‘Civil War’ is more real than you suspect
At the climax of the divisive movie “Civil War," American soldiers snake through the White House to hunt down the president. This and other harrowing battle scenes were coordinated by a former Navy SEAL, Ray Mendoza. Despite serving in the military for 16 years and earning a Silver Star in combat, he had no qualms about bringing the incendiary imagery of “Civil War" to life.
“I approached it no differently than ‘Transformers’ or anything I’m hired to choreograph knowing it’s fiction," said Mendoza, the military adviser on “Civil War" who was introduced to the project by stunt coordinator Jeff Dashnaw. The film by writer-director Alex Garland has held strong at No. 1 at the box office for two weeks in a row.
The story follows four journalists, including a combat photographer played by Kirsten Dunst, as they journey through the scarred landscape of a nation at war with itself. They’re traveling to Washington, D.C., where the president (Nick Offerman) is overseeing forces fighting various geographic factions, including one that allies California and Texas. The journalists encounter vigilante killers, building-to-building combat, nighttime firefights and a battle that engulfs the nation’s capital.
Mendoza has been coordinating scenes like these for more than a decade. He appeared with other real-life SEALs in the 2012 action movie “Act of Valor" before leaving the service in 2014 and moving behind the camera to supply tactical expertise on productions from “Lone Survivor" to “The Terminal List." Below, in an edited interview, he discusses his take on “Civil War" and his post-military career in fictional combat. (This interview contains plot spoilers.) Alex Garland purposefully didn’t explain the causes of the fictional civil
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