The Eighties

A photographic diary of ‘Full Metal Jacket’

By Michael Kochman, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 10:49 AM EDT, Thu March 24, 2016
This self-portrait/exposure test was taken by actor Matthew Modine in November 1985, as he appeared on the set of Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." "The English weather was getting wet, nasty and cold -- difficult for scenes where you need to believe we are in Vietnam," Modine said. "I had gloves on because the weather was in the 30s -- too cold for Marine Corps-issue combat fatigues. In the background, you can see one of Beckton Gas Works' large coal bins -- artistically 'destroyed' for Stanley's production."
This self-portrait/exposure test was taken by actor Matthew Modine in November 1985, as he appeared on the set of Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." "The English weather was getting wet, nasty and cold -- difficult for scenes where you need to believe we are in Vietnam," Modine said. "I had gloves on because the weather was in the 30s -- too cold for Marine Corps-issue combat fatigues. In the background, you can see one of Beckton Gas Works' large coal bins -- artistically 'destroyed' for Stanley's production."
Matthew Modine
Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother in a scene at Beckton Gas Works in November 1985. "In this shot, Adam Baldwin is trying to locate the sniper while Doc Jay (John Stafford) and Eightball (Dorian Harewood) bleed to death," Modine said. "Notice the rolled-up rain cover on the lower right. This was placed as an 'eyeline' for Adam, so that Dorian and John didn't have to lie in the cold, bloody, poisoned earth of Beckton."
Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother in a scene at Beckton Gas Works in November 1985. "In this shot, Adam Baldwin is trying to locate the sniper while Doc Jay (John Stafford) and Eightball (Dorian Harewood) bleed to death," Modine said. "Notice the rolled-up rain cover on the lower right. This was placed as an 'eyeline' for Adam, so that Dorian and John didn't have to lie in the cold, bloody, poisoned earth of Beckton."
Matthew Modine
Kubrick's director's chair sits at Bassingbourn Airfield, England, in 1986. "I don't know why I stuck it on this chunk of concrete," Modine said. "I thought it was funny. With Stanley's passing, the image has taken on an unexplainable significance. It is with this photo that I discovered that photographs continue to develop over time."
Kubrick's director's chair sits at Bassingbourn Airfield, England, in 1986. "I don't know why I stuck it on this chunk of concrete," Modine said. "I thought it was funny. With Stanley's passing, the image has taken on an unexplainable significance. It is with this photo that I discovered that photographs continue to develop over time."
Matthew Modine
Kubrick during filming in summer 1986. "Stanley is amused and a bit embarrassed that Vivian Kubrick and I are both capturing his image at the same time," Modine said. "Vivian is filming him for what would become an uncompleted documentary about her father and the making of the film."
Kubrick during filming in summer 1986. "Stanley is amused and a bit embarrassed that Vivian Kubrick and I are both capturing his image at the same time," Modine said. "Vivian is filming him for what would become an uncompleted documentary about her father and the making of the film."
Matthew Modine
Kubrick operates his Arriflex camera for a shot of Marines training at Bassingbourn Airfield in 1986.
Kubrick operates his Arriflex camera for a shot of Marines training at Bassingbourn Airfield in 1986.
Matthew Modine
Kubrick, right, sits with director of photography Doug Milsome while filming the road to Hue scene in 1986. "This is one of the wonderful things revealed in the production photographs," Modine said. "Kubrick was a master photographer and lighting perfectionist. He was also an amazing producer; keeping his production costs as low as possible. He once explained to me that there was only one source of light when you're outside, the sun, which he actually called God in his explanation of how best to light a scene."
Kubrick, right, sits with director of photography Doug Milsome while filming the road to Hue scene in 1986. "This is one of the wonderful things revealed in the production photographs," Modine said. "Kubrick was a master photographer and lighting perfectionist. He was also an amazing producer; keeping his production costs as low as possible. He once explained to me that there was only one source of light when you're outside, the sun, which he actually called God in his explanation of how best to light a scene."
Matthew Modine
"Arliss Howard as Pvt. Cowboy mugging for me beside a burning, overturned military vehicle," Modine said.
"Arliss Howard as Pvt. Cowboy mugging for me beside a burning, overturned military vehicle," Modine said.
Matthew Modine
R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, watching his performance on video playback in the Marine Corps barracks in 1986. "He worked very hard on his performance," Modine said, "and studying himself on the playback was very helpful."
R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, watching his performance on video playback in the Marine Corps barracks in 1986. "He worked very hard on his performance," Modine said, "and studying himself on the playback was very helpful."
Matthew Modine
Ermey inspects his recruits (Howard, center, and Tony Hayes, right) in 1986. The boot camp scenes were physically and emotionally brutal to shoot. Kubrick was intentionally blurring the lines between art and life. "The scenes were as hard as you imagine," Modine said. "And the filming of boot camp was around six months. So it was a long journey from shaved heads to graduation day."
Ermey inspects his recruits (Howard, center, and Tony Hayes, right) in 1986. The boot camp scenes were physically and emotionally brutal to shoot. Kubrick was intentionally blurring the lines between art and life. "The scenes were as hard as you imagine," Modine said. "And the filming of boot camp was around six months. So it was a long journey from shaved heads to graduation day."
Matthew Modine
Baldwin before a scene.
Baldwin before a scene.
Matthew Modine
Marine recruits read in their bunks on set.
Marine recruits read in their bunks on set.
Matthew Modine
"The Lusthog Squad" --from left, Del Anderson, Howard and Baldwin.
"The Lusthog Squad" --from left, Del Anderson, Howard and Baldwin.
Matthew Modine
Sgt. Crazy Earl was played by Kieron Jecchinis. "One of the local guys hired to play war with the rest of us," Modine said. "He asked me if I would take a picture of him preparing to take out an imaginary bad guy."
Sgt. Crazy Earl was played by Kieron Jecchinis. "One of the local guys hired to play war with the rest of us," Modine said. "He asked me if I would take a picture of him preparing to take out an imaginary bad guy."
Matthew Modine
From left, Kubrick, Milsome and co-producer Phil Hobbs discuss the road to Hue scene in spring 1986.
From left, Kubrick, Milsome and co-producer Phil Hobbs discuss the road to Hue scene in spring 1986.
Matthew Modine
Gil Koppel, as Stoke, poses for Modine in 1985. "Gil Koppel does his Audie Murphy pose," Modine said. "The Spanish palm behind him is starting to suffer."
Gil Koppel, as Stoke, poses for Modine in 1985. "Gil Koppel does his Audie Murphy pose," Modine said. "The Spanish palm behind him is starting to suffer."
Matthew Modine
Vincent D'Onofrio plays Pvt. Pyle in the scene where the drill instructor (Ermey) is trying to "wipe the smile off his face."
Vincent D'Onofrio plays Pvt. Pyle in the scene where the drill instructor (Ermey) is trying to "wipe the smile off his face."
Matthew Modine
Modine's wife, Cari, and their newborn son Boman at a hospital in London on November 11, 1985. Modine's son was born during the filming of "Full Metal Jacket," and he had to plead with Kubrick to let him leave production to attend the birth. "I'd never seen such love from one creature to another in my life," Modine said.
Modine's wife, Cari, and their newborn son Boman at a hospital in London on November 11, 1985. Modine's son was born during the filming of "Full Metal Jacket," and he had to plead with Kubrick to let him leave production to attend the birth. "I'd never seen such love from one creature to another in my life," Modine said.
Matthew Modine
The road to Hue and the "mass grave" scene in spring 1986.
The road to Hue and the "mass grave" scene in spring 1986.
Matthew Modine
A photographic diary of 'Full Metal Jacket'

