What do you think?
Rate this book
Matthew Modine's Full Metal Jacket Diary Audiobook
In 1985, Stanley Kubrick encouraged Matthew Modine to keep a journal and take photographs while playing the lead role of Pvt. Joker—a combat correspondent—on the set of his Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket . In 2005, Modine published a limited edition book of his diary and photos which later became an interactive experience for the iPad. Now, with the Full Metal Jacket Diary audiobook, fans can listen to Modine as he performs his diary with sound effects and original music. This deeply immersive, firsthand account reveals what it was like to work with Stanley Kubrick, one of cinema’s most enigmatic filmmakers.
30 pages, Audio CD
First published December 1, 2014
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 31, 2018
As a film critic, I have always been interested in evaluating how a movie makes me feel and how it compares to others. This journal, for the first time, has made me absolutely fascinated in the filmmaking process. That is, the way in which special effects are handled, the way scenes evolve and take shape over the course of a shoot, and the way actors/directors/crew interact when the cameras are not rolling.
This account of the history of FULL METAL JACKET also increased my reverence for Stanley Kubrick's talent (and convinced me that he was definitely a bit of a jerk, albeit a genius one, too). The film is a masterpiece and one of my favorites of all-time and learning about the details of how it was made gave me a lot of joy. This is a must-read for fans of the director or this film, and I will be eagerly seeking out stories like this about other favorite films of my own.
This account of the history of FULL METAL JACKET also increased my reverence for Stanley Kubrick's talent (and convinced me that he was definitely a bit of a jerk, albeit a genius one, too). The film is a masterpiece and one of my favorites of all-time and learning about the details of how it was made gave me a lot of joy. This is a must-read for fans of the director or this film, and I will be eagerly seeking out stories like this about other favorite films of my own.
December 31, 2022
That Stanley Kubrick, pretty level-headed guy, I'd say.
There's that line that Kubrick says about why he does so many takes: "Actors don't know their lines." It may sound pretentious at first, but when Matthew Modine adds on to it with, "When Stanley said that actors don't know their lines, he didn't mean the words." He... earns getting to say that.
What's engrossing about this process of Kubrick's - in this case the year long shoot (albeit with some delays not all on the filmmaker) for Full Metal Jacket - is all about this idea of knowing and not knowing what he wants... and that question if he always knew is practically besided the point. By 1985-86 he had far reached a stage of freedom (albeit in a commercial medium and a genre film) that the making of a film for him was more about exploration, experimentation, and trying to get an actor to be natural as possible... which is a lot harder to do for some than others. Sometimes for this case it meant jettisoning one cast actor (the guy who was originally Sgt. Hartman who, as many actors do, held back his full force of delivery in rehearsals) and bringing on the guy who was whipping the extras into to shape (R Lee Ermy, who I didn't know due to a car crash extended the shooting schedule more than *just* Kubrick's experimentation).
Sometimes it meant Modine having to walk around by himself on the set and Kubrick coming up to ask what's wrong, the actor in exasperation saying he didn't know who this guy Joker is or how to play him, and Kubrick giving an almost savant-Yoda response to *not* act and be himself. Whoa. And sometimes it meant being on a stage so very very long. I don't even think after listening to this Kubrick comes off as a perfectionist; the entire running mishegas around the ending seems proof of that, which was changed and multiple ideas were considered and reconsidered (to the point when, once Modine lands on it with SK and the director's response, he wonders if he was fucked with all along and this was the ending the director and writers planned anyway as a test).
But there's a part of me that when I hear about the making of this, or 2001 or Dr Strangelove or Eyes Wide Shut (and to an extent the Shining, his abuse et al), I have an admiration for his artistic spirit. I think the general impression that's been fostered by cinephiles (though I'm sure Kubrick's reputation didn't help) was that his Perfectionism meant that he would drive his actors to be drained of any 'acting' until they were robots. But seeing his films that's not true to me, and listening to Modine recount how Kubrick would respond to Modine's choices with "what was that?" Reaponses is kind of amusing... until one realizes that in a sense his tuning in to actors was far less theoretical and more organic and/or instinctual. And to Modines credit as a writer, he gets to a certain kind of empathy: it's not what he is doing wrong as an actor, he realizes, it's what this filmmaker can't see in his own conscious state of the material.
In other words, this diary, though with (understandably) many personal tangents, is a sort of act of reckoning and empathy for his one time director. Other actors and directors asked him "so... what's *he* like?!" And the underlying impression of their question may be closer to "what's this freak up to" more than a genuine interest in process. What one comes away with in Modine's diary is that Kubrick was and wasn't a tyrant, and he was and wasn't a sweet-hearted older artistic soul. It might seem like he was fucking with people (the bit about Modines baby name would almost be funny, if maybe this shows like... did SK have a touch of aspergers on top of everything else?) but he also got fucked with too.
