The film Saving Private Ryan was precipitated by a monument Robert Rodat saw in 1994 in Putney Corners, New Hampshire that memorialized the individuals killed during the Civil War in Vietnam. Rodat observed that names of eight siblings who all died during the American Civil War and inspired by the story, he did a bit of research and made a decision to write a story resembling the World War II set.
Rodat was to then submit the script to Mark Gordon – the producer – who liked it but only after 11 redrafts. Gordon then shared the fine copy with Hanks who also liked it and gave it to Spielberg to direct. The date for shooting Saving Private Ryan was thus set for June 27, 1997.
Before the shooting kicked off though, a number of the film’s stars had to endure boot camp training for ten days and this was overseen by Marine veteran Dale Dye and a California company that trains actors for military portrayals. The lot included Vin Diesel, Edward Burns, Tom Hanks and Giovanni Ribisi. However, Matt Damon was intentionally excluded from the military drills and this made the rest of the group resent him. The film’s epic success could be attributed to this kind of meticulous attention to detail and diligence.