'Fury' Director Talks Working in Small Spaces With Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf
What happens when you lock Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf in a tank together for two hours? Audiences are about to find out in the new World War II action drama Fury.
Inspired by the real-life story of an American tank unit that fought behind enemy lines in Germany, the film takes place over the course of one brutally long day near the war’s end.
Related: Brad Pitt Shows His Battle Fatigue in the New Trailer for ‘Fury’
Director David Ayer is noted for painting vivid and complex portraits of men faced with extreme violence in his earlier police dramas End of Watch and Training Day. For the Fury cast, enlisting in the Ayer brigade was a process that included five weeks of boot camp, lengthy interviews with WWII veterans, and a lot of time spent in the very small interior of an M4 Sherman tank (a full third of the movie takes place there.)
“They really became a family,” Ayer told Yahoo Movies. “They became incredibly close and there’s something about working in that kind of closed space and having to work together that ended up defining them and defining the movie.”
Related video: Go Behind-the-scenes of Fury with this Production Featurette
Asked what it was like shoving one of the world’s biggest stars, Brad Pitt, into a tiny tank cockpit for long days of shooting, Ayer said, “At the end of the day he’s shockingly normal. It’s not a big secret that he’s a regular guy. Just a regular hard-working guy from the Midwest.”
As for another of his stars, Shia LeBeouf, who’s been generating even more headlines recently, Ayer dismissed fears that his flamboyant persona would distract from the gritty realism. “There’s a public idea of who he is and then there’s who he really is. And those are two different things. He’s broken all the PR rules big time. But it’s a chance here now for him to be rediscovered.”
“Everything that’s happening out there in the public with Shia is, I think, a lot more calculated and intentional than people really understand,” he continued. “It’s kind of like for him if he goes out and does something artistic [he’s] got to commit fully. And that’s exactly what he did in that tank.”
With the big names finding their places in the cramped tank quarters, Ayer warns that the film is no star vehicle and audiences should be prepared for a film that captures the experience of war in all its awfulness.
“It’s not sugar-coated,” Ayer said. “There’s no sepia patina on this you know, war is horrible and violent no matter how righteous the cause.”
Fury opens in theaters November 14
