James Badge Dale isn’t a household name. But he should be.

Over the past ten years, the young actor has played supporting roles in several major films and starred in one of the most acclaimed mini-series of the past decade. One of his first juicy roles occurred in 2003 when he played Chase Edmunds, a CTU agent working under the tutelage of Jack Bauer on “24.”

In 2010, Dale played a lead in the HBO mini-series, “The Pacific.” Since then, he has acted in “The Conspirator,” headlined a television program called “Rubicon” and starred alongside Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan in the critically-acclaimed film “Shame.”

His latest project, “The Grey,” finds Dale facing his own mortality alongside Oscar-nominee Liam Neeson. I recently had a chance to talk to Dale about his emotional scene in the new thriller, his work on “The Pacific” and the Oscar nomination that never arrived for Fassbender.

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I’m a mom with a full-time job and two dogs, so spending $75 on a babysitter and a couple of movie tickets so I can take a nap in a dark theater is not my idea of a good time.  Television isn’t much better.  I anxiously awaited HBO’s The Pacific only to be given a selective recollection of World War II as seen through a post-9/11 prism.  Then there was AMC’s The Walking Dead. It really had me up until the final episode’s waning moments when a member of the CDC explained that, when it came to the Zombie Apocalypse, the French scientists were the picture of courage while the Americans cried like babies.  Yeah, right.  The reanimated dead are walking the earth?  Okay, fine.  But the world’s foremost country in waving the white flag is now the paragon of bravery?  That’s a bridge too far.

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Since 2010 only got me out to the movies twice (that I can remember) to see The Town and The Social Network, the internet became one of my main forms of entertainment.  That was where I found Drinking with Bob. Sure, he looks a little angry, but so am I.  However, thanks to Bob, I don’t need to get my blood pressure to the boiling point; he’s here to do it for me.  I was starving for an alternative viewpoint.  Sick and tired of being distracted by liberal celebrities and their need for attention, I needed some meaning.  And strangely enough, Bob delivered.

Somewhere in between Facebook, Sean Hannity, and the occasional Tivo’d Red Eye, I found Bob’s rants.  His website and YouTube channel represent the reason the internet has become an alternative venue for entertainment for so many.  It doesn’t have any sponsors or politically correct audience to temper its intent or its delivery.  Sure there is a lot of crap, but when you come across a gem like Drinking with Bob, it makes it all worthwhile.  Each installment starts off with: “What’s next? I’ll tell you what’s next…” and then blasts off into a tirade over anything from the NFL cancelling a game due to snow to why he thinks Ben Affleck is a hypocritical d-bag.  He covers it all and no one is safe, especially President Obama and his nonsensical policies.  You know the ones that make you want to punch your own head, like spending millions on a census commercial during the Super Bowl?  (more…)

The liberal reactionaries are in full hissy-fit mode at Big Hollywood for its latest heresy, calling out Glee for its gratuitous – and worse, unfunny – slam on Sarah Palin as “stupid.”  Apparently, pointing out hackneyed liberal sucker punches lurking within tiresome TV shows is yet another cruel assault upon the helpless Hollywood community of visionary artists who only seek to help enlighten and uplift us unedu-makated, tea-partying, gun n’ religion-clingers dwelling in that small, backward portion of America located east of I-5.

Big Hollywood hater Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times jumped right into full “gotta defend our pals in the Industry” effect with a hysterical (in both senses of the word) counterattack supporting Glee creator Ryan Murphy.  The LAT, for those not residing here, is a small, local pamphlet of uncertain financial stability which recently reduced the physical size of its dead tree edition to about that of an Applebee’s menu.  Its innovative marketing strategy of providing its dwindling readership with even less content for their money has somehow failed to halt its downward spiral toward Chapter 11. (more…)

In Part One of this two-part series, I described the widely varying treatment of renowned directors Jafar Panahi and Roman Polanski by the leftist Hollywood establishment vis-a-vis their arrests and incarcerations, Polanski for child rape, Panahi for mere dissent. It is merely the latest chapter in a long and sickening history of the Hollywood Left’s willful blindness to and even profiting from the McCarthyite persecution and dire straits of creative film artists in Iran revolting over a stolen election, while child rapist Polanksi gets the Oscar treatment with regard to calls for his release and freedom.

