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Why he chose to work on this film:
It was all around wanting to work with a director like
that. The script in itself was very interesting and
powerful. It was mainly Jim who was the inspiration for
me wanting to do it.
On the movie:
I think it's very classic in its orientation. It's very
biblical but an interesting thing is that Jim approaches
it in such a deeply personal way that given the
circumstances of the story, he makes it extraordinarily
personal. And you're never quite sure where he's digging
this stuff up but you know it's from experience which is
very interesting. He always seems so perplexed about it.
He's in a dilemma all the time which is great. I mean
he's in the right kind of dilemma, questioning the
essence of the story. Where the human factor is.
On the atmosphere the director creates:
I don't know if you're always comfortable. Sometimes
you're very uncomfortable but you're inspired because of
his dilemma. You almost feel like you have to take care
of him (laughing). It's an interesting situation. I
never quite felt like that with any other director...
He's walking this line between truth and falsehood. It's
amazing to work with someone like that. You know That's
the way I feel about writing. There's something deeply
at stake in it and you don't always feel like that
working in film.
On the relationship between Sam and Hank:
I grew up in a military family myself. My dad was in the
Air Force and I find it bizarre... this thing... First
of all, the brainwashing. That part of it is very
bizarre to me. It actually conspires to take the
humanity out of an individual, that you're no longer an
individual. You're a fighting machine and you no longer
have emotions. You no longer have feelings. And yet it's
considered a brotherhood and it obviously is. These guys
don't leave anybody behind. They're courageous. They
have a code of ethics and yet, at the same time, there's
this underside of it which is, I feel, a kind of
brainwashing where the humanity is sucked out of you in
order for you to become a weapon and a number. It has
this incredible dichotomy to it, which is part of the
dilemma these characters find themselves in.
On co-star Mare Winningham:
Oh, she's wonderful. She's my wife. She's not the actual
physical mother of these boys. She's their stepmom. I
don't know if it's a needless complication or not but
it's kind of interesting because the boys relate to her
in a slightly different way than they would if she were
their natural mother, and then my relationship. It just
throws a kink into the situation which makes it
interesting. And Mare, of course, is such a wonderful
actress. She just makes the thing happen without a lot
of tags on it. She's just there.
On Jim Sheridan:
He's far more patient than I am. He has incredible
patience and he's extremely good-natured. I don't think
he has a mean bone in his body although he pretends
sometimes to have one. As a person, he's quite different
than me. I don't have that kind of patience. In fact, I
have hardly any patience. (laughing). Consequently, I'm
not a very good director. I do it and I force myself to
have patience but I think it's either part of your
character or it isn't. I think he's endowed with a lot
of patience. |
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Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune:
The film is gripping - an honorable and beautifully
acted addition to the tradition of homefront war
stories... Sam Shepard, at his intuitive and
subtle finest, plays their taciturn father, a retired
Marine himself. Typical of the small moments in
"Brothers" that make it special: In the cramped kitchen,
when Tommy sees his father for the first time in a long
while, the muttered words between them speak volumes,
quietly.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times:
Sheridan and his screenplay sources make “Brothers” much
more than a drama about war and marriage. It is about
what we can forgive ourselves for — and that, too, has
been a theme running through Sheridan's films... The
principal actors, with Shepard's well-timed and
not overacted appearances, make this a specific story
about particular people, and it avoids temptations
toward melodrama.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel:
The cast is fascinating, young actors now possessing the
dramatic heft to pull something like this off. Maguire,
as Sam, comes unhinged in subtle, realistic ways and
Gyllenhaal and Portman react to him with a convincing
blend of fear and pity. Putting them all at a table with
Shepard and veteran character actress Mare
Winningham makes for intimate, beautifully played drama.
Film critic James Berardinelli:
Brothers is arguably the most successful remake of a
foreign film since Martin Scorsese reworked Infernal
Affairs into The Departed and won the
Oscar... Excellent support is provided by Sam
Shepard as the military Dad whose past has laid the
seeds for the present.
Stephen Whitty, NJ Star Ledger:
Sam Shepard is wonderful in an underwritten part.
Film critic Brian Orndorf:
Shepard is uncharacteristically superlative here
as the pained patriarch.
