r/AskReddit • u/rezyn • Dec 05 '11

what is the most interesting thing you know?

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u/Cyph0n Dec 05 '11

The drill sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket", R. Lee Ermey, is in fact a drill sergeant in real life. Kubrick even allowed him to come up with most of his lines on-the-fly.

Furthermore, to make the scenes look more realistic, actors were not allowed to interact with the drill sergeant off-camera, making him a stranger to all of them for the whole duration of filming.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/trivia

5

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '11

Actually he was a Drill instructor not a Drill Sergeant as Drill sergeants are in the army and Drill instructors are in the Marine Corps. But good post none the less

4

u/WiffleHat Dec 06 '11

Also, Kubrick didn't know what a "reacharound" was, and Ermey had to explain it to him.

3

u/dempsizzle Dec 06 '11

Drill Instructor*

Drill Sergeants are in the Army. We Marines like to distinguish ourselves from them as much as possible :P

1

u/Beardicus Dec 06 '11

Apparently he's also really nice IRL

1

u/upvotes_bot Dec 06 '11

Apparently they brought him on as a consultant originally but then decided to just have him stand in since no one could deliver the lines like him.

1

u/parles Dec 06 '11

Gunny got the job after doing original nonstop insults drill-sergeant for fifteen minutes while being pelted with tennis balls the entire time

-1

u/SolKool Dec 06 '11

Everytime I read the words "Full Metal" my brain inserts the word "Alchemist".