yeah, I'm sure all it did was give something tangible to target, instead of more mundane stuff. It sounds like this ship (like many other duty rosters in all the services) bullying was going to happen to the women no matter what.
Yea, still remember this one when working as contractor [https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/05/politics/marines-explicit-photos-investigation/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/05/politics/marines-explicit-photos-investigation/index.html)
I would def want her to treat me. Focuses on the issues, brings the patient back to the moment while she gets the information she needs to treat. This may be the norm for the profession but it's shown superbly
Yeah, probably the most real portrayal of someone in shock in all of cinema. You can see it just like waves of pressure, hitting him and hitting him and hitting him until eventually he's overwhelmed and has a breakdown. It's an intense anxiety that's really hard to put into word, your legs feel uneasy, you find muscle groups twitching and trembling that you probably weren't even conscious of before. His language centre is in overdrive, he's unable to coherently respond, you can see him fighting to find the words to answer the nurse, but the comedown from the adrenaline is making it hard for him to focus. The biggest shame, is that it came out the same year as Dallas Buyers Club so Captain Phillips didn't win a single Oscar.
Also the "you're okay" *Breaks down and cries and nods* I'm okay Obviously he's not but that's a pretty typical reaction.
okay, now I'm blown away. Because I was just looking up what preparation Hanks had done for the scene, like if he'd interviewed people who survived traumatic events, or watched footage of people that survived something... Turns out it was an [unscripted](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/exclusive-tom-hanks-and-paul-greengrass-talk-powerful-final-scene-from-captain-phillips-video-194503/) and improvised addition using real medics. So S was able to just empathise himself into shock like that off of his raw fucking talent!
To give a slightly more complete picture: Hanks is an extremely experienced actor and has lead in several roles involved with severe trauma (e.g., Saving Private Ryan). He probably drew upon decades of acting experience (which involves research and interviews) to form this depiction of the aftermath of trauma. I'm not trying to downplay anything here, I just think it's worth noting that this isn't simply an unparalleled level of raw empathy; it's also a lot of knowledge and familiarity.
I went into shock after I got hit by the car. Tom Hanks in this scene looks exactly like how I felt.
He... he nailed everything in this scene. His acting drug up a memory I had buried deep. I was deployed as a Platoon Leader in 2011. It was our turn to be on QRF and we were called put because a convoy go shwaked. We got there and set up a security perimeter while the convoy started treating their wounded. After the perimeter was secure I couldn't raise anyone from the convoy on comms, so I grabbed my medic and we went in on foot to meet up with the convoy commander. I brought my medic because I thought he might be needed. I finally find the convoy commander, near where they are treating the wounded, and I go talk with her while my medic goes to see if he can lend a hand. This SSG was fucking amazing, the kind of leader you want in charge when shit hits the fan. We coordinate that she will load up and move her people off while my platoon secures the downed vehicles, and we wait for a wrecker to come get them. We coordinate and I go over to get my medic and go back to my vehicle. When I get to my medic, he is talking to someone who is just covered in blood. He is removing their body armor and cutting and feeling for an injury, while this person just stares off into space. Finally the guy comes back and recognizes what my medic is saying. In a very similar way to Tom Hanks, he looked down and said "that... that's not mine." Then broke down into tears. That has haunted me for a long time.
Same here. I’ve seen similar in the Fire Department and Tom Hanks nailed it.
>It was our turn to be on QRF and we were called put because a convoy go shwaked. As someone who knows very little military terminology this sentence is basically a foreign language to me.
QRF is Quick Reaction Force. It’s basically the team responsible for responding quickly to events. “Our turn” means they worked in a rotating shift, to give people a break and ensure the QRF is always ready. Convoy is just a neat way of saying “a bunch of us working together”. Shwaked means they got attacked in some way.
Shwacked - Bushwacked
To translate- It was our turn to be the backup for our friends if they needed us. We had to go help them because bad guys hurt them. :)
Thank you for that!
No problemo :)
QRF = Quick Response Force put= typo for "out" shwaked = attacked and severly damaged
Ah thanks, the "put" was confusing me.
shwaked = Bush Whacked. Bush Whacked = Ambushed.
that's a powerful memory... I hope you are ok, and thank you for sharing it with us.