David Edelstein, New York Magazine:
The crosscurrents keep you scanning the frame, from
Shepard’s subtly vibrating features (he’s never been
better) to the lovely girls, each with her own distinct
reaction.
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon:
"When Shepard and Gyllenhaal appear in a scene
together, the air around them is charged - it's as
if the searching, vulnerable quality in Tommy's eyes
registers as a taunt in the manly-man world of his
father.
Oscarfrenzy.com:
Sam Shepard as Hank Cahill, the Vietnam vet, who carries
his own set of emotional war wounds, delivers an
understated and believable performance as a father who
overtly favors one son over the other.
Jonathan Kiefer, The Faster Times:
With Sam Shepard in its cast, we’re not wrong to
hope for something more poetic and philosophical... I
mentioned Shepard not just because he’s written great
plays involving manly, ghostly, family drama, but
because his presence is what’s best about “Brothers.”
Yes, Gyllenhaal has some nice moments of drunken
desperation and amends-making; and Maguire acts his
heart out, or at least bugs his eyes out, during
imperative breakdown scenes; and Portman sharpens the
blade of her beauty into recognizable signifiers of
maternal inclination and grief; but Shepard’s portrayal
of the young men’s father, a favorite-playing
combat-veteran Marine himself, is the movie’s anchor.
He’s the faded patriarch, at once burrowed into old
grudges and woundedly aloof, and this marvelously
coiled-up performance precludes all the potential
cliches. Mare Winningham, underused, plays the brothers’
mother, but it’s in Shepard’s face and testy manner that
the full family backstory is
revealed.
Betty Jo Tucker, Reel Talk Reviews:
Supporting cast members Sam Shepard and Mare
Winningham are excellent as Sam and Tommy’s parents.
Shepard’s unsympathetic turn helps us see how wrong it
is to love one child more than another and to constantly
compare them.
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Sam Shepard is fine as the brothers' dad, a
temperamental Vietnam vet.
Jase Howell, Chicago Reporter:
Sam Shepard also turns in a finely-tuned performance he
predicates on facial features and soft tones that convey
everything he is thinking and saying, with minimal
dialogue.
Joblo.com:
Both Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham are terrific
and very believable. Shepard is especially good
as the dad who plays favorites and drinks too much.
Filmicafe.com:
The principal actors, with Shepard's well-timed and
not overacted appearances, make this a specific story
about particular people, and it avoids temptations
toward melodrama.
Stephen Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer:
"Brothers" is a heartbreaking film that speaks to the
lifelong aftershocks of war, and to the powerful bonds
of family and of love... Sam Shepard is this
bitter, taciturn man, and it's a fine portrayal.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion:
The performances are solid and sincere across the
board, with Maguire in particular showing a real change
of pace as an initially good-natured man who returns
from the horror of combat with a frighteningly steely
exterior cloaking the simmering rage within. The other
outstanding contributions come from Shepard as
the father who must come to terms with the fact that his
sternness might have ruined each of his sons in
different ways, and Madison, whose ability to convey the
emotional shifts in the older daughter is quite
remarkable for a child.
Ann Nicholson, IE Weekly:
Sam's dad (a great Sam Shepard) takes to
drink... Peter Sobczynski, efilmcritic.com:
Sam Shepard is effective as the emotionally taciturn
father. National Public Radio:
The crosscurrents keep you scanning the frame — to watch the subtly vibrating
face of Shepard, who has never been better, or the two wonderful girls.
Actors in Sheridan’s movies are fully engaged, thinking hard in character, and
you feel as if you’re inside their heads. For this great director, empathy seems
to come as naturally as breathing. Colin Covert, Minneapolis
Star Tribune:
Shepard's ramrod old soldier is as abrasive as 40-grit
sandpaper; he deserves more time onscreen.
Jeffery M. Anderson, Combustible
Celluloid:
The performances are fine, including Sam Shepard as the
boys' alcoholic dad.
Diana Saenger, Review Express:
Shepard, an amazing actor, can make us think he’s a
billboard.
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post:
Sam Shepard, by the way, turns in a fine performance as
Sam and Tommy's emotionally distant, Vietnam-veteran
father.
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