But before I get into the stomach-churning details of the Hollywood Left’s shattered moral compass vis-a-vis directors Polanski and Panahi and other Iranian film artists, I would like to take a moment to honor more of the true heroes who have spoken out loudly on Mr. Panahi’s behalf and signed petitions for his release. The National Society of Film Critics. The Boston, L. A. and  Toronto Film Critics Associations. Arin Paul of the New York Times. Filmmaker Ken Loach. Rutger Wolfson, director of the Rotterdam Film Festival. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. Human Rights Watch. French Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterand. Iranhumanrights.org. The list really is long.

Of course, noticeably absent from those petitioning and publicly calling for the release of Mr. Panahi from his unjust tomb-like captivity in Tehran are all of the prominent Hollywood A-List petitioners for Polanski. So Mr. Polanski’s arrest for child rape is worthy of international pressure and outrage, but famed director Jafar Panahi being tossed into a crypt in Tehran on “unspecified charges” is not? Welcome to Lefty Hollywood. And it only gets worse. The most tragic case of Jafar Panahi is yet one more sorry, perplexing and infuriating chapter in leftist Hollywood’s incredible blind side to any human rights violations in Iran, never mind only those perpetrated against Iranian filmmakers today. (more…)

I’ve been paging through this old scrapbook that Uncle Pete sent me.  An Australian woman named Jean made it for him during the war.  She must have spent tens of hours clipping out all the news articles and arranging them just so.  After the war, Jean sent the scrapbook to Pete’s mother.

I asked Uncle Pete about Melbourne.  He said that, while 1st Marines stayed at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (M.C.G.), 7th Marines stayed at a place called Mt. Martha that was about 15 miles outside of Melbourne.

Pete told me that Australia was “a lot of fun.”  He was a little surprised by how it was portrayed in the series saying, “It wasn’t as bad as all that.”  He “didn’t see any bummin’ around or bar brawls” and informed me that, unless a Marine was squared away, he wasn’t getting any liberty.  “That’s not to say there wasn’t no drinkin’ goin’ on,” he laughed.

So, with Episode 3 we got a little drinking, a little romance (will someone please get Leckie a shoehorn?) and the Marines were off again. (more…)

Earlier in March, Tom was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” discussing his project on HBO, “The Pacific,” which he said depicts a war of “racism and terror.” Despite what you may think, the fact that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor without warning on a Sunday morning in December had nothing to do with it.

He further clarified his remarks on CNSNews.com, standing by his statement, but generously allowed that we’ve made some progress:

“I’d like to think that as our time has gone by and as Americans have found themselves in 2010, ignorance is being replaced by a certain amount of enlightenment and racism is going to be replaced eventually by an acceptance. It’s just taking an awfully long time.”

Very big of Mr. Hanks, wouldn’t you say? You’re making progress…it’s slow, but it’s happening. Pat yourself on the back, since Tom’s too busy to do it himself.

We here at Big Hollywood like to give credit where it’s due, and so we decided to see how progressive Hanks is when it comes to racial equality in his own industry. We decided to take a look at his major works after Forrest Gump, which garnered him his second Oscar win and made him a true power player in Hollywood, with plenty of pull. He’s certainly come a long way from playing a cross-dressing advertising agency employee in the 1980 sitcom “Bosom Buddies!” (more…)

Last week, Uncle Pete sent me a box full of history.  Books, photos, news clippings and the granddaddy of them all… a scrapbook meticulously prepared and maintained by an Australian girl during the war and sent to Uncle Pete’s mother.  That, however, is a story for next week.

As I carefully made my way through the contents of this box, I realized that I was holding history in my hands.  It was quite a feeling let me tell you.  I hope to share some of the items as the weeks commence.

PFC Pete Cavo with 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division

Episode two returns us to Guadalcanal.  The Marines have been here a while and they are tired, hungry and low on supplies.  I’m beginning to recognize some of these guys.  Marines at rest are an amusing bunch.  It’s an attitude that’s difficult to capture and almost impossible to reproduce.  Too often, Hollywood goes for the stereotypes.  Director David Nutter handles the men in these situations deftly.

