20 facts you might not know about 'Full Metal Jacket'

Michael Herr first rose to fame with his Vietnam memoir “Dispatches.” After that book came out, Herr ended up rewriting the narration to “Apocalypse Now” in an attempt to make it more authentic. Kubrick and Herr first met all the way back in 1980 to begin discussing a war film. Herr was hesitant, and it took Kubrick three years to convince him to sign on.

Herr and Kubrick were both fans of Gustav Hasford’s novel “The Short-Timers,” which came out in 1979. After Kubrick and Herr had been working for a little while Kubrick invited Hasford to work on the adaptation of his novel as well. All three men are credited on the screenplay.

Kubrick was not always a conventional filmmaker. Here’s what the process of writing the screenplay for “Full Metal Jacket” was like. Kubrick would phone Herr and Hasford, separately, with what he wanted from them. Herr and Hasford would then mail their work to Kubrick, who would them read them and edit them together. Also, he wouldn’t tell them what he was using in the script. This led to a lot of confusion, and some fights over credit. Kubrick and Hasford only met once in the process, against the advice of Herr who thought the mercurial director and the ornery ex-Marine wouldn’t get along. Herr was right.

Kubrick was worried that “The Short-Timers” would be misleading to potential filmgoers. As such, he opted to change the title after seeing the phrase “full metal jacket” in a gun catalog. A full metal jacket is a style of bullet that has a hard metal casing surrounding a softer core to the bullet.

Half of “Full Metal Jacket” is about Marine boot camp and a sadistic drill instructor. As a former Marine drill instructor, R. Lee Ermey was brought on as a technical adviser. Ermey had done a little acting, though, and wanted the role of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. In hopes of getting the role, Ermey improvised insults while acting against some actors who had been hired for background parts. When Kubrick saw the tapes of the sessions he decided Ermey was perfect for the role and even worked some of the insults into the dialog.

Kubrick still felt the need to put Ermey through the paces to make sure he could handle the acting role. As a former Marine, Ermey was up to it. While Ermey rehearsed his lines, Kubrick’s assistant would throw tennis balls and oranges at him, which Ermey had to catch and throwback without flubbing a line. They did it until he had run through the process 23 times.

For a movie like this, you need a lot of actors. Warner Bros. did a massive search that spanned the United States and Canada. Over 3,000 actors submitted themselves on tape. Sure, Kubrick’s staff went through most of them, but the director himself still watched roughly 800 audition tapes himself.

Private Joker is the ostensible lead of “Full Metal Jacket,” as he branches the first half about boot camp with the second half about the actual action in Vietnam. For a long time, Anthony Michael Hall was in the lead for the role. However, after eight months of talks, that plan fell through. Val Kilmer was also up for the role, but in the end, it went to Matthew Modine.

Bruce Willis was offered a role in the film, but the future movie star was unable to take it. At the time he was still in the cast of “Moonlighting” and he couldn’t get out of those commitments. “Moonlighting” almost got in the way of Willis getting another role one year later in 1988. However, Willis managed to make “Die Hard” and the rest is history.

Kubrick said that the hardest part to cast was that of Private Gomer Pyle. However, he also said that when he finally saw D’Onofrio’s audition tape he was quick to offer him the role. D’Onofrio’s work wasn’t done at that point, though. He gained 70 pounds to play Private Pyle.

What would a giant Austrian be doing in the Vietnam War? We almost found out. Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of Animal Mother, but instead, he took the lead role in “The Running Man,” a role he was better suited for. Adam Baldwin ended up playing Animal Mother.

Since Ermey was initially just a technical adviser, obviously somebody else was lined up for the role of “Full Metal Jacket.” That would be Tim Colceri. While he didn’t get to play Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, Colceri was given the smaller role of Doorgunner.

He was no Alfred Hitchcock when it comes to cameos, but Kubrick did pop up in “Full Metal Jacket.” He, along with his daughter Vivian, play photographers at a massacre site in Vietnam. Vivian also wrote the film’s score.

When Coppola made a Vietnam movie, he went to Southeast Asia and did everything he could to try and create an authentic feeling. Kubrick, meanwhile, shot in his native Britain. How do you shoot a Vietnam movie in the United Kingdom? Well, you import 200 Spanish palm trees and then bring in 100,000 plastic tropical plants from Hong Kong.

A Kubrick film shoot with problems? What a novelty! Although, it wasn’t all Kubrick’s fault. He can’t be blamed, for example, for Ermey getting in a car accident and breaking several ribs, which kept him out of action for months. On the other hand, he also chose to shoot at the defunct Breckton Gas Works, where toxic chemicals had leaked into the ground and also lingered in the air.

While filming “Full Metal Jacket,” Modine kept a diary. Eventually, he turned that diary into the 2005 book “Full Metal Jacket Diary.” He also, for some reason, turned the book into an interactive app as well.

One year after “Platoon” won Best Picture, “Full Metal Jacket” couldn’t get quite as much love. The film only got one Oscar nomination, and it was for Best Adapted Screenplay. It did not win, losing to “The Last Emperor.”

In Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” you hear a sample of a woman’s voice saying “Me so horny.” The 2 Live Crew straight-up named a song “Me So Horny” and made use of the full line “Me so horny. Me love you long time.” This line is spoken by a prostitute in Da Nang to Private Joker. It’s less fun in context.

Kubrick didn’t exactly breeze through productions. During the filming, Modine got married, had a child, and celebrating his child’s first birthday. In fact, in order to be there while his wife had a C-section, he had to argue with Kubrick and threaten to cut his own hand if he wasn’t allowed to go. Modine had no scenes that day. Kubrick merely wanted him around just in case.

Despite his lengthy shoot, Kubrick used to make a movie every few years. Then, seven years went by between “The Shining” and “Full Metal Jacket.” This was his longest gap…until the gap between “Full Metal Jacket” and “Eyes Wide Shut.” “Eyes Wide Shut” would not come out until 1999, 12 years after “Full Metal Jacket” was released. It would also be Kubrick’s last film before his death.