WASHINGTON: Actor Andrew Scott has looked back on his brief but memorable role in Saving Private Ryan, describing the experience of working on the acclaimed war drama as “extraordinary”.
Scott appeared as a “Soldier on the Beach” in the film’s celebrated opening sequence depicting the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach in Normandy.
“I had one line or something, and Tom Hanks rolled over me, and I was very happy to be there,” Scott said.
“It was an extraordinary thing — it was my first time being on a set of that enormity, and I feel very proud that I got to be a tiny part of that. It’s a sequence that’s gone down in movie history,” he added.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the Oscar-winning 1998 film was inspired by the real-life story of the Niland brothers from New York, who served during the Second World War.
Matt Damon starred as Private James Francis Ryan, a character loosely based on Frederick “Fritz” Niland, while Tom Hanks played Captain John H. Miller, the officer tasked with finding Ryan after his brothers are believed to have been killed in action.
Scott is currently starring in another Second World War drama, Pressure, based on David Haig’s 2014 stage play of the same name.
The film centres on the tense 72 hours leading up to D-Day, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg debate whether to proceed with the high-risk invasion of Normandy.
In Pressure, Scott portrays a British Met Office meteorologist attached to the Royal Air Force, responsible for delivering the weather forecast crucial to the success of the operation.
Speaking recently, Scott also underlined the importance of strong screenwriting when choosing projects.
“You know, I don’t think you can make a great movie if you’ve got a mediocre script,” he said. “I’ve been doing lots of very different stuff, and that’s kind of the name of the game for me.”
(With inputs from ANI)
