Why Pearl Harbor? Hollywood has been there, done that, several times. Air Force in 1943, From Here to Eternity in 1953, In Harm's Way in 1965, and Tora! Tora! Tora! in 1970, all portrayed the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941. In addition, John Ford made a documentary about Pearl Harbor, albeit one that recreated the action so well that later filmmakers used some of the scenes as if they represented the real thing. In fact, Tora! Tora! Tora! presented an objective, accurate account of the attack from both sides, even if Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto never said that the attack would only "awake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." In their quest for accuracy, however, the filmmakers forgot Hollywood's cardinal rule: movies are meant to entertain and so earn money. Consequently, despite the value of Tora! Tora! Tora! as history, its characters remained two-dimensional cardboard figures, and the film failed to attract audiences.
What else could a feature film say about the event that changed history? Director Michael Bay attempted to answer that question before filming began in April 2000. He predicted: "You will see what happened at Pearl Harbor like you have never seen it in any other movie. Our goal is to stage the event with utmost realism." He said that he wanted his Pearl Harbor movie to become one "by which all other films are measured." He dismissed Tora! Tora! Tora! as being "more of a documentary" and claimed that the other films "glorified war" and had "no characters to latch onto."
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer agreed with Bay's sentiments concerning Tora! Tora! Tora! and maintained that his film would have a high degree of accuracy: "We've done an enormous amount of research. We've read everything we could read." Whether the cram course will provide audiences with even a reasonable portrayal of what occurred on 7 December 1941 remains to be seen.
The film began with discussions Bay had with writer Randall Wallace and Joe Roth, then head of production at Disney Studio, seeking a suitable subject for the director's next project, following his successes with Armageddon and The Rock. Ultimately, one of Bay's friends asked if he had considered doing a movie about Pearl Harbor. At first, the director wondered whether anyone "would ever be crazy enough to do a movie on Pearl Harbor of that size and magnitude."
After hearing that Bruckheimer, who had produced Bay's last two films, also was interested in doing such a film, Bay made a research trip to Hawaii. There, he said he "was really surprised how period the stuff was." He also found that the military bases were "some of the prettiest he had ever seen." At that point, he said, "Okay, it's starting to really seem interesting. How can I create this war?" An answer came when he discovered the inactive fleet, which could be used as props: "I'm a director who likes to use real stuff to blow up, stuff to inter-cut with digital effects."
Bay then met with Bruckheimer and Wallace to brainstorm ideas for a story set within the framework of the historic event. Subsequently, the director and writer talked to 80 Pearl Harbor survivors, after which Bay said that "the movie started to come together." Wallace then produced a script that attempted to solve the problem of having interesting characters by creating a love triangle between two lifelong friends who fall in love with the same nurse. Bay explained that without the love story in Titanic, the movie would have been only about the sinking of a ship. So without his two-guys-and-a-girl story, he said, his film would have become a documentary about 7 December 1941.
In the script, one of two fighter-pilot friends, played by Ben Affleck, joins the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadron, made up of U.S. volunteers. In aerial combat with German bombers over the North Sea, Affleck is shot down and presumed lost. His friend, played by Josh Hartnett, and the nurse, played by Kate Beckinsale, first comfort each other and then fall passionately in love. On the evening of 6 December, Affleck returns from the dead, expecting to take up the relationship with the nurse. He does not understand Beckinsale's hesitation to embrace him until Hartnett enters the room. A night of drinking and recriminations between the two friends ends with the attack on Pearl Harbor, during which both fliers manage to take off and shoot down seven of the raiders.
As written, the script graphically portrays the sinking of the battleships and the death and destruction that occurred. Despite the title and the destruction, however, the filmmakers chose not to end with downbeat images or even President Franklin D. Roosevelt's clarion call to avenge the attack. Instead, Colonel Jimmy Doolittle summons the friends to take part in his raid on Japan in April 1942. Before the pilots depart, Beckinsale tells Affleck she is pregnant with Hartnett's baby. Harnett dies, however, after telling Affleck he will become the father of the baby.
On behalf of Bruckheimer, Bay, and Disney Pictures, Executive Producer Jim Van Wyck delivered the initial script—originally titled Tennessee—on 7 October 1999 to Phil Strub, special assistant for audio visual in the Defense Department's public affairs office. Van Wyck wrote that the film "manifests Americans' desire to make a difference in the war, the violation and the end of American innocence as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the heroism, pride, and volunteer spirit of the Doolittle raid."
