By Anonymous on Sunday, July 22, 2001 - 10:15 pm:

Band of Brothers

July 16, 2001
TOM HANKS and STEVEN SPIELBERG made WWII a hot topic with 'Saving Private Ryan.' But that was just one story out of the many that could be told. So Tom and Steven hooked up with HBO and executive produced a 10-part miniseries based on STEPHEN E. AMBROSE's bestseller, Band of Brothers, a nonfiction recounting of the exploits of the men of Easy Company.

Hanks and Ambrose will be joined for the premiere of the first two parts of the series by the grandchildren of WINSTON CHURCHILL, FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, as well as 44 of the remaining 49 veterans of Easy Company, many of whom will be returning to France for the first time since they parachuted behind enemy lines, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and captured Hitler's Eagle Nest.

Drawn from hours of interviews with survivors, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, "Band of Brothers" tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, a unit whose men took 150% casualties and became true American heroes.

Production Facts:

Production on "Band of Brothers" began April 3, 2000, at the Hatfield Aerodrome in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, and wrapped November 24, 2000.

The Hatfield Aerodrome is a former British Aerospace facility, where planes were built and tested. The site was never used for military purposes.

The village scenes of 'Saving Private Ryan' were shot in a small portion of the same space utilized by "Band of Brothers" at Hatfield.

The village, which became 11 different European cities and villages, was 12 acres -- the size of nine American football fields.

The 10-part miniseries features 500 speaking roles.

More than 10,000 extras worked on the miniseries during the course of production.

Fifty "special ability" extras worked throughout the course of production. These extras were trained in weapons handling and served as both German and British soldiers.

On an average day, there were 750 people (cast and crew) on set. This number was occasionally as high as 1,000.

By the third episode of shooting, the special effects department had used more pyrotechnics than were used in the entire production of 'Saving Private Ryan.'

The wardrobe department hired the Corcoran boot company to manufacture 500 pairs of paratrooper jump boots to the original Army specifications, and purchased or manufactured approximately 2,000 uniforms (German and American). All of the 1,200 civilian costumes were authentic vintage clothing.

Around 700 authentic weapons and almost 400 rubber prop weapons were used in production. A heavy day of filming required up to 14,000 rounds of ammunition.

The art department reconstructed four World War II-era tanks, using the frames of modern-day Russian T-34 tanks and British Army Personnel Carriers as the foundations.

One-third of a million pounds of recycled paper were used to create the snow for the forest set -- the largest amount ever used in a production -- and it took four weeks to dress the entire set.

The total budget for the miniseries was $120,000,000. Of that, construction costs were $17,000,000.

Actors appearing in "Band of Brothers" include KIRK ACEVEDO, JIMMY FALLON, COLIN HANKS, DAMIAN LEWIS, PETER McCABE, DAVID SCHWIMMER, DONNIE WAHLBERG, RICK WARDEN, and PAUL WILLIAMS.