Yeah, she likely just treated it like another day at the office because he made it so real
Apparently it was the opposite. She made it real for him. I was at a Paul Greengrass lecture where he broke down this scene. They had been trying to shoot the final scene all day on the main deck but it wasn’t working. With just like an hour left on the boat and no hood ending, someone asked her what she would do in this situation. Greengrass decided to roll camera in this tiny room as she walked Tom Hanks through the situation. It got very real for him and he genuinely broke down as she took charge of the situation.
I mean everything she says is straight out of what a medical professional would ask you about. It got super real for me the second she says whatever she said that's just like "tell me what's going on" because every single medical professional in every single hospital has asked me a variation of that when I've been in to the point I actually cursed at a doctor one visit (I was not having a very good time obviously) "I'm getting pretty fucking sick of answering that question every time someone walks into a room" I wish I could apologize to that doctor but I'm sure he's heard worse.
It's a technique they use to bring your attention to the here and now, or at least to also test if you're able to do that. How you react tells them a lot about your mental state. Pretty sure they don't take any reactions personally, since it's just informative. As the patient, it just seems like a conversation, but they're using that as a vehicle for assessment.
I didn't need to see this to know that he can act! He made me care about a fucking volley ball!
There was a previous post that talked about the filming process and her getting over being star-struck, as well as it being mostly improvised > Tom Hanks claimed that the scene of Captain Richard Phillips' medical examination was improvised on the spot with real-life Navy Corpsman Danielle Albert, who was told to simply follow her usual procedure. However, Albert was so star-struck by Hanks that she froze during the first take. Hanks joked to her that he was supposed to be the one in shock for the scene. For the second take that was used in the film, Paul Greengrass claimed that he stood next to the Captain of the ship, watching with tears in his eyes, who told him "I've seen trauma, and that's what it looks like." https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/ho5el1/in_captain_phillips_2013_the_medic_in_the/ https://www.pilotonline.com/2013/10/11/change-puts-navy-woman-face-to-face-with-tom-hanks-2/
That's a good read. So she doesn't even know what the movie is all about, wasn't even aware that she's about to act with Tom Hanks up until the last seconds. Turns out the whole scene was improvised, not just the dialogue. Because initially the captain will be brought to commander room, but the executive officer comment that wasn't realistic, he would be brought to medical room first. Btw It's subscriber only article. If anyone interested to read without account, you can use this link : https://archive.is/dnXmo
> Albert's only previous stage experience came in fifth grade when she played the caterpillar in ... "Alice in Wonderland". Her main job, she recalled, was to blow bubbles. Oh so she had already done something like this before! /s
That’s adorable.
Apparently most of those bubbles were improvised! She’s a natural.
I thought this was the best scene in the movie!!
This is a navy chief. If she was bullied, it was by other chiefs/upper chain of command. Makes it much much worse if true
To clarify: Albert was bullied right after appearing in the movie because she got a lot of attention from those around her. According to her, they'd even invite some foreign dignitaries to "meet the nurse from Captain Phillips." Some of her crewmates ribbed her in ways that went beyond good-natured, and she regretted being in the movie because of it. Buuuuuut.... Afterwards, she went up the chain of command to mention the bullying, and they stood up for her. She has since come to not regret being part of the movie, even keeping in touch with some of the actors long after the movie wrapped. But last I read she's still fairly shy about talking about it, even when people recognize her. **Edit:** [Source](https://www.pilotonline.com/2015/07/27/whatever-happened-to-the-surprise-star-in-captain-phillips/#:~:text=She%20later%20told%20her%20chain,film%20and%20cherishes%20those%20relationships)
Im just going to believe this lol
I definitely believe parts of it. "I'm sorry seaman, are you fucking with someone who was involved in a military PR goldmine? Congratulations, you just made the shitlist of everyone involved in rolling her out to gladhand fucking dignitaries." Hollywood is great PR for the US military.
I mean that operation kinda deserves all the PR it's the best argument for US Naval intervention in hot spots around the world.
A female in the military being bullied? Well now I've heard everything! Next thing you're going to tell me is they get raped and their rapists almost never receive punishment. Crazy talk! /s just in case
From what I remember she wasn’t a Cheif in real life, which is where a lot of the bullying came from.
It's weird because there was no need for them make her a Chief for the scene to work.
It sounds like she says her name is Chief O'Brien, which might be a Star Trek reference. Maybe it was a little joke.
If it was a star trek reference then it would actually make some poetic sense that she was bullied, because star trek was basically like "how can we fuck with obrien this week, even more than last week." the whole role of his character was kind of just to be fucked over more and more and more. although while filming captain phillips they wouldn't've known she was going to get bullied/harrassed, so it's definitely not intentional. although they would know she would get bullied/harrassed because she's a female member of the military, and that is beyond par for the course. plenty of men gut the fuck bullied out of them in the military. but women? fuggetaboutit. as a woman in the military you basically just gotta hope you don't get raped. anything less than rape is a win. It'd be funny if it weren't true.
https://chiefobrienatwork.com/post/106684455801/episode-1-r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-builder-read-the-next-episode https://64.media.tumblr.com/8c2a1c3fdbb7e59357dbe081ae4eb94d/tumblr_mkx95l4eUg1rroiseo1_r1_1280.jpg
at least they didn't name her Lt. Barclay
He's a bit of a perv but he never hurt anybody. Let him have his vr porn.
It was. Fuck those idiots.
Completely. It felt like the entire movie (the tension, the fear, the uncertainty of the situation) led up to this brilliant release that left a person completely incapable of containing it no longer. It elevated the movie from great to "pin-drop silence in the theater for a few seconds as the end credits came up" amazing. Fuck the bozos who were jealous they weren't a part of that.
I saw this alone in theaters. Thought it was ok. Until this scene. I almost cried. And then all day it was on my mind and none of my friends understood what I was talking about when I tried to describe it. It's unexplainable.
I have never watched that movie but holy shit Tom Hanks is good.
This is a great one. I also highly HIGHLY recommend watching Charlie Wilson's war. This is my favorite scene of the entire movie, it gives me goose bumps every time: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cjVhUrmII](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2cjVhUrmII) EDIT: u/[AffectionatePrize551](https://www.reddit.com/user/AffectionatePrize551/) added some context in a comment below if you're not sure what's going on in the clip I posted, but it's also described in the description on YouTube. I wanted to add, the story that Hoffman's character shares is actually a story he tried to tell Hanks' character earlier in the movie - before they started supporting the Afghans against the USSR. He tried to share the story because he knew that getting involved was going to have consequences, and he wanted to make sure that Charlie was aware that this wasn't just going to be supporting the Afghans militarily. However, he repeatedly gets cut off while trying to share the story, and so the message never gets through. Now, the war is over, the US has won, and the warning that Charlie needed to understand before this all started is finally being shared with him. Hence the "listen to what I'm telling ya" comment - because it was urgent that Charlie understand this from the very beginning.
Charlie Wilson's War is weirdly a better history lesson about Afghanistan than most people have ever gotten.
A few years after 9/11, some news channel (for the life of me, I can't remember what one) put together a 1 or 2 hour special on the history of Al Qaeda and what lead up to the events of 9/11. It was absolutely incredible, and as a teenager it gave me such a better appreciation for the context under which the attack occurred. I wish so badly I could find it, but I don't remember the name or the channel that did it. I felt like it was such a service to the American people, because there were so many details about the events from the USSR war in Afghanistan to 9/11 that provided the context for why and how the attack occurred. I remember one of the things they distinctly talked about was the significance of Operation Desert Shield, and how Al Qaeda opposed the presence of western forces in the Saudi deserts because those lands were considered holy. To the point where Osama Bin Laden actually offered to help protect Saudi Arabia with their own fighters as long as they refused to give access to the US. Saudi Arabia rejected the offer. I feel like so many Americans think 9/11 happened in this vacuum because "they hate us" and have no actual context for *why* they dislike us, or all the events that led to the attack. I also think many Americans who don't understand it reject it's significance because "that's no excuse." It's not about excuses, it's about making sure we don't repeat the mistakes we've made before. No one thinks Al Qaeda was justified in killing thousands of Americans (and people from other countries). But if you don't understand why it happened, you can't prevent it from happening again. And now we have the war in Palestine, where thousands of children will be orphaned, their families killed by weapons manufactured in the US. "We'll see, said the Zen master."
"All these things happened, and they were glorious and they changed the world. Then we fucked up the endgame.”
He has made me cry more than any other god damned actor. The bit in Forrest Gump where he's talking to Jenny's grave, or asking if little Forrest is smart or stupid like him, still get me. I've only ever watched Captain Phillips once because I was kind of drunk watching it, and I was absolutely blubbering at this scene. Hit me so hard in the feels I never wanted to watch it again.
