FULL METAL JACKET (1987)

1. Where were the Vietnam scenes filmed?

Most of the Vietnam scenes were shot in and around an abandoned gasworks plant in the East London suburb of Beckton. The plant and surrounding buildings had been designed by the same French architects who had designed many of the buildings in Hue, Vietnam, and were very similar. Kubrick had hundreds of live palm trees and plastic plants from Hong Kong trucked in to decorate the set and make it look more like Vietnam.

The plant had been scheduled for demolition, so Kubrick and his crew received permission to actually destroy much of the area, which gave it an even more authentic, war-torn feel.

2. How did Lee Ermey get the part of the drill sergeant?

Ermey, a Vietnam veteran, had been hired as a technical advisor on the film. Among his duties was to indoctrinate the actors into a military mind-set. Kubrick was so impressed with Ermey’s endless, colorful streams of improvised invectives during this time that he hired Ermey to play the role.

3. Who composed the original music heard in the film?

Kubrick’s daughter Vivian, using the pseudonym "Abigail Mead."

4. Why did John Alcott, cinematographer on Kubrick’s four previous films, not shoot Full Metal Jacket?

   After shooting The Shining for Kubrick, Alcott, who was British, decided to move to the United States in order to work more steadily. Among his more notable later films were The Beastmaster (1982), Under Fire (1983) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984).

   When Kubrick began working on Full Metal Jacket in 1985, Alcott was unavailable, so Kubrick hired Douglas Milsome, who had been an assistant to Alcott on Barry Lyndon and The Shining. Alcott suffered a heart attack and died in August 1986.

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