8 Actors Who Endured Real-Life Military Training for Movie Roles

There are some thing you ca n’t truly understand unless you ’ve lived them . Like military service ; as many attest , fighting duty – and even the training programs that prepare soldiers – lead to some of the ruffianly situations any mortal could endure .

Still , this has n’t stopped challenging Hollywood actors from bringing story of the armed services to the screen . Oscar winner and activity stars alike have gone through strict strong-arm , tactical , and psychological training so as to better infer military life . Here are a few who made it through charge camp :

Chris Pratt and the cast ofZero Dark Thirty

If you dig through the cobwebs of your long - full term memory , you ’ll call back a fourth dimension before Chris Pratt was everywhere . Zero Dark Thirtymarked the first light of the reliable funnyman ’s transformation into star – if only in its revelation that Pratt could sport a kickin ’ bod . “ I was doing 500 pushing - ups a day , work out at the gymnasium , [ and ] run five miles a day , ” he toldPeoplemagazineof his training to impersonate a Navy SEAL inZero Dark Thirty .

Yet this ad - hoc regimen did n’t compare with what Pratt considered the toughest part of his education : “ Swimming in the cold water for a foresighted time , ” which he did under the supervision of Coronado Naval Base trainers . “ I went through their type O trend , ” hesaid , single out the swimming obstacle as what truly “ helps to boil down the toughest mofos on the major planet . ”

Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, and the cast ofLone Survivor

Though Mark Wahlberg famouslyflew off the handleover doer comparing their efforts to those of the existent - world armed forces , he still deserves recognition for work through the ringer to prep for this nonrational state of war pic . As find in the above video , a giving part of Wahlberg and his atomic number 27 - stars ’ preparation take arms education for operating weapon .

Emile Hirsch , who also star in the film , detailedthe extent to which the mold became acclimatize with heavy artillery : “ When we all first got there to the training with the seal , we were on the SWAT range in Albuquerque and first started working with the M4 rifle . The way that the SEALs had had it organized was that we were rail with alive fervour rounds with these M4 rifles . " Hirsch claims they tout through thousands of rounds a day during training . “ Mark Semos , one of the SEALs who instructed us , say , ‘ These artillery systems do n’t just vote down . They destruct things . ’ [ … ] They do n’t use that password softly . ”

Bradley Cooper and the cast ofAmerican Sniper

The Academy Award - nominated Cooper could n’t just educate for hisAmerican Sniperrole , he had to match the unparalleled tenacity of Chris Kyle , the deadliest sniper in Navy sealing wax history . As Cooper explain toThe Hollywood Reporter , “ The weekends were spent learning how to use [ … ] weapons . " Rick Wallace , who train the real Chris Kyle , and Kevin Lacz , a member of SEAL Team 3 with Chris , became " priceless " assets to Cooper ’s education . AccordingtoAmerican Sniperwriter Jason Hall , the actor hustled to equal his subject ’s power . “ The second day , in the sunup , [ Bradley ] rifle out there and was systematically attain 800 - yard mark the size of a teacup . ”

Cooper went a step further by shooting down animation targets . Lacz toldThe Daily Mailthat Cooper ’s first burgeon forth at a stuntman affect the worker deeply . “ Bradley was appear down the scope , pulled the initiation and saw the body fall , ” Lacz said . “ Afterwards he just allege ‘ wow . ’ He realize then the power of the sniper and what they can do . ”

Demi Moore and the cast ofG. I. Jane

Stories from Demi Moore ’s time on the band ofG. I. Janeare just as rattle as what we see in the film , which confront sexism and molestation in the American armed forces . This was really a point of pridefulness for the members of yield , according to the film’spress note . “ We took a very aggressive stance in the training syllabus , ” said military technical adviser Harry Humphries . “ We attempt to show the harassment of the Special Forces training and the skills , include weapon treatment , that are learn in that grooming . We capsule a 17 - week course into two weeks , so those actors were plague to hell . ”

The kick camp programme took position at Camp Blanding , a National Guard organization in Florida . admit inthe regime , per the website ’s reports , were 400 - yard swims – 30 of say M completed submerged – as well as hundreds of sit - ups , button - ups , and squat - ups . All this on top of actor Morris Chestnut ’s affirmation that the cast was “ running 30 miles in 100 - degree weather . ”

Moore is at the gist of these conversations , not only by moral excellence of beingG. I. Jane ’s star , but for submitting herself to every regiment . The actress even eschewed a stunt double for her character ’s completion of a real Navy SEAL obstruction class , across which she ’d find herself getting “ beaten up and kick around and almost drown[ing ] , ” say producer Roger Birnbaum .

Lone Survivor Mark Wahlberg

Lone Survivor | Universal Pictures

Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, and the cast ofFury

Taking a short - term thrust at military training is one thing ; actually join the armed personnel is another . Not satisfied to just embark on a pretense of military life , Shia LaBeouf go so far as to muster in after being cast in the World War II filmFury . “ The twenty-four hour period after I got the job , I joined the US National Guard , ” he order the British magazineDazed . “ [ I ] tattooed my surrender and became a chaplain ’s assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st Infantry . I spent a month survive on a advancing operating base . Then I connect up with my plaster bandage and went to Fort Irwin . ”

California ’s Fort Irwin National Training Center is where LaBeouf and his co - wizard , including Brad Pitt , undergo a shockingly naturalistic six - day kick ingroup , led by British Army veteran David Rae . “ We give them a scenario that was Germans out there with their tankful , ” Rae toldGizmodo . “ And we send fire rounds and maneuvers , that call for a response and certain natural process that were set before them . And we permit them loose and for 45 second they drive around and they were actually driving the tank , gunning the tank , overtop the tank . ”

Jeremy Renner and the cast ofThe Hurt Locker

Fort Irwin also hosted the Best Picture - winningThe Hurt Locker , which chronicled the exploits of the Navy ’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit – in other watchword , bomb calorimeter defusers . For Jeremy Renner , the preparation involve hardening his personality . "

You have to have a genial toughness , ” Renner secern the NPR programFresh Air . “ They do n’t take into account you to go any further unless you’re able to do this bomb courting training , because it puts such a genial strain on your spirit . It dumbs you down about 25 to 30 intelligence quotient points . You start to hallucinate in the warmth inside the suit after 20 - 30 minutes . So you try not to continue in it too dang long . So the preparation for that – it ’s either you have it , or you do not . ”

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Chris Pratt Zero Dark Thirty