The age-old rivalry between the US Army and Marines made me chuckle.  Marines have always been asked to do more with less and that is a tradition that continues today.  The pride that is instilled in every Marine is demonstrated by Chesty Puller’s order that all personnel be freshly shaved upon the arrival of the Army.  Then, rather than call attention to their tattered uniforms, Puller praises his “raggedy-ass Marines,” declaring that they “look this way for a reason.” (more…)

Can any of you remember a time when so many creative film artists in Hollywood shit where they eat by endlessly voicing such outspoken contempt and loathing for the majority of the American people, our history and our way of life? I can’t. Now I’m not talking about Hollywood Lefties going off on political tangents like at HuffPo. We do the same damn thing here. I’m talking fighting words as defined in the Chaplinsky ruling. Too many fighting words coming out of Lefty Hollywood these days.

I don’t know about you, but I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take them anymore. Prime example. Sean Penn calling for the arrest of anyone who tags dictator Hugo Chavez as a dictator. That must now include the mass arrest of the entire leadership of the OAS, which just slammed Pennhead’s hero El Chavista on his horrific human rights record. I will say it: that statement is as un-American as it gets, and is dictatorial in itself. Those are fighting words, IMHO. Tell me where I’m wrong.

Then we had Tom Hanks effectively saying that the Japanese and Americans wanted to destroy each other only because they were different breeds of racists. That intellectually vacuous statement not only slanders America’s most honorable record in the war against a genocidal Imperial Japan, it slanders the sacred memory of every US service member who fought and died in that conflict. As a Navy veteran myself, and the son of an Army veteran of Normandy Beach on D-Day? Fighting words. (more…)

The second high-profile name attached to HBO’s “The Pacific” was interviewed by CNSNews and would’ve distinguished himself with his classy approach to these questions even if his counterpart hadn’t defamed both the war in the Pacific and the War on Terror by defining them as “wars of racism and terror.”

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I especially like this: (more…)

The entertainment media is doing the best they can to spin the paltry ratings for the debut of “The Pacific.” But 3.1 million viewers compared to the 10 million for the premiere of “Band of Brothers” is pretty difficult to spin. Yes, Nielsen has changed the way they count HBO viewers since “Brothers” debuted in 2001. They once counted all HBO channels and now count them individually (are we to believe millions and millions were watching HBO Thriller in 2001? ). Still, according to Reuters, that ten million was considered a slow start for “Brothers” and 3.1 million for “The Pacific” represents a mere 69% increase over normal HBO programming in that same time period. For additional context we’re also told “The Pacific” did manage to beat the debut of “John Adams” by 22%. 

Okay, fine, but let’s look a little closer at the real context, which is always found near the bottom of anything written by the MSM. On Sunday nights, the series “True Blood” averages 5 million viewers. “Blood” might air in a different time-slot than “The Pacific” but how fine do we want to split these hairs? Most telling is that when the History Channel aired a re-broadcast of “Band of Brothers” in 2004, 4.6 million tuned in. This bears repeating…

A rerun of “Brothers” delivered 1.5 million more viewers than the heavily promoted debut of “The Pacific.”

HBO has over 30 million subscribers and it’s just a fact that Sunday night less than 10% bothered to watch ”The Pacific,” even with the dual pedigree of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks combined with a very, very heavy promotional blitz and a lingering universal affection for “Band of Brothers.”

So what changed? (more…)

Every so often, my father-in-law, Angelo, will bust my chops saying, “Hey, Mike!  I talked to a real Marine today!”  Then he’ll clap me on the shoulder and chuckle in that Jersey City “you’re a good kid” kind of way.

Full disclosure:  I served for four years as an enlisted man in a helicopter squadron at the tail end of the Cold War.  My time was spent in the necessary but unglamorous world of logistics and embarkation.  I never had to fire my weapon in anger and was never fired upon.  Hence, the “real Marine” jab.  Hell, with what the Marines today are doing, I sometimes don’t feel like a “real Marine.”  I’m sure there are some other peacetime vets out there who know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, when Angelo hits me with the jab, it means he’s been talking to Uncle Pete.  My wife’s great-uncle Pete Cavo joined the Marines in 1940.  He served as a rifleman in 1st Battalion, 7th Marines.  I called Uncle Pete Sunday afternoon to talk to him about his time in the Corps.  He answered the phone and his thick, jovial Jersey accent triggered a sharp pang of longing for my old home state. (more…)

UPDATE: I have corrected a misstatement of facts in this post. I wrote that the Japanese attacked us …”because they wanted to invade and eventually take over our country.”  This is in fact not true. Thank you to those who brought this to my attention. — Jack

“The World According to Tom” is an article that appears in the March 15 issue of “Time.”  It is all about Tom Hanks’ interest in American history.  It’s not a bad article until Mr. Hanks is quoted in the second to last paragraph. 