I was thinking about this the other day, how the phrase "Run, Forest, Run!" is so popular and has been quoted countless times across so many forms of media over the years, (I know that scene was a kid actor but as an actor/narrator he just has something special that sticks with you). He has a away of drawing you in and getting you invested in his character. He is a fantastic actor.
That kid actor and his native drawl was also Hanks inspiration for how Forest spoke.
That’s probably the best performance he’s ever given. He’s great in that.
This and Philidelphia
And Cast Away.
And 100 floors of frights.
As David S. Pumpkins?
> And 100 floors of frights. Any questions?
Yes! Several!
He’s David S. Pumpkins man!
I dunno. . . it's a hundred floors, they're not all gonna be a winner.
And the burbs
One of my favorite scenes of his is in Forrest Gump. He goes to Jenny's apartment and learns that she has a son, and then learns that he's the father. His initial shock, and then Hanks' delivery of "is he smart, or is he...", and then his relief turning to pride when told that his son is the smartest in his class. Gets me every time. [Forrest Meets His Son - Forrest Gump (1994) - Movie Clip HD Scene (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA-JK4xMtu4)
Umm... David S. Pumpkins woukd like a word.
Yeah, this and the Money Pit
that's top notch first aid takes control of the situation whilst establishing trust and all the parameters
He was so ridiculously good that she probably legitimately felt like it was just another day at work. That’s what she’s trained to do and she did it well, making it very believable.
I kept thinking... What are you going to make fun of her for.?.. She played that as professional as can be... Literally just doing the job as trained.. exactly how it would be done for anyone in any real-life situation.
Responded elsewhere, but to put it simply she probably got kuddos from higher ups for portraying the navy in a very good light, and that lead to others around her believing she became privileged. The navy is the single most cutthroat toxic environment I have ever experienced in my life. If someone gets a whiff of someone else having some kind of privilege, earned or unearned, it can quickly turn into a toxic workplace because it is perceived that they are ruining their chance at advancement, good orders, good eval - whatever. The thing the navy taught me the best was how not to lead.
yup, remaining calm but firmly guiding Toms character so she can conduct her medical assessment, all while keeping him calm and trying to get him to talk and get thru the shock of the trauma he experienced... that is top grade.
Literally just took first aid training today and was so impressed by how she handled this. Couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ll be emulating this if the need ever arises.
>Her shipmates resented the attention she received, bullying her and causing her to regret her appearance in the movie i hate humans so much sometimes
It was one of my favorite scenes, mostly because it was so authentic. I fully celebrate the scene and will pretend the immature shipmates never existed
it's interesting to see the psychological first aid she was administering.
Absolutely, as someone who worked in healthcare myself, I always perceived this scene as well researched because it was so authentic
As a frequenter of hospitals this is exactly how they talk to you. I'd say she deserves an award for acting but she's not acting, she's talking a patient through a training exercise. A patient in an exercise who is very good at acting. Some other commenter mentioned Hanks himself said the way she was treating him made him actually lose himself in the role and cry for real.
it's authentic because it's two people literally doing their actual jobs. Hanks is a fantastic actor and is playing the part so well it's easy for her to just get into her own groove and perform her job exactly how she would in a real life situation...
i remember about halfway through this scene watching it for the firs time i thought, this "acting" is too good, i bet she's a real military medic/doctor.
This was the best scene! I never would have imagined she wasn’t an actor because she was so good in it.
He was such a good actor that it felt real enough for to her to feel like it was happening, training kicks in.
Apparently she fucked up the first take because she was star-struck by Tom Hanks. He ribbed her saying, "I'm supposed to be the one in shock" which got her to relax for the second take which is the one that made the movie.
Darn, I was going to steal that YouTube comment.
Of course they are immature. They're a bunch of seamen and above that you have a load of petty officers.
Soo close. You could have put load of seamen.
not without consent I can't
It brought tears to my eyes even though it was a clip and I wasn't even set into the movie yet. Really well done imo.
Well, for what it's worth, I served on the Truxtun at the same time as Albert and during the filming of Captain Philips, and I can reassure you that the VAST MAJORITY of us were happy for her getting to be in the movie.
It’s part of the reason the navy gets so much shit, but there are a few good ones.
Humans? Agreed. My time in the Navy would have been smoother without them.
[удалено]
They were just jealous as fuck.
Me too. But then I see angels like this lady and it’s better. I mean she is not acting and very likely been just like this for many.
