50 Fun Facts About Full Metal Jacket

Who directed Full Metal Jacket?

It was the last of his films released in his lifetime, arriving twelve years before Eyes Wide Shut.

The film is based on which 1979 autobiographical novel?

Kubrick found it in the Kirkus Review, read it twice and called it 'a unique, absolutely wonderful book'.

Who wrote the source novel and shared screenplay credit on the film?

He had been a Marine combat correspondent during the Tet Offensive of 1968.

Michael Herr, Kubrick's co-writer, was the author of which Vietnam memoir?

Kubrick first contacted him in 1980 to discuss a Holocaust film before switching to Vietnam.

The film's title refers to what?

A full metal jacket round has a soft core encased in harder metal.

Where does the boot camp half of the film take place?

In reality it was shot at Bassingbourn Barracks, a former RAF station in Cambridgeshire.

How does Private J. T. Davis earn the nickname 'Joker'?

Hartman, in turn, names the overweight Leonard Lawrence 'Gomer Pyle'.

What does Hartman find in Pyle's footlocker during an inspection?

From then on the platoon is punished for every mistake Pyle makes, which leads to the blanket party.

In what skill does Pyle unexpectedly excel after the blanket party?

Joker starts to worry when he catches Pyle talking to his rifle.

Where does Joker find Pyle with a loaded rifle on the last night at Parris Island?

Pyle is reciting the Rifleman's Creed; he shoots Hartman, then himself.

Which rifle does Pyle load in the latrine scene?

In Hue, Joker's M16 jams at the worst possible moment.

In Vietnam, Joker works as a sergeant for which publication?

He is based in Da Nang with the combat photographer Rafter Man when the Tet Offensive begins.

What is the nickname of the unit Joker joins in the second half of the film?

His friend Cowboy from Parris Island is already in it.

The film's second half unfolds during the fight for which city?

Platoon leader 'Mr. Touchdown' Schinoski is killed as they enter the city.

How is squad leader 'Crazy Earl' killed?

Cowboy takes command, and the squad promptly gets lost in the city.

The sniper who pins down the squad in Hue turns out to be whom?

Rafter Man mortally wounds her and Joker, after hesitating, delivers the mercy killing.

Which character shoots the wounded sniper to end her suffering?

Animal Mother agrees to the mercy killing only if Joker himself does it.

What do the Marines sing as they head toward the Perfume River at the end?

Joker's closing narration says he is 'in a world of shit' but alive, and not afraid.

Who plays Private Joker?

He kept an on-set diary that became a book in 2005 and an app in 2013.

How much weight did Vincent D'Onofrio gain to play Private Pyle?

Kubrick called Pyle 'the hardest part to cast in the whole movie'; Modine suggested D'Onofrio.

R. Lee Ermey was originally hired on the film in what capacity?

Kubrick first told him he was not vicious enough, so Ermey improvised insults at a group of Royal Marines to prove otherwise.

In which 1978 film had Ermey already played a Marine drill instructor?

He also played a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now while advising Coppola.

What did Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali throw at Ermey while he rehearsed his lines?

Any slip meant starting over, and 20 error-free runs were required. 'He was my drill instructor,' Ermey said.

How many hours a day did Ermey yell at the recruits while filming the Parris Island scenes?

Ermey and the recruits did not rehearse together, so their reactions stayed fresh.

What sidelined Ermey for four and a half months during filming?

Filming stretched from August 1985 to August 1986.

Which actor was originally slated to play Hartman and was given the door gunner role as a consolation?

Ed Harris turned Hartman down and later called the decision 'foolish'.

Kubrick spent nine months trying unsuccessfully to cast which actor as Joker?

Hall later regretted it; Bruce Willis declined a role because of Moonlighting.

The ruined city of Hue was recreated at which East London location?

The site was contaminated with asbestos and hundreds of other chemicals; Modine called the shoot difficult.

Which former RAF station in Cambridgeshire served as the Parris Island boot camp?

Kubrick famously refused to leave England, so Vietnam and South Carolina both came to him.

Who was the film's production designer, hired on the strength of The Company of Wolves?

He went on to win an Oscar for Tim Burton's Batman.

The film's score is credited to Abigail Mead. Who is that really?

She scored it mostly on a Fairlight CMI and a Synclavier, and shot 18 hours of behind-the-scenes footage.

'Full Metal Jacket (I Wanna Be Your Drill Instructor)' reached number one in which country?

It used Ermey's drill cadences and hit number two in the UK.

For its period soundtrack, Kubrick reviewed the Billboard top 100 for which years?

Some songs were rejected because their dynamic range drowned out the dialogue.

Which uncredited voice role did the director himself perform in the film?

Cowboy talks to him over the radio in Hue.

The film received an Academy Award nomination in which category?

Ermey got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor but was passed over by the Academy.

How much did Full Metal Jacket gross worldwide?

Its budget was estimated at $16.5 to $30 million.

Why did a colonel scold Joker in the film?

Joker explains it as a comment on 'the duality of man'.

Before the 1988 Oscars, nearly 10,000 library books were found in a locker rented by which Full Metal Jacket writer?

He pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and skipped the ceremony.

In 2002 R. Lee Ermey was honorarily promoted to which Marine rank, matching his famous role?

He had actually left the Corps as a staff sergeant.

Vincent D'Onofrio later played which Marvel villain in Daredevil?

He also spent a decade as Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

The actor who played Joker later portrayed Dr. Martin Brenner on which Netflix series?

Before Full Metal Jacket he starred in Birdy, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes.

What subject was Kubrick originally discussing with Michael Herr in 1980 before settling on Vietnam?

Kubrick found Hasford's novel The Short-Timers through the Kirkus Review, read it twice in 1982 and called it 'a unique, absolutely wonderful book'.

How many audition tapes did Kubrick receive after advertising a North American casting search?

His staff whittled the submissions down to 800 tapes for the director to review himself.

Which actor turned down the role of Hartman, later calling the decision 'foolish'?

Robert De Niro was also considered, but Kubrick feared audiences would feel cheated if his character died in the first hour.

Which Deliverance actor was considered for Hartman until Kubrick admitted an irrational fear of him?

Kubrick described McKinney's rural-psychopath sequence in the 1972 film as 'the most terrifying scene' he had seen.

Which TV commitment stopped Bruce Willis from taking a role in the film?

Val Kilmer was also considered for Joker before Matthew Modine won the part.

On what date did principal photography end, nearly a year after it began in late summer 1985?

Locations included the Norfolk Broads, Millennium Mills and a British Army rifle range near Barton, Cambridge, used for Pyle's shooting scene.

During Cowboy's death scene, a building resembles which object from an earlier Kubrick film?

Kubrick called the resemblance an 'extraordinary accident'.

What was the drill instructor's surname in Hasford's novel before the film renamed him Hartman?

The film also drops the book's third section entirely and makes Pyle the platoon's only under-performing recruit.

How many stars out of four did Roger Ebert give the film, calling it 'strangely shapeless'?

He praised Ermey and D'Onofrio as the two best performances but said the film never recovered after they left; his review angered Gene Siskel.