Referring to World War II he stated:

“From the outset, we wanted to make people wonder how our troops can re-enter society in the first place. How could they just pick up their lives and get on with the rest of us? Back in World War II we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods.  They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?” 

For some background I served as a medic with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, 1967-68.  I retired from the Army as a Physician Assistant and my son currently serves in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division.  This does give me a bit more insight about our military and “how our troops can re-enter society”. 

It is not so hard to re-enter society when society is on the side of a war.  We have all seen the clips of victory parades after WW II soldiers were welcomed home as heroes. Many soldiers returning from Vietnam were actually spit on and called baby killers. I am sure this had an effect on every soldier who ever served in that war.  I am sure that it contributed to the high rate of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that occurred in our Vietnam Veterans.  (more…)

Victor Davis Hanson:

Much has been written of the recent Tom Hanks remarks to Douglas Brinkley in a Time Magazine interview about his upcoming HBO series on World War II in the Pacific. Here is the explosive excerpt that is making the rounds today.

“Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?”

Hanks may not have been quoted correctly; and his remarks may have been impromptu and poorly expressed; and we should give due consideration to the tremendous support Hanks has given in the past both to veterans and to commemoration of World War II; and his new HBO series could well be a fine bookend to Band of Brothers.  All that said, Hanks’ comments were sadly infantile pop philosophizing offered by, well,  an ignoramus.

Hanks thinks he is trying to explain the multifaceted Pacific theater in terms of a war brought on by and fought through racial animosity. That is ludicrous. Consider: (more…)

You can watch these very troubling 25 seconds below and understand why Tom Hanks would never have the backbone to leave the comfortable echo chamber of MSNBC and enter an environment where he might be challenged. After the actor is done defaming the war against Imperial Japan as a war of “racism and terror,” he doubles with his anti-American slander and says the same of today’s War on Terror. And no one at Morning Joe challenges him. Not Tom — Greatest Generation — Brokaw, not Scarborough, and Mika Brezezinski can’t wait to agree with him. 

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Hanks made similarly outrageous statements in another interview, which I touched on earlier this week – comments that caught me completely off guard. As you might have read in Michael Broderick’s article from yesterday morning, “The Pacific” was a project Big Hollywood was eager to champion and cover. Obviously, we’ll have to see what Mr. Racism and Terror has in store for us on HBO over the coming weeks. But at this point you have to wonder if the Oscar-winner’s obvious issues regarding the War on Terror might not have colored what we’re about to see in his miniseries. Given the opportunity, Hanks has certainly been eager to tie together both wars into a damning but thoroughly indefensible political statement that portrays our country and military in the worst possible light.

We all assumed ”The Pacific” would be another “Band of Brothers,” and maybe it will be. But much has changed since “Brothers,” a miniseries produced prior to 9/11 (the HBO premiere was Sept. 9th, 2001). The very real Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) that has taken over so much of Hollywood and turned otherwise impressive filmmakers into ham-handed propagandists hadn’t quite taken hold yet. However, today Hanks is showing all the symptoms. Will this affect “The Pacific?” (more…)

UPDATE: “The Congressional Medal of Honor” is now listed as the ”Medal of Honor” and the “Gladiator” film mentioned is no longer listed as the version directed by Ridley Scott. Thanks to our ever helpful fact-checking commenters.

Ed. Note: Starting Sunday, March 14th, HBO begins its 10-part miniseries “The Pacific,” which follows the United States Marine Corps through WWII in the Pacific Theatre of Operations. This $100 million production re-teams a number of those (including Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg) involved in HBO’s unforgettable 2001 miniseries, “Band of Brothers,” which many, including myself, consider to be one of the finest productions about WWII made for television or any other medium.