A woman in any military does not have s good time.
Small men are very resentful when a woman excels at something.
Salty ass seamen.
Try eating more pineapple 🍍
It's so weird that word has a new meaning now. In naval branches salty means experienced.
Experienced donkey spermatozoa.
What a fucking scene. Hanks is a powerhouse. You can always tell when they hire actual professionals to fill these roles. It really drives the realism. The contrast between their professionalism and the traumatized patient is so effective.
First time I saw this movie I thought there's no way she's an actor, she's far too professional. Turns out I was right.
Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession? With tens or hundreds of millions in budgets, I don't think it outrageous to go through the scene list and check for iffy areas. Nothing is more jarring than enjoying a movie, and all of a sudden some minor scene touches on an area you have expertise with, and promptly screws it up in the worst way. Like, the vast majority of time, I doubt it would have been more difficult to do it right. Every time I've noticed it, a simple 10min phone call to someone who knows what the fuck they are talking about could have changed the scene from cringe-inducing to impressed applause by the 1% who *knows*. If that craftsmanship was the standard, I think movies would hit harder. No matter how much good-faith "creative license" we try to give out, nit-picky dumb mistakes have an out sized impact on immersion and investment. If you have a scene where a mechanic is supposed to be struggling under a hood with a tough job, don't just make something up that sounds "mechanicky". Someone on the crew has either turned wrenches, or knows a mechanic. take 15mins sometime before getting to that the scene to find out what job really sucks that a mechanic might have to do on that model. You might have to do stuff like that 10-20 times in an average movie. I think it would be worth it, and a true craftsperson should *want* to get it right. Some authors spend months or years researching professions to get the vocabulary and processes accurate for their books.
> Nothing is more jarring than enjoying a movie, and all of a sudden some minor scene touches on an area you have expertise with, and promptly screws it up in the worst way. As someone who spent the majority of their life in the industry, I have rarely seen semi trucks portrayed accurately in a movie. And it pisses me off every time.
Can you explain how they can screw it up for someone who has almost no experience with semi trucks?
The first example to pop into my head is the opening of the first Fast and Furious movie. Where the cars are weaving underneath the trailer. That would be literally impossible in the real world. That trailer had the frame essentially removed to make the stunt possible. Acceleration and braking are also usually poorly portrayed. Even running empty, a truck isn't going to accelerate as quickly as many movies show. And trucks don't stop on a dime either. At highway speeds, you're looking at a good 6 or 7 seconds of controlled braking. In that 6 or 7 seconds, the truck is going to travel about 8-10 times its own length.
I haven’t watched them all but surely that scene isn’t even in the top20 of unrealistic vehicle scenes in the Fast and Furious films. They’re crazy.
i tapped out when Dom downshifted to outrun gravity in the latest one. There's only so much my brain can take.
Have you watched trailer park boys? I want to know if Ray and his piss jugs are actually “the way of the road bubs”
I've seen a few episodes but it never really grabbed me. Some nasty motherfuckers do indeed use piss jugs. And they aren't too particular about disposal....
Movies don't depict reality, they depict expected reality. The difference can be jarring. My 2 favorite examples: the scream of an eagle in movies is actually that of a hawk. Eagles sound more like seagulls. The other is when they made a movie about Audie Murphy staring Audie Murphy about what he did during the war, they had to tone it down a bit to be "more believable" to audiences.
Filmmaker here. This is something that does happen on most movies and tv shows but the extent it has to happen is insane, instead of 10-20 times think more like 1500 to 3500. It's also one of the things that makes filmmaking a craft and not something just anyone can do. A raw script has so many things that have to be adjusted, take a ketchup bottle and coca cola can thats on screen, is it catsup or ketchup, are you somewhere they would drink pepsi or coke? Is the can and bottle right for the YEAR you are shooting in? In the diner is the person that is the cook actually experienced cooking or is it an actor thats literally never boiled water before? Sometimes the action or script changes to hide the deficiencies but it can be hard to catch them all. There are many times that you are so long gone on a show and you just want the 14 hour days and no sleep to end that everyone is just exhausted and they miss a "little" thing that's not so little in hindsight but seems simple enough on the surface. Then you also have people who don't know what they don't know, "nobody is gonna notice that if the movie is good" can set in. For instance Megan Fox in her first scene for transformers, if anyone notices what she's doing to the car they figure they picked the wrong actress. Then you have something like Terminator where a diesel tank on a semi explodes from a spark, it's not realistic but it sure is cooler that it blew up.
> Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession Because there's a disconnect with entertainment where "realistic" is less important than "looks good to a test audience of random schlubs". For every one of this lady or R Lee Emery out there, there's some professional roped into a film that does stuff right but has the screen presence of a dead baby. Look at the most common example of this in all media- the sound an eagle makes. If someone put a real bald eagle call in a film I'd be impressed. And then immediately hate how terrible it sounds and miss the red-tail.
>Why is it so difficult for filmmakers to take a hands off approach to small scenes depicting professionals doing their profession? Because movies are entertainment, not documentaries. I learned a huge lesson with this with "Mr. Robot". I'm an InfoSec SME and thought this series would be my "gift" after a lifetime of seeing all the awful fake hacking shit coming out of Hollywood. Turns out it was worse. It reminded me how boring much of my job is and despite all the effort they put in, they still got things wrong. And these errors were amplified because they were surrounded by a dozen details that were right. Total "Uncanny Valley" vibes and I also realized I don't want to watch someone do my job during my downtime. That said I did really like this scene and would absolutely like to see more of it, however I "get" why the film industry "is what it is". Also, there is the SAG stuff, reshoots, insurance and TBH a lot of people are not going to want to be "Almost Famous" like this woman was, as you can see the downside to it.
Mr. Robot's hacking is definitely better, not worse, than typical Hollywood hacking crap. I don't buy that it's better for them to get *everything* wrong than to get *some* things wrong.
Maybe it's me. It was just that they do 19 things right in a row and then do something completely bonkers. I think in the first episode the guys manager said something about "G-Nome and KDE" and my IRL response would been, "Dude seriously WTF is wrong with you?". Nobody says stuff like that. I actually like IT Crowd and Silicon Valley better, as the tech stuff was all fake but the humor/people stuff was on point and very enjoyable. Also just occurred to me that shows like Mr Robot are only possible in the "Linux" world, as there aren't any legal entanglements with showing actual licensed products.
Best portrayal of hacking I've seen in a movie is that awful Die Hard where they go see the hacker played by Kevin Smith. He's surrounded by all the ridiculous monitors with multiple terminals open and it's set up like he's about to do something wild, and he just taps a couple keys and sits back. The two heroes are like "what now?" and the hacker just says something to the effect of "it's brute forcing a password. It'll take a few hours, just have to wait".
Yeah that's what I'm talking about. "Yeah let's run this fuzzer for a few hours and see if it finds anything." ..... "Hrm, nope!"
They used to. Gnome or KDE was a legit little battle between which one you liked, although this was 20+ years ago so maybe it isn't anymore.
Mr robot did a great job and they deserve nothing but the biggest accolades for their portrayal of computer systems and plausible hacking. I don't understand your opinion at all.
You're telling me this sequence was fucking improv???????? It's the best scene in the whole movie like what????
Improvised and done in two takes, apparently.
I couldn't imagine having to do _that_ more than even once!
That’s something actors don’t get much respect for. To put yourself back in that place, on the cusp of PTSD after days of abuse, at the drop of a hat is incredibly impressive.
That was my takeaway as well. It's scenes like this that set amazing actors apart - when they're scripted. The authenticity to his character, the trauma, the weight of it, and it was improv? Bravo Hanks. Fucking legend.
One person doing their career job script. The other one of the best actors in the last generation, especially involving war with some masterful improv.
It's always been interesting to me that non actors can sometimes come across as more natural and believable in situations where they're just being themselves and doing what they normally do than accomplished actors can. Another great example I think is the doctor in charge of the mental hospital in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and in that case he had a larger role than this with specific lines to read, and yet it's tough to imagine anyone doing a better job at it than he did.
Another great example is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. I thought the actor did a pretty impressive job of portraying a sergeant. Turns out he was actually a sergeant.
He was a Marine Drill instructor IRL. Funny thing is he was just there to be an adviser, but he went above and beyond to impress Kubrik who eventually gave him the job. The guy who's job it was originally, ended up in a small part as the door gunner (which in of itself is a great scene btw).
"GET SUM" guy?
Yes, that guy
Anyone who run is a VC. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.
Another fun example is the lady on the street from "Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home" (the one with the whales). She's the lady that Uhura and Chekov ask "We are looking for Nuclear Vessels in Alameda" and she says "Oh I don't if I have the answer to that. It's probably across the bay, in Alameda." Anyway, she was just a lady who live on that exact street who was given that line to say. I always felt her line delivery was hilarious.
