[Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Warfare]
A24's Warfare is officially Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alex Garland's highest-rated project to date. The film, which depicts a Navy SEALs mission gone wrong, is unique in a number of ways, and its blockbuster success is due in part to co-director and writer, and veteran Ray Mendoza.
The two creatives first collaborated on last year's Civil War, where Mendoza shared the story of the Ramadi attack recounted in the film with Garland. In order to tell this story in the most authentic way, the duo tracked down Mendoza's fellow Navy SEALs who were in that house that day to piece Elliott Miller's (played in the film by Shōgun's Cosmo Jarvis) story in real time for him.
In this interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub, Garland and Mendoza explain the measures taken to ensure there was zero editorializing or invention throughout the telling of this story. They talk about the unique editing experience, how Mendoza played a major role in the training of cast members Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Charles Melton, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Noah Centineo, and why it was imperative to have the SEALs they were portraying on set. They also break down why the ending includes the photographs of the soldiers involved.
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