Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe

Interview with Shane - Oct. 29, 2001

Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe: The Mini Series: The Cast and Crew: Cast: Shane Taylor as Medic Eugene Roe: Interview with Shane - Oct. 29, 2001

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By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (209.246.135.240 - 209.246.135.240) on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 09:26 pm:

Interview with Shane Taylor (Medic Roe) from Band of Brothers
October 29, 2001

Chris Langlois: What is your background in acting?

Shane Taylor: I attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. I won the Cameron Mackintosh Scholarship Award that paid for my fees while I was there. After three years, I graduated with an agent and with gaps in between, I’ve worked in theater, television and film before B of B arrived

CL: Who cast the series?

ST: Meg Liberman and Angela Terry were the chief casting directors on Band of Brothers. I think everybody had a say in who got parts. Tony To, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, the President of the United States!!!…just kidding. All I know is that it was a long process but I’m very thankful I made the cut.

CL: Tell me about boot camp.

ST: Enjoyed is not really a word I would use to define my boot camp experience. What I would say is that it served its purpose. It laid a solid foundation to work from. It gave us an insight into the physical and mental demands required for soldiering.

We were well drilled. In ten days we learned how to attack and defend positions; what formations to use in detailed maneuvers; mortars; .30 cals; Thompsons, carbines, M-1 rifles and grenades were all studied and practiced. We studied in depth map reading and the difference between “grid” and “magnetic” north. In addition, hand-to-hand combat, living off K-rations, camping outside and remembering to say “Sir” a lot.

Being a medic made things a little different for me. Captain Dye [military advisor] and Mike Edminston [former Ranger and medic] helped me enormously with the homework I needed to do before and during the filming. All this and more made up the essential components we, as actors, needed to do any kind of justice to a project with the magnitude of Band of Brothers.

One of the most important factors for me about the whole boot camp experience was that it enabled the actors to bond and form a chemistry. Vital ingredients when you think how close the real men were.

It was made clear to me early on that I was in charge of looking after everyone at boot camp. There were a lot of injured feet for instance. It was my job to fix them up. Muscle strains, cuts and bruises were common. Some guy even had a mysterious rash where there shouldn’t have been…I gave him a cream and told him to treat himself!!

One day, Ron Livingston (Nixon) had a fishbone stuck in his throat and he asked me to get it out. I remember inventing some sort of contraption that had tweezers on the end of it. I made sure it was long enough to reach to the back of Ron’s throat so I could get a good grip. Holding a torch (British for flashlight) in one hand, the contraption in the other, I went in. Every time I managed to make contact, Ron, understandably, gagged! The fishbone was stuck deep. In the end, I think he just heaved it up…but I like to think I loosened it!!

CL: What was the hardest part of the series?

ST: There we were, wooly shirts and uniforms. I wore a tanker jacket. All of which, under the heat of the lighting rigs and filming indoors made it quite uncomfortable. The trick was we had to make it look like it was the coldest place on earth when it felt like the hottest!

This was the Battle of the Bulge in episode 6 and 7. It was very important to convey the conditions during that period. Potentially, in reality, it was as big a killer as the enemy. Along with the heavy shelling, it became on of the most intense phases of the campaign for E Company.

I remember director David LeLand saying before every scene, “Don’t forget the cold. Give it an edge, always keep the edge.” The audience needed to feel that. To see it in the body language and to recognize the struggle just to keep warm.

CL: What was the most fun part of the series?

ST: That’s easy. Episode six. David LeLand, Ralph Spina, Johnny Gibson, Mike Edminston and Bruce McKenna deserving special praise.

CL: What was the most emotional part of the series?

ST: It was all emotional. But playing scenes, it was about keeping that all underneath. These men were of a generation that showed very little when they were feeling a great deal.

The most emotional experience I had however was after the show had finished filming and I met the family of Eugene Roe at the Paris premiere. It was a moment I will never forget. It made everything complete. Everything made sense. It was real. That time will never leave me.