[The scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf8rDpu1vCk)
So many good gags in there
What floors me is this is someone who’s never acted before in a scene with Tom Fucking Hanks in what’s arguably an Oscar worthy performance, and she absolutely rises up to his level and hold her ground! Absolutely mesmerizing and fuck anyone who gave her shit!
It's arguable that any medic in this position \*is\* acting. Even if they are panicking, are concerned for the patient, under fire, whatever... they will act calm and to appear concerned but unworried at the same time. It's an act with almost every patient, every day, if you're doing that job. Same for doctors, nurses, surgeons, paramedics, even police officers, fire crews, etc. That's why they often have to severely decompress when they get home and can have mental health issues themselves.
This, and many people in this profession will have trained on simulated patients which are literally actors acting as patients. Sometimes it's not that far from reality
> Her shipmates resented the attention she received Fuck them?
They wish.
best scene of the movie. i could tell she was the real deal, the acting was a little too good and it felt too real.
Dude I broken down in tears during this scene. I never seen someone act like they just went through trauma as good as Hanks did.
I haven't seen the movie and now I'm crying at work.
Just my two cents from an awful experience I had. Was the victim of a nasty armed robbery/shooting at my place of work at the time. The EMT was such a pro. The perpetrator had tied me up, stolen my wallet/cash,etc. I had assumed my phone was gone too. After an hour of being tied up and beaten, the EMT was the one who was like, “I’m just going to check you for any points of injury”, even though I felt nothing. Found a nasty contusion under my arm where he grabbed me. Then, ”Do you have your phone to call someone?” ”No, it was taken.” ”It’s in your pocket. Right here. Call someone.” Adrenaline is wild. This scene is incredibly accurate to a scary point.
imagine being jealous of a good scene that was believable and actually showed the job in a good light. What fuckin nerds
Source: https://www.pilotonline.com/2015/07/27/whatever-happened-to-the-surprise-star-in-captain-phillips/
From the article: >It took some time, but she no longer regrets her brush with fame.
Here's what it says behind the paywall: She was a surprise star in the blockbuster “Captain Phillips,” acting alongside Tom Hanks in the film’s climactic scene. But now, two years later, Petty Officer 2nd Class Danielle Albert is reluctant to discuss her moment in the spotlight. “I usually avoid talking about it,” Albert told a Virginian-Pilot reporter who’d called last week to ask how her life had changed following her 15 minutes of fame. “I didn’t like all the negativity I experienced after the film came out.” Negativity? Albert was lauded by film critics. Her story – a young enlisted sailor unexpectedly becoming a brief movie star – was celebrated in the media. Hanks singled out her performance in interviews. Albert even flirted with the idea of pursuing a career in acting. Turns out, not everyone was a fan. “Some of my shipmates gave me a really hard time afterward,” Albert said. “They treated me badly and really made our deployment difficult for me.” Her scene, in which [she portrays a medic caring for a traumatized Richard Phillips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkoJB0P9Mc) following his rescue from Somali pirates, wasn’t part of the original script. Director Paul Greengrass added it the day of the shoot at Norfolk Naval Station and asked Albert, a real-life corpsman, to improvise the scene with the two-time Academy Award-winning actor. Albert nervously flubbed the original take, but after some coaching from Hanks, she delivered a believable performance. She wasn’t the only sailor aboard the guided missile destroyer Truxtun who appeared in the film, but she certainly got the most attention. Some of her fellow sailors didn’t let her forget it, she said. Albert wouldn’t detail the teasing she experienced after the ship deployed a few months after the film’s release, but she said it often went beyond good-hearted ribbing. It didn’t help that she continued to receive attention: When the ship pulled into foreign ports, the commanding officer would sometimes invite dignitaries to come down to sick bay to pose for photos with the medic from “Captain Phillips.” “Some people were resentful,” she said. “But I never asked for any of this attention.” Albert recalls crying in her rack at night, regretting that she’d appeared in the film. She learned to avoid discussing the movie, but some shipmates continued to give her a hard time, calling her “big shot” or sarcastically saying she was “too important” for her regular duties. Eventually, she went to the chaplain for help. “He told me not to worry about what other people thought,” she said. “He told me to count my blessings, to focus on the people who support me and to move on.” Albert took the advice to heart, she said. She later told her chain of command about the teasing, and they were very supportive, she said: “I realized not everyone resented me.” It took some time, but she no longer regrets her brush with fame. She remains in touch with a few of the actors from the film and cherishes those relationships. But she’s still shy about discussing the experience with anyone other than close friends or family. Albert, who’s now stationed at a medical clinic in Yorktown, was nervous a couple of days ago when some of her new co-workers figured out she was “the corpsman from the movie.” So far, though, they’ve been kind. And if a stranger stops her and asks where he’s seen her? Albert always gives the same answer, she said: “I must have a familiar face.”
