Hi! Björn,

On 07 Jul 18 01:46, you wrote to me:

 BF>    And because of you -- thank you very much -- I fired up my HBO and
 BF> started watching that 10 episode series again.

Then you are missing the important bits from the sixth DVD, which I will be
referring to later...

 BF>    I first watched it when it aired on Swedish Public BroadCasting TV
 BF> some 15 years ago, but darn if I remember almost anything.

I tried watching the series on TV and got so frustrated with trying to record
it that Barbara took pity on me, and bought me the boxed DVD set (sitting
beside me as I type). She must have been in a more generous mood at the store
than usual; cranky old lady, she was.

 BF>    One thing that *do* I remember was wondering how in hell they cold
 BF> managed to produce that epic series with a budget of "only" 125
 BF> megabucks? I mean, compared to today's two hour movie shite with ten
 BF> times that budget?

The last disc would give you a clue.  The production team(s) were already in
place from having made 'Saving Private Ryan', so Tom Hanks could get his hands
on exactly the right people for the job.  (That's another flick that I can no
longer sit through the first 10 minutes of, and, therefore, I haven't seen on a
long time.)  There were a lot of willing & talented people available, some
donating some of their potential income to the project.

Bringing in Dale Dye's training team(s) certainly helped as well.  The actors
and some support staff were put through 'basic training' for over a fortnight
IIRC, to bring them up to the physical & mental requirements of having to not
only look like, but to 'carry' themselves as soldiers, be confident in using
soldiers' "tools of the trade", and, look soldierly on camera.  The end result
is a professional-looking production.

Most primary actors also became good friends with the veterans they were
protraying.  I think some groups of actors & veterans still have yearly meets,
ermm... 15-16 years later, after the series was 'in the can'.

Cheers,
Paul.

... In memory of a hero: Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, 29 Nov 1941.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20130515