4 fury facts
Brad Pitt’s latest role comes in the David Ayer-directed war movie Fury. Pitt plays Don “Wardaddy” Collier, the sergeant in charge of a Sherman tank nicknamed Fury. Assigned to drive deep into Germany near the end of the Second World War, Collier and his crew confront an elite Nazi SS unit. Here are four things to know about Fury:
1 Pitt’s been to war before with director Quentin Tarantino, as the scalp-taking Lt. Aldo Raine in the high-concept Inglourious Basterds. His Fury commander might have a more colourful name but Pitt’s performance tends to be more focused, although just as intense. Why so serious? “He’s responsible for keeping his men alive,” Pitt says of his character.
2 Director Ayer shot Fury in the U.K., which passed for Germany circa 1945. The location had more to do with the tank props than tax breaks or the countryside locations. Most of the 10 antique tanks (German Tigers and U.S. Shermans) were from British museums and private collections. The tank owners wanted to put as little mileage as possible on the vintage war vehicles.
3 Ayer hired his End of Watch co-star Michael Pena to play the Fury tank driver. The director commended Pena for learning how to actually drive a Sherman tank efficiently enough to hit his marks almost always. Pena says details counted most. “We had to train a lot outside of the tank to make sure we could get in and out like real soldiers.”
4 Ayer insisted that Pitt and his crew take tank gunnery lessons in a hardcore boot camp environment before filming began. All joined in enthusiastically. Ayer says he wanted his actors to get that “no rank in a tank” edgy feeling before they arrived in front of the camera.