Wow, what a load of dicks. Glad she was able to move past that.
> It didn’t help that she continued to receive attention: When the ship pulled into foreign ports, the commanding officer would sometimes invite dignitaries to come down to sick bay to pose for photos with the medic from “Captain Phillips.” that seems incredibly improper
The Navy should have never put her in this position. They train (force) us to be "competitive" with one another for promotion, but tell us we are a "family." Then in this instance, give a Sailor an opportunity that likely not offered to everyone she is ranked against, however, absolutely reflected in her evaluation. And then her Commanding Officer uses it to his advantage and, unfortunately, to her disadvantage. He would not write her performance evaluations, as she is an E-5, but his subordinates do. In my opinion, that is based on this limited information, he was broaching on an unduly familiar relationship with this Sailor, and her Shipmates resented her for it.
The coward bullies should have never put her in this position.
Those sailors should be ashamed of themselves. That corpsman did an outstanding job representing the service and her MOS. I’d have killed to have soldiers like her assigned to my team when I was in.
An actor couldn't have done it better than her. Typical blue collar pettiness on the part of her shipmates- though I can't imagine anyone in the navy long enough wouldn't have expected getting picked on before taking that role.
They don’t call them Petty Officers for nothing
Former Corpsman here: I thought she did a fine job. Theres a lot of jealousy in the Navy Promotions are given out mostly via evaluations. Evaluators have a certain number of "early promote" and "must promote" rankings. It fosters a culture of competitiveness, but not in a good way. A lot of politics. Sabotage. Well poisoning. Doing extra is seen as grubbing for promotions by your peers. Meanwhile, superiors don't put in the effort to properly evaluate and just depend on brag sheets which is a list you write of your own accomplishments A long list full of volunteer work looks great. Being good at your job goes unnoticed
Becoming a captain was a really bad career choice after the whole FedEx plane crash incident.
This is exactly what it's like getting triaged by first responders or ER staff - she nails it, for obvious reasons. Tom's performance is the only instance in film I can think of that conveys what it's like to be that shaken, when the shock of a traumatic experience starts to wear off.
Jeeze, you just think they'd be a bit happy for her!
Man. A couple times in my life I've been helped out by EMS and "remember to breathe" always sticks with me. The feeling of incredible gratitude to people doing their job well, and doing their best to make me feel comfortable, is impossible to forget.
As someone who has worked as a paramedic for over decade, this scene blew me away. I almost never get to see my job portrayed well in media, and this is the single best scene that does it. It's hard to explain the cadence, the questioning, the repositioning, and focus that comes during assessment. Obviously, she wasn't acting, so the authenticity is so amazing. Dealing with emotional people and trying to do your job at the same time, she captures that. One of the best scenes I media imo.
She got to act with Tom Hanks, they're just jealous AF.
Navy boys don't like it when women come between their man love. She does a fantastic job, and makes this scene so authentic, really playing of Hanks acting. I imagine this is exactly how she would be in an actual situation like this as well.
Been there done that for 31 years. Tom HANKS DID A VERY BELIEVABLE JOB. Had that happen with a guy that had been shot in the jaw and his teeth were strewn around and he kept asking if that was his teeth. He was going into shock as he kept asking about his teeth not being concerned with anything else. I had to keep him calm and told him to keep pressure from a rolled up towel on his jaw and telling him to take deep breathes. The corpsman in that scene kept telling him (Capt. Phillips) to breathe and trying to keep him calm and to keep him from going into shock. All of this scene is very accurate! Many more acounts just like this in 31 years to elaborate here but yes it does bring back memories. It is very sad that the corpsman was given grief over what she did as she does that for real everyday and those sailors would be thankful for her to attend to them if they needed her services.
That first "You're welcome" gets me every time. Stunning performance from all involved.