I’ve asked Michael Broderick, an actor, former Marine, and top-notch writer to be Big Hollywood’s point man on this project. He’ll be snagging whatever interviews he can, reviewing many if not all of the episodes, and keeping the Big Hollywood community up to date and informed on what is sure to be a seminal moment in television, a terrific piece of entertainment, and a worthy tribute to our Veterans. — JN

The Pacific:  An Interview with Jon Seda

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

I entered the Marine Corps in nineteen eighty *cough* at the tender age of seventeen, secure in the knowledge that upon completion of my four year hitch, I would move to Hollywood and become a popular and sought after actor.

Instead, I fell in lust and, upon leaving the Corps, followed my John Thomas to New York City.  That was okay.  They have actors in New York, right?

No contacts, no formal training and no idea what I was doing, I ended up in a fantastic little rock and roll band instead.  We made a good run of it through the 90s.  In fact, I met my wife while I was playing CBGB in 1998. (more…)

Over the weekend, Time Magazine published a long, glowing profile of Tom Hanks to help promote his upcoming HBO miniseries “The Pacific.” And as with all things entertainment media, the subject is never challenged or even made to shift uncomfortably in his seat. The push to ascend Hanks to “national treasure” status is clearly on.

Hanks does seem to be a genuinely nice man and the work he’s done to bring American history to life on film is impressive, especially during a time when the singling out of America’s exceptionalism is more and more frowned upon in artistic and academic circles. ”From the Earth to the Moon,” “Band of Brothers,” and “John Adams” are not only artistic achievements, but in this MTV-addled culture, might be the best hope of teaching America’s youth about the unique history and greatness of this nation. And I suspect ”The Pacific,” the 10-part miniseries premiering this Sunday on HBO (which Big Hollywood’s Michael Broderick will cover extensively) will be a worthy addition to what came before.

But when it comes to leftist Hollywood, whenever Tinseltown and America meet, you have to brace yourself for it — and by “it” I mean the leftist sucker punch. Throughout, Hanks sounds perfectly reasonable, intelligent and even patriotic for a couple of thousand words. But of course that’s just the lure to get us on his side before we’re walloped with this left cross: [emphasis mine] (more…)

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The Wall Street Journal:

The ensemble cast of actors in HBO miniseries “The Pacific” all have a similar look…dirty.

“In my memory I was dirty for a year. I could not get the dirt off of me. The entire time I was in Australia I had dirt in some part of my body. I was dirty and damp and soiled. It was just disgusting,” says Ashton Holmes, the actor who plays Marine Sidney Phillips.

To play the members of the 1st Marine Division that fought in the Pacific theater during World War II, the actors spent more than ten months shooting in the jungles of Northern Australia at a price tag of $195 million. Producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman wanted to capture the isolation and physical demands of jungle warfare so they kept actors as uncomfortable as possible. They all went through a ten-day boot camp taught by a retired Marine captain. Special-effects bombs, mortars and gunfire may have been written into the script but it still came as a shock to many actors.

“If we looked scared it’s because we were,” Holmes says. “It’s all choreographed and blocked out but when there’s an explosion ten feet from you it’s scary and it’s jarring.”

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Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing a man who has helped bring to life some of my favorite films, series and projects. Captain Dale Dye, USMC (Ret.) has enjoyed an incredible career in Hollywood as an actor, a writer and as the most recognizable military/technical advisor in the industry. He recently worked as the Senior Military Advisor on HBO’s upcoming World War II miniseries “The Pacific” (currently in post-production) and is preparing to direct his first feature, “No Better Place to Die.”

J.R. Head: Thanks so much, Dale, for taking the time to talk with me.

Dale Dye: You’re most welcome. It’s a pleasure to be anywhere talking about the business we love these days. Hopefully, things will loosen up a bit, we’ll all go to work and I won’t have time for this in the near future.

JRH: Well, I’m glad I caught you when I did. First, let me say that I’ve enjoyed so many of the projects you’ve worked on.

DD: That means a lot coming from a guy with a military background. The reason I work so hard at it is to ensure guys like you and millions of others who served get a fair shake from Hollywood. (more…)