Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9310220065
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARRY KOLTNOW ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So it was understandable that director Ron Maxwell was hesitant to cast the blond, easy-going actor as the college-professor-turned-war-hero Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the four-hour, $30 million Civil War film "Gettysburg."
In fact, the actor said he thought Maxwell almost was insulting when he came to Daniels' Michigan home to discuss the film.
"He asked me if I had what it took to play Chamberlain, which really made me bristle," Daniels said. "I decided to fight back.
"I asked him if he was going to do this thing right or just do another bad version of `North and South.' I told him if that was the case, I wasn't interested in his project."
Once the two men got over their little machismo games - Daniels admitted he was ecstatic about playing the part, and Maxwell conceded he needed Daniels because the actor was almost a dead ringer for Chamberlain - the fun began.
Well, in Daniels' case, the education began.
"Suddenly, I was back in school, reading books on Chamberlain, books on Gettysburg and books on the Civil War," the actor said.
"But the more I read, the more I realized that my education had just begun. I needed to go back to where the man lived, and I went to Maine and met with his biographer and members of the local historical society. Chamberlain is a God in Maine."
The unlikely hero of the Battle of Gettysburg was a 33-year-old professor at Bowdoin College, who spoke seven languages and was prohibited by college officials from enlisting in the Army. He requested a sabbatical leave and, once it was granted, signed up.
Because of his natural leadership abilities and intellect, he rose quickly through the ranks and was a colonel 10 months later at Gettysburg. He was elevated to general after his heroics on the battlefield and went on to serve four terms as Maine's governor.
"The people of Maine, who still revere Chamberlain, told me that if I do nothing else in my portrayal, to make sure I show his ability to think," Daniels said. "That was his greatest strength, and he knew it."
Daniels, 38, drove from Maine to the national park at Gettysburg and stood on the battlefield where Chamberlain defeated Confederate forces at Little Round Top.
"I went there on a rainy Sunday morning and there was no one else there but me," the actor said. "It was like being in a cathedral. You could feel his presence."
The lengthy film, which will be shown as an even longer TV miniseries next year, is an ambitious undertaking, using actual locations at Gettysburg and enlisting the help of some 5,000 history buffs who periodically re-enact key battles at Gettysburg at their own expense.
"You start off thinking these people are weird," Daniels said. "They have their own uniforms, they sleep out in tents like real soldiers, and they never complain. If they had been Hollywood extras, all you'd hear was, `When's lunch?'
"But when you're around them awhile, you realize they're not weirdos at all. They consider themselves living historians and they're there to make sure you do justice to history.
"It's impossible to make fun of them once you've seen them in action. They were serious about what they were doing. They weren't acting. When they saluted you and called you colonel, even after filming had stopped, you saluted them right back."
In the key battle sequence that climaxes the first half of the movie - before the 20-minute intermission - Daniels said the re-enactors lent an air of authenticity that actors could not have done.
"I didn't go to Vietnam, so I'm not going to pretend that I know what war is really like. I'm not going to pretend that I know what it's like to have a buddy killed next to you in battle.
"But when I was standing there on that hill with the noise and the smoke and the people firing at you and those guys charging up that hill, it wasn't a movie for me. Those guys were really going at each other and it felt real. It was wild."
by CNB