CL: How has the press been toward you?

ST: I think the press has been positive on the whole. The series is strong. On a personal note, I’ve been pleased with the reaction to Episode Six. So it makes me happy to know that there has been an appreciation and an understanding of where we were trying to go with it and what we were trying to say.

It’s a slightly different approach. The war is seen from a very different perspective from someone equally as important, the medic.

Through the eyes of Roe, you see what his role entailed. And within the Battle of the Bulge, how difficult it was to tend to the men through the lack of supplies. Six also touches on combat fatigue, a regular occurrence that was not commonly recognized during that time.

CL: Did the cast become a “band of brothers”?

ST: Frank John Hughes (Guarnere) called me a few weeks ago to come to his home and watch Episode Four. He gave me directions and said that there were Screaming Eagle flags, posters and banners stuck all over his house and on the lawn so I couldn’t miss it. I couldn’t go at the time but I think he got all the cast of Easy Company together and probably the veterans as well!!

Things are pretty tight with us now. They always will be. Working with those guys became very special. They were all dedicated, fully supportive and outstanding to work with. We did the best job we could do for each other. I miss being with them on the set.

CL: Who did you consult for background on Roe?

ST: I spoke to Eugene’s widow, Myrtle Roe, very early on by telephone. She told me some interesting stuff about him. That he was an outdoor type who loved to fish. She even told me how ill he once got as a young boy and nearly died. Ralph Spina, Roe’s assistant medic, sent me a nice package of information and photographs as well. Bill Guarnere had plenty to say on the subject. When I met him, I just pieced together all the information, all that I could and through the script, I formed a version of Eugene that I could get into.

CL: Although Roe was mentioned only 3 times in the book, why do you think he was more predominantly featured in the series?

ST: Originally, I think they wanted to do something about graves registration workers. When it came to being about a field medic, you only have to read Lt. Foley’s speech about Roe in the Stephen Ambrose book to know why he was chosen to be that figure. After talking with the vets, production and family members, it was really no surprise he was made more prominent in the show. I think Episode Six is a very intelligent diversion in the series. It allows people to learn about other aspects of the war and not just about tactical maneuvers and battles.

I really wanted Episode Six to reflect the effect of what men do in war and what war does to men.

CL: Roe and Spina were best of friends, truly Brothers. Why wasn’t that portrayed in the series?

ST: Believe me, we wanted to do that. I campaigned for the actor, Tony Devlin, playing Spina to be with me in everything I did after Episode Six (when he was introduced). He would have been had he not had other professional commitments. Therefore, the situation was beyond our control and that why he fails to appear again for the remainder of the series. Unfortunate, but the nature of the beast.

CL: Trench foot was a huge problem. I’ve heard stories about Roe having to make decisions on who could leave the front lines because of it. It didn’t seem to play as big a factor in the series.

ST: Soldiers, of course, got it naturally through the hardened conditions, other were self-inflicted. This enabled them to get off the lines and away from the action. Those cases were met with very little sympathy.

There was a sequence shot, almost a mini sub-plot involving a lieutenant who actively sought to get trench foot and Roe’s response to that. Whether it was through a lack of time or they felt it wasn’t as important as other issues, I don’t know, but it was covered. Maybe it’ll come out on DVD and everybody will be happy.

Shane later reflected on the way Roe was portrayed. The scene with the lieutenant culminates in Roe getting very angry. In another scene, Roe acquires a .45 and tucks it in his jacket. It was, of course, against the Geneva Convention for medics to carry a weapon. Shane felt that those scenes were deleted because Roe was seen as an “angel” (a term used by the vets). He was allowed a single outburst of frustration at the aid station when the attempt to save a soldier’s life fails. The other scenes would detract from the goal of keeping him “pure.”

By jyhxzngp (189.2.126.226) on Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 11:06 pm: