The production began filming in Texas in early August. Peirce sat down with each actor before the rehearsal to get to know them, absorb who they are, whats important to them, how they see themselves. Whether they know it or not, they generally tell me their life story as if they were the character. Once I feel theyve told me all the essentials and I have a feel for them, we naturally start talking about the character.

After rehearsal, she again met with them individually and then paired them up based on the relationships they have in the film and their scenes in common. Rather than reciting lines, I ease them into getting the scene on its feet, says Peirce. We work loosely, get to the core of the scene emotionally, what each character wants, how they go about getting it; we improvise it and wonderful stuff comes out.

Once production commenced, before shooting each day Peirce had a general run-through of the scene, loosely putting it on its feet and letting the actors find their way through the space. Its basically to help the scene find its natural shape and then to push on points of conflict, she says. Im always amazed at the new level of clarity we all have when the actors run through the action and dialogue with other actors on the set.

Cinematographer Chris Menges

Working alongside her during the rehearsal process was director of photography Chris Menges. Id rehearse a scene until the point where it had a natural and dramatic shape, says Peirce. Hed watch the rehearsal and generally figure out where to put the camera (and where to move the camera) so the scene plays out in one shot. That gives it the advantage of retaining the inherent dramatic shape of the scene. Then we can go in for more movement.

Menges excelled at utilizing handheld cameras, Steadicams and a crane, when needed, which Peirce says allowed her to capture a sort of dynamism and energy as well as a sense of intimacy. And hes phenomenal with light. He tends to go with natural light whenever he can.

The cast and crew stayed in Austin, the cosmopolitan state capitol, home to the University of Texas and a world-famous music scene. However, most of the films locations were in outlying small towns, such as Lockhart, Texas, the self-proclaimed Barbecue Capital of Texas. One of the movies pivotal sequences took place there the parade in which the town welcomes home its war heroes and the subsequent awards ceremony. This also happened to be the first scenes filmed in the movie. Lockhart was the perfect venue, with its wide streets lined by Norman Rockwell-esque shops in brick and Victorian-styled buildings and an eye-popping courthouse with mansard roofs, colorful turrets and a high central tower featuring a four-way clock. Equally important, the residents enthusiastically welcomed the film company and nearly 600 townsfolk signed on to be extras, cheering the returning soldiers over the course of two days.

Key Scene in Double C Ranch

One of the key sequences, in which Tommy shoots his wedding gifts and the tensions and rifts between Brandon and best friend Steve begin to surface, took place at a sprawling ranch known as the Double C. The Double C provided the perfect, vast expanse of desiccated grass and thatch of gnarled trees that provided some shade for the actors during the first part of the scene, set during the day. The night work required a hunt club, where Brandon and Steves friendship would begin to fray. Production designer David Wasco created a hardscrabble, tin structure that melded perfectly into the beautiful but brutal landscape.

The script called for a dusty, dried grass kind of place with scraggly oaks. At first, we looked for an existing deer camp, which is essentially a shack. Its the most rudimentary kind of cover - a series of interconnected cardboard boxes. Ours was board and batten, with standing seam tin for the roof and walls, metal and fiberglass insulation, remnants of carpet on the wall, not pretty. We also had to provide something that was film friendly, so that the camera and lights could be in any position. So, we were lucky to come to the Double C Ranch, which is a multi-thousand acre ranch that offered so many possibilities. It provided a place for the earlier portion of the scene, the target practice sequence, and then Kim and the actors could move organically to the deer camp, as they do in the script, which we built nearby. It was essentially a wild-walled movie set if we would have gone to a practical location, we would have been much more limited, in terms of the shots we could have achieved, Wasco says.

Wasco adds that the unprecedented drought that summer made for good production design. This is as authentic as youre going to get. This was one of the few opportunities in the movie that opens up to show true Texas prairie. We were in the midst of the strongest drought in memory, which gave us these golden fields and dusty prairie, which looks beautiful on film. Its quite a heartland America thing that is such a contrast to Iraq and New York, says Wasco.

Color Scheme

Wasco adds that in general, his color scheme was a gradual spiral down with Brandon. As we go on the journey with Brandon and his circumstances become increasingly dire, the colors go darker and darker, until they become almost monochromatic. The only break in that patina is in New York, where, of course, the colors are much more vibrant and jarring.

Costumes

Costume designer Marlene Stewart followed a similar color pattern. At the start of the film, as the characters tentatively begin their new civilian lives, the tones are brighter Steve in his patriotic red, white and blue checked shirts, Michele donning a soft pink top, a fresh white sundress and flouncy red party frock, Brandon favoring a maroon shirt. As the movie proceeds, Steve relies on his Army fatigues while Brandon and Michele, on the run, tend towards gunmetal gray and dark blue non-descript attire.

These looks did not happen by chance and even the more pedestrian garb merited scrutiny prior to principal photography. Stewart, the actors and Peirce participated in several costume and camera tests, to ascertain the best cut of the pants or the length of a t-shirt, in addition to the specific hues that would be used. While this process is common in moviemaking, at first, Stop-Loss would not appear to be a costume movie that warranted such scrutiny. Stewart demurs.

I find that even on a simple costume, there is the same amount of discussion, especially in a movie like this one, where the characters have to live in one costume for a long time, she says. I always prefer to have camera tests before production begins, with the DP, the director, the production designer and, of course, the actors, to see how the cut of the clothes look, how the colors react with skin tones and film stock. That way, everyone knows and decides and is in on the process.

Menges trademark, however, is to illuminate sets via practical lights that are part of the scene. This signature practice was best seen in what became known as the Cattle Club. Club 21, in Uhland, Texas, a well-known honky-tonk bar, became the setting of a pivotal party scene in which drunken fun leads to a barroom brawl that reveals the difficulties the soldiers face returning to civilian life. The production ended up filming there for three nights and because the camera, usually a Steadicam, often revealed 90% of the set, lighting it with traditional key lights and the like was a difficult proposition. Menges solution was to string a canopy of 5000 Carney lights above the set.

David Wascos production design augmented the look with neon signage above the stage where a band played tunes by which to two-step. Whenever Menges team had to shoot close-ups, his team would produce a white cardboard card with a coiled ring of small white lights affixed to it. This portable, bespoke rig allowed him to softly and swiftly illuminate the actors without compromising the framing of the shot.