Interview: Jason Hall Steps Behind the Camera in Thank You for Your Service.

One of the first interviews I did when I moved to LA a little over three years ago was with Jason Hall when I spoke to him about writing the screenplay for American Sniper. Chris Kyle’s story was near and dear to him as he got to know Kyle’s widow and spend extensive time with her so he could better understand his subject.

Hall has now directed Thank You for Your Service. When he introduced a screening at the Arclight in Hollywood, he talked about how he wanted to make a film for veterans coming home from war to explore that emotional aftermath, the journey charting their return to normal life and their re-adjustment after being on the front line. The story follows Sgt. Adam Schumann, Tausolo Aeiti, and Michael Emory after they return from combat. Memories of Iraq haunt them as they struggle with the journey. During our first conversation in 2014, Hall told me about working with Clint Eastwood and how he watched a master at work. It was another master, Steven Spielberg, who introduced Hall to David Finkel’s book on which his new film is based. Hall used what he learned from his mentors to adapt and direct Thank You for Your Service.

I caught up with Hall to talk about his directorial debut and the importance of telling a story that takes us through the torment of PTSD.

What was the importance for you to tell this story?

Homecoming is not walking back into your home and the couch and the TV. It’s a return to self. The examination I was able to do with Chris Kyle’s story in American Sniper only lent itself to a small part of that. There was only a short period of time I could use to examine that and this felt like an opportunity to really explain what these guys go through and how difficult it is coming home. There’s a lot of nuance and subtlety to it. There’s a lot we don’t know about how it feels. I felt an entire movie about coming home was in order and we could very much make that a war film. That this was is occurring in the hearts and minds of the soldiers as they’re stepping off the plane and they’re trying to push it back down.

I think that we need to enter into conflicts that are as honorable as the men and women that we send over there. I think we need to find a way to understand their sacrifice better. Not until we understand the personal sacrifice of the men and women that we send over will we understand the cost of war. We are removed from it and we are on the other side of the planet. Most of America has no connection to this one-half-of-1% of society.

How did you get to find out about this story?

Steven Spielberg was going to direct American Sniper for a minute and he was the one who introduced me to this book. He asked if I was interested in writing the adaptation. In the book, if you’ve read it, David Finkle examines the lives as they come home and it’s a thorough examination of these individuals and their journey home.

When reading their stories and then making the film, what was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge in telling the story was making a film that was about the individuals and not about the conflict but to bring that into the persons but to introduce enough what was resonating inside that.

Miles Teller gives a terrific performance.

He is so subtle and so still. It was important that we had enough at the start of the film to understand that what it was that he was ruminating on so that we could understand that stillness and that subtly and we could feel the depth of the emotion there. The challenge was knowing how much was too much.

With Miles, I’ve been following his career ever since he was in Rabbit Hole. He stepped out of theater school and in front of the camera with Nicole Kidman and held his own. There was such an ease to his work that I responded to. He disappears into these roles and he also knows about personal trauma and understands it, so he can use his own struggles to propel him through the narrative and scenes of the film.

This is your directorial debut.

It sure was.

Talk about going on the journey of writing and directing it.

The struggle was getting it down in narrative form and finding a way to tell all these stories in an ensemble. I learned a lot from Clint. There is an ease and fluidity to the way he works and it’s so captivating. It almost makes everyone around him think that they can do his job, but that’s how relaxed he is. It shows how in tune he is with his own instincts. I came away knowing I could say less and film more. I understood the depth of sacrifice by actors. Don’t forget I developed this in a room with Spielberg intending to direct it. I was writing it for him to direct.

I think the challenge was finding my vision of this after walking away from Clint and seeing how he does things. Clint is interested in knowing where the truth is in the frame. He’s interested in every scene and how his audience will feel at the end of the scene, what are we trying to make them feel.

How have veterans reacted to your film?

They say the same thing, that someone finally told their story. It cost them something to have the story told. To understand them, we had to tell the story. It really hits home and is realistic, visceral and honest. Most of them don’t want to see it because they lived it. Once we convince them to see it, they come out the other side with gratitude and what you realize is that they know the story, it is their story. While it is for them and about them, it is for the families who don’t understand the sacrifice their sons or daughters make.

What did you take from sitting down with Adam and talking to him?

There’s a generosity to him. He was a great soldier, one of the top soldiers in his battalion. It took a lot more courage to come back and reveal this side of the journey to open up and be vulnerable with this side of the journey and return to self. You go from having the outside gift of the hero to having the inside gift of compassion and forgiveness. It was courageous and took a lot from him to allow David into his world.