Jeremy Davies Talks About Rescue Dawn, Christian Bale and Werner Herzog

As part of our coverage for the film "Rescue Dawn" Jeremy Davies was kind enough to take some time from his busy schedule to talk to me about playing Gene, Christian Bale, Werner Herzog, and his experiences on the film.

GVK: What attracted you to the part?

JD: Werner was a big draw. I always try to seek out mentors to become a quality filmmaker someday. Werner asked to meet with me, which was great as Werner was on my short list of mentors.

GVK: How did you prepare for the part? I noted that you have family in the service and did this affect your preparation?

JD: I had a very powerful desire to interpret the role and understand and honor the real Gene, and in doing so, honor all service members. My experiences on "Saving Private Ryan" helped with this and I tried to get as much information on Gene as I could.

There was not much information on him, and Werner gave me the freedom to bring out the character.

It is important that he be not only legitimate and believable as he is an opposing force to the hero. Gene is not a villain, but beyond the guards and the jungle surrounding the camp, he did provide opposition to the hero.

It was important to me to honor Gene's perspective, and to emphasize with him and what he was trying to communicate.

The character like my character in "Saving Private Ryan" did not belong in war. It was a wider, more complex look at soldiers in actual war as it is hard to grasp what happens to the psyche and how some soldiers just do not have the capacity for it.

In the case of Gene, he had to believe that there was no war, that they were going to be released any day, and when Dieter arrived, he shattered these beliefs.

GVK: How did you lose so much weight for the role?

JD: I am inclined to be skinny and lose weight, plus I do not always have the most ideal nervous system for this type of business. I spoke with Christian about some of his weight loss methods for "The Machinist" and I mainly used Far Infrared Saunas.

Unlike regular saunas an object is heated without heating the air around it and it heats you at the same frequency as your normal body heat.