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on August 6, 2012.

CNN  — 

In 1985, actor Matthew Modine was drafted into Stanley Kubrick’s army. After a five-year hiatus from filmmaking, the legendary director (“Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Shining”) had turned his sights to the Vietnam War and asked Modine to star in his next film, “Full Metal Jacket.”

Modine, then 26, spent more than two years under Kubrick’s command. His head was shaved. He went through basic training. He and the other “recruits” were berated incessantly by a drill instructor with anger management issues and an endless supply of colorful and demeaning insults. The actor lived and saw the horrors of “war” firsthand. Sometimes even in slow motion. During his time, his son was born. There were multiple tours of duty, and he often felt like he was never going to go home. Modine fought in Kubrick’s war and emerged a changed man.

Luckily for fans of photography, Kubrick and the entire filmmaking process, Modine kept both a written and photographic diary of his experiences during the making of Kubrick’s darkly comic, tragic and ultra-violent Vietnam War masterpiece. Released more than 25 years ago, “Full Metal Jacket” is as powerful and prescient as ever.

The Bronx-born Kubrick, who had lived and worked exclusively in England since the early 1960s, remarkably transformed parts of the UK into Vietnam. Shooting at an abandoned gasworks, his production flew in about 200 palm trees from Spain to create the illusion of South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. Emerging from boot camp, Modine’s character, Pvt. J.T. “Joker” Davis, finds himself in this surreal landscape.

Originally published in 2005 in a limited edition of 20,000 and later as an iPad app, Modine’s “Full Metal Jacket Diary” is not your typical studio-sanctioned, whitewashed Hollywood tie-in, replete with smiley candid photos and gushing praise for everyone mentioned. Modine transcends that genre just as Kubrick transcended every genre he tackled as a filmmaker. With inspired and intimate images that detail much of the production, Modine offers astonishing insight into the working methods of one of cinema’s most brilliant and reclusive artists. (Kubrick died in 1999.)

Modine’s private life is not off-limits either. The diary is a candid and poignant examination of the sacrifices and struggles of a young actor and his family trying to come to terms with being at the mercy of a brilliant director who often went to extreme lengths to capture precisely what he wanted on film. “Full Metal Jacket Diary” is above all else, according to Modine, “a journey of a young man who goes off to work with a legendary filmmaker” and “a portrait of a young man and his journey toward becoming.”

Modine was inspired to begin photographing on the set of “Full Metal Jacket” by a friend who gave him a Rolleiflex camera. He thought that Kubrick, who started his career as a photographer for Look magazine, would be impressed and that his camera would be an ice-breaker. That tactic worked, and Modine was allowed to do what few had done before: take candid photographs on the set of a Kubrick film.

Modine said: “When I look at the photos or read passages from the diary today, I feel that I am reading about another person. So much has happened to me since that time. I’m very happy to have kept a written record and taken photographs of those two years. ‘Full Metal Jacket’ is a remarkable film and Kubrick was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. It’s nice to have kept an account of that time so that others can have a peek into the genius of Kubrick.”

The iPad app, Modine said, offers “people all over the world the chance to look at, and now listen to, the book in a very unique way. There are more than 200 additional images in the app in addition to an original music soundtrack and sound effects. The bar I set for myself with both the book and the app was that it be something Kubrick would be pleased with, that they have the integrity of a Kubrick film. It’s great that the book and now the iPad app make the images available to fans of Kubrick and ‘Full Metal Jacket.’ “

Matthew Modine is an actor, writer, director and photographer. You can follow him on Twitter.

Related