Duvall Brings Familial Spin To 'Generals'

From the first two "Godfather" films, "Apocalypse Now," "The Great Santini" and "Tender Mercies," to more recent films like "The Apostle" and "A Civil Action," there's no doubt that legendary actor Robert Duvall has had his share of rich roles.

Yet, for all of the 80-plus films Duvall has done since his career began in the early 1960s, he's never encountered the unique situation that was presented to him in the new Civil War epic "Gods and Generals."

Not only was he going to be playing the revered Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, he had special connection to man: Duvall's a direct descendant.

"Everybody else says that they're a descendent of his, but with me it's true -- on my mother's side," Duvall told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "But what really helped me with the part, I think, was my father's side, because he was a military man from Northern Virginia, and all my uncles had lived on farms around there. That's where I got the whole accent and speech pattern for the role. It was a blood thing, not an intellectual thing learned from a book."

Written and directed by Ron Maxwell, "Gods and Generals" is a prequel to the filmmaker's 1993 epic Civil War drama "Gettysburg." The film chronicles the Civil War from 1861 to 1863, beginning with the battle of Manassas (Bull Run), and ending with the Battle of Chancellorsville. Followed are plights of Union Col. Joshua Lawrence (Jeff Daniels) and Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang).

At the beginning of the film, we find Gen. Lee as a distinguished 25-year veteran of the United States Army, faced with the daunting decision of choosing an allegiance to his country, or his home state of Virginia. He chooses the later, instantly putting himself at odds with Union.

Like he has many times before, the Oscar-winning actor delivers an impeccable performance in "Gods and Generals" -- but oddly enough, the work he put into the role wasn't as complicated as one would think. To begin with, he didn't place any pressure on himself to deliver, even considering his family ties to Lee.

"I never felt it was great challenge -- I've always considered it a great honor to play him," Duvall explained. "It didn't feel it foreign to me. Once again, it's close to what I come from with my father's military background and everything, but I felt a responsibility -- not a pressure -- but a responsibility to try to make the portrayal as accurate and as truthful as possible."

So in the end, Duvall said, the key to making the fiercely patriotic leader seem real to audiences, was to make him human.

"So often you see people in these types of period pieces playing for the period, or playing for the costume," Duvall said. "You just have to play a human being, and the simplest way to do it is by talking and listening, and listening and talking. You have to approach the role the same way you would attack any part, whether it be fiction or real characters."

Duvall's "human" approach to the role was affirmed with a special visit to the set one day by a distinguished guest -- Robert E. Lee IV. But you never would have known him to be the great grandson of the legendary general by just looking at him, Duvall said..

"He looked like anybody else, you would never have known had he not said that," Duvall mused. "There was no special thing to it other than the name, really."

One face on the set of "Gods and Generals" that everybody did recognize was that of the man who financed the financed the project, media mogul Ted Turner. Like he did in "Gettysburg," Turner (pictured, top left) turns up in a cameo role in "Gods and Generals."

"It's a nice hobby for him," Duvall said of Turner, who made a union-scale of $636 for his cameo. But then, the veteran actor instantly put things back into perspective. "I hope he gets paid back the $90 million he put out of his own pocket (to finance the film)."

In addition to Turner, several politicians from the local to the federal ranks turn up in bit parts in "Gods and Generals," including Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Sen. Barbara Mikulksi (D-Maryland) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia).

Byrd's presence provided a special moment to the production because he celebrated his 84th birthday on the set, donning a white beard and mustache for his cameo role as a Confederate officer.

"Senator Byrd was cold and waited all day to deliver one line, which he never did," Duvall recalled. "But then somebody said something and he said, 'Amen.' So, I don't know maybe they had to pay him a little more, because he suddenly had a speaking part."

While visits from the likes of Turner, Lee IV, and several politicians made the atmosphere fun on "Gods and Generals," Duvall hopes that the serious tone of what happened during the Civil War is what resonates with audiences, particularly its younger members.

That's because "Gods and Generals" strives to tell the truth, and avoids becoming a glossy, Hollywood interpretation of what happened during the Civil War.

"People tend to somewhat some what rewrite history sometimes, and you can't rewrite this part of history, you've got to tell it as it is," Duvall said. "It's a reference point of our history, and young people should know about this. It's the worst war we've ever faced, and in some ways the most horrible. It was family against family, and brother against brother at times."