Initially, the screenwriter, Robert Rodat, was inspired to write the story after seeing the monument representing the four sons of Agness Allison. All of them were killed in the American Civil War.

However, when the idea came to director Steven Spielberg, along with the producer Mark Gordon, the story’s inspiration came from the Niland brothers’ story. They fought in World War II.

At first, people thought that only one of them survived. Eventually, they found out that another was was held prisoner in a Japanese internment camp.

To make the movie seem more realistic, the team behind Saving Private Ryan had a live machine gun in a firing range. The place was owned by a weapons manufacturer.

There, they were able to source all the sounds of the weaponry used in the film.

The director wanted someone unknown to play the lead character. He chose Matt Damon because he got the all-American look but without a name people would recognize easily.

Unfortunately, the actor became an overnight star even before the film was released. He won an Oscar for co-writing the movie Good Will Hunting.

Robin Williams was working on Good Will Hunting along with Matt Damon. Since he was friends with Steven Spielberg, he brought the young actor with him when they met.

The director saw something in him. Two weeks after they saw each other, he called him about the part.

When Steven Spielberg got a glimpse of Vin Diesel’s performance in Strays, he decided to write a whole new role for him just to include him in the film.

The film was too violent so Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board decided to ban it. Their only condition to allowing to release it in the country was to cut significant parts showing graphic violence. Spielberg refused to do so since he considered the parts fundamental to the movie’s story.

Spielberg, along with the cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, decided to use a silver retention process. This skipped the bleaching process of color film, keeping the silver hue that causes the washed-out look of the scenes.

They didn’t think it was going to be emotional and graphic. They didn’t even think that the movie would affect them as much as it did. It made them realize a lot of things.

In fact, film critics consider it the biggest Oscar snub of all time. Although it won several awards that evening, they still couldn’t believe that it wasn’t able to get the main award.

His dad served in the U.S. Army and Signal Corps. He was a radio operator when he fought in World War II.

When he was a teenager, Steven’s dad helped him direct his first movies. Those films involved plots that happened in World War II.

To make sure they had an idea of what World War soldiers went through, the actors were sent to a 10-day boot camp. It was led by a retired former USMC Captain and the film’s military advisor.

There, they learned about living in tents, going on marches, eating MRE, and tactical training.

He was heavily addicted before filming the movie. To make sure he didn’t get into his bad habit while shooting, Steven Spielberg swore to him that if he ever tested positive, he’ll fire him and reshoot all of his scenes with someone else.

Fortunately, it still landed on Tom Hanks’ hand. It’s hard to picture another actor playing that part.

The emotional depth and vulnerability he was able to show make him perfect to play the lead role.

It was shown just for the famous military historian and author. However, 20 minutes into the movie, Stephen Ambrose asked the film to be paused. He couldn’t handle how intense the opening was. He had to go outside just to compose himself.

There, he was talking about spying on his brother who was with a girl in the barn. The director liked it so much that he decided to keep it.

In fact, it’s considered the last film edited using a non-digital editing system to secure an Academy Award for editing.

The director decided not to have him attend the army training even though all the soldiers went through it. He wanted to make them resent Matt and let it show in their performances.

Since there were strict filming restrictions on the real-life beaches in Normandy, the crew made the decision to shoot the Omaha Beach scene somewhere else. They made sure to create an almost exact replica of it to make the scene even more realistic.

The production team had to use more than 40 barrels of fake blood just to make the opening scene. Honestly, they did an awesome job portraying the carnage of the battle.

The film’s entire budget was $70 million. A huge chunk of it was dedicated to the special D-Day landing scenes. On the days of shooting, Steven Spielberg used a handheld camera to record the scenes.