In his preliminary request for assistance, the producer asked permission "to try to recreate Battleship Row, using ships from the Reserve Fleet at Pearl Harbor. We would like your assistance in moving and anchoring approximately eight ships—first to an area where we could construct set pieces on board and do refurbishment and then to specific placement in Battleship Row for filming." The company also wanted to film on board the newly arrived battleship Missouri (BB-63).
From the beginning, the services and particularly the Navy had problems with the historical accuracy of the script. The Navy noted that Admiral Husband Kimmel was not on the golf course when the attack on Pearl Harbor began. And it pointed out the absurdity of Hartnett's comment that the Japanese attack had started World War II. It also found the hero's death scene "overdone," saying that he is near death after the crash landing, gets beaten by a Japanese soldier, and is then shot, but does not die until he designates Affleck's parenthood. The Navy's reviewer then noted that Hartnett then dies, "I think."
Disney Pictures, which was bankrolling the film, submitted the final draft of the script, retitled Pearl Harbor, to Strub and the services on 22 December 1999. On 10 January, Strub advised Bruckheimer that while the Pentagon had "concerns regarding some of the military depictions, we don't believe that any will be impossible to resolve." Among other problems, Strub cited the portrayal of the Navy nurses as "anachronistic and also a bit crude, fixated on how their breasts will appear." He also noted that contrary to the script's portrayal, the Army always expected Doolittle to lead the mission. Nevertheless, he indicated that the military was determining the feasibility of providing the amount of assistance that the company had requested.
On his part, Bay said, "There are people who will come out and say this is not right, that is not right. But if you were to do the accurate movie of Pearl Harbor, it would take nine hours." He acknowledged that the script did include some composite characters, including Dan Aykroyd, the cryptologist, who actually plays seven different people "to help the audience understand." He also said he had delayed Kimmel's receipt of a message warning that the Japanese embassy had been ordered to burn its secret papers and destroy its decoding machines several days prior to the morning of 7 December. "That's not historically accurate," he admits, "but it's more drama." He also acknowledges that people might have problems with some of the dramatic license in the film, such as placing the battleships 50 yards apart instead of being tied up together. But he explained that "what I tried to go after were the essences of what happened at Pearl Harbor. And I think we got that right."
To ensure that the filmmakers got it right enough to obtain cooperation, the new head of production at Disney, Bruce Hendricks, Bruckheimer, and Bay visited then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen on 20 January 2000. After the meeting, Hendricks wrote Cohen, assuring him Pearl Harbor "will be a project that we can all be proud of and in some small way pay honor to the service men and women who sacrificed so much during World War II." He added that, without military assistance, the studio would not be able "to make a film of this magnitude and bring to it the authenticity and realism it deserves." Likewise, Bruckheimer wrote to Cohen: "As you may have gathered, we are candidly passionate about our project, Pearl Harbor. We would be honored and extremely grateful for any guidance and support you could offer us."
In turn, on 15 February 2000, Strub advised Bruckheimer that the Pentagon had approved military assistance in Hawaii, on board the aircraft carrier Constellation (CVA-64), and at mainland locations. The agreement to cooperate did not end negotiations to correct historical inaccuracies in the script, however. Jack Greene, the Pentagon's designated historical advisor, observed later that efforts to make changes created "a massive amount of work."
In particular, the services had concerns about the initial portrayal of Doolittle, of Kimmel, and of Japanese-Americans. Until Pearl Harbor reaches theaters on 25 May, no one can know whether the film presents a reasonably accurate account of 7 December 1941, or of the Doolittle raid, or whether Bay's efforts to create an entertaining movie exceeded the limits of dramatic license. At the same time, it remains to be seen if the love triangle helps or hinders the storytelling. Despite the apparent focus on the love story, a huge mural promoting the film on the side of a building in Los Angeles shows only the Japanese planes bearing down on Pearl Harbor and their date with infamy.
Pearl Harbor Comes to the Big Screen
The author of the Naval Institute Press book, Sailing on the Silver Screen, went to Hollywood and files this report on the new Pearl Harbor movie.
By Lawrence Suid