SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
World War II's Battle of the Bulge began in December 1944 in the forests of Belgium, and it sent the German army into retreat, but at the cost of more than 80,000 U.S. casualties. The new film "Lucky Strike" tells the story of one soldier, John Castle, who must walk nearly 20 miles across German-occupied territory with just a backpack field radio as his only link to U.S. forces.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LUCKY STRIKE")
SCOTT EASTWOOD: (As John Castle) I'm walking. Confirm there's no closer stragglers I can move to. Over.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: I don't know who we have down there, but we can't deal with this now. We're under intense artillery fire.
SIMON: "Lucky Strike" stars Scott Eastwood as that soldier, John Castle, along with Colin Hanks and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. And Scott Eastwood, who's also starred in "The Outpost," "Wrath Of Man," "Flags Of Our Fathers" and other films, joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
EASTWOOD: Thanks for having me.
SIMON: The film begins by saying it's inspired by true events. What does that mean? How much really happened?
EASTWOOD: So our producer, Mark Frydman, was living in France at the time. He's a French national, post World War II. And as a high school project, he was meant to write a report. So what he did was he interviewed a bunch of veterans who had survived, and this story really had stuck with him. He held on to this story for almost 50 years after writing a script and many iterations, trying to get it made. Now we're releasing it.
SIMON: And radio plays an important role, doesn't it? Tell us about the Motorola on his back.
EASTWOOD: Yeah. It's an interesting piece of equipment that, you know, not many people talked about in World War II, but it was, you know, some of the earlier technology of the time. Obviously, Motorola became a massive telecom giant, but it was really sort of the early days.
SIMON: Yeah. I'd like to take a moment to listen with you to a short, tough speech that's delivered towards the end of the film.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LUCKY STRIKE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As characters) Soldiers die in war. Your job is not to keep your men alive. Your job is to keep my mother alive. Your job is to keep your mother alive. Your job is to keep all our children alive.
SIMON: Boy, what kind of thoughts does that stir up for you?
EASTWOOD: It really asks the question, why do we survive? Why do we? We do it for those at home, you know? If - every time you send off young men or women off to war, you're fighting for what we believe in - our way of life, democracy, the pursuit of the American dream, pursuit of people having a better way of life. And, you know, that's an interesting thing to examine.
SIMON: Well, the implication, of course, is that soldiers, that's part of the bargain you make when you become a soldier.
EASTWOOD: Yeah. There's a price. You know, you pay that price, and America's sort of built on the backs of soldiers who have paid that price.
SIMON: Yeah. May I ask - Colin Hanks is also in the film with you - do the two of you ever talk about - I don't know - (laughter) the obvious (laughter)?
EASTWOOD: Yeah. I didn't - you know, it's kind of like - a sailor always sees another sailor from afar. We didn't have to say much, but we both knew. You know, we both had a - probably a similar experience, and it made us who we are today, and it kind of gave us both the inspiration for wanting to continue on telling stories and be a part of a creative endeavor and creating a - you know, a body of work. You know, we both work in an industry where you - that's kind of what you do. You sort of commit to creating, and it's a tough thing, but it's also a beautiful thing.
SIMON: Every time I see a new World War II film or read a new World War II book, it amazes me that all these decades later, we're not through telling that story, are we?
EASTWOOD: You know, it's the only war that, you know, everybody knew there was a common enemy to the world. There was, you know, evil being done, and it was a fight for justice. You know, other wars, I think there's a lot of ambiguity. There's a lot of, were we supposed to be there, why are we doing this? But that war, I think, resonates with most because it's so clear, right and wrong.
SIMON: Scott Eastwood stars in the new film "Lucky Strike." It's in theaters now. Thank you so much for being with us.
EASTWOOD: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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