It seems like Modine was equally humbled and pissed off, frustrated and in awe, of what Kubrick could accomplish and what almost could be called OCD on the director's end. It cost him work, it cost him time with his infant child, it even cost him (arguably) hearing loss. And on occasion, Modine could screw up, badly, and it's to his credit that he's candid about his mistakes. It's a powerful, complex portrait of what sounded like one of the most difficult shoots in modern movies... except for the other Kubrick shoots.
*fyi the audiobook version, which I listened to in one sitting, is worth indulging in even as it almost is presented more like a podcast with audio effects and certain filters for some of the voices and beats.
There's that line that Kubrick says about why he does so many takes: "Actors don't know their lines." It may sound pretentious at first, but when Matthew Modine adds on to it with, "When Stanley said that actors don't know their lines, he didn't mean the words." He... earns getting to say that.
What's engrossing about this process of Kubrick's - in this case the year long shoot (albeit with some delays not all on the filmmaker) for Full Metal Jacket - is all about this idea of knowing and not knowing what he wants... and that question if he always knew is practically besided the point. By 1985-86 he had far reached a stage of freedom (albeit in a commercial medium and a genre film) that the making of a film for him was more about exploration, experimentation, and trying to get an actor to be natural as possible... which is a lot harder to do for some than others. Sometimes for this case it meant jettisoning one cast actor (the guy who was originally Sgt. Hartman who, as many actors do, held back his full force of delivery in rehearsals) and bringing on the guy who was whipping the extras into to shape (R Lee Ermy, who I didn't know due to a car crash extended the shooting schedule more than *just* Kubrick's experimentation).
Sometimes it meant Modine having to walk around by himself on the set and Kubrick coming up to ask what's wrong, the actor in exasperation saying he didn't know who this guy Joker is or how to play him, and Kubrick giving an almost savant-Yoda response to *not* act and be himself. Whoa. And sometimes it meant being on a stage so very very long. I don't even think after listening to this Kubrick comes off as a perfectionist; the entire running mishegas around the ending seems proof of that, which was changed and multiple ideas were considered and reconsidered (to the point when, once Modine lands on it with SK and the director's response, he wonders if he was fucked with all along and this was the ending the director and writers planned anyway as a test).
But there's a part of me that when I hear about the making of this, or 2001 or Dr Strangelove or Eyes Wide Shut (and to an extent the Shining, his abuse et al), I have an admiration for his artistic spirit. I think the general impression that's been fostered by cinephiles (though I'm sure Kubrick's reputation didn't help) was that his Perfectionism meant that he would drive his actors to be drained of any 'acting' until they were robots. But seeing his films that's not true to me, and listening to Modine recount how Kubrick would respond to Modine's choices with "what was that?" Reaponses is kind of amusing... until one realizes that in a sense his tuning in to actors was far less theoretical and more organic and/or instinctual. And to Modines credit as a writer, he gets to a certain kind of empathy: it's not what he is doing wrong as an actor, he realizes, it's what this filmmaker can't see in his own conscious state of the material.
In other words, this diary, though with (understandably) many personal tangents, is a sort of act of reckoning and empathy for his one time director. Other actors and directors asked him "so... what's *he* like?!" And the underlying impression of their question may be closer to "what's this freak up to" more than a genuine interest in process. What one comes away with in Modine's diary is that Kubrick was and wasn't a tyrant, and he was and wasn't a sweet-hearted older artistic soul. It might seem like he was fucking with people (the bit about Modines baby name would almost be funny, if maybe this shows like... did SK have a touch of aspergers on top of everything else?) but he also got fucked with too.
It seems like Modine was equally humbled and pissed off, frustrated and in awe, of what Kubrick could accomplish and what almost could be called OCD on the director's end. It cost him work, it cost him time with his infant child, it even cost him (arguably) hearing loss. And on occasion, Modine could screw up, badly, and it's to his credit that he's candid about his mistakes. It's a powerful, complex portrait of what sounded like one of the most difficult shoots in modern movies... except for the other Kubrick shoots.
*fyi the audiobook version, which I listened to in one sitting, is worth indulging in even as it almost is presented more like a podcast with audio effects and certain filters for some of the voices and beats.
September 15, 2017
I listened to the Audible version of this book, and the fact that it was performed by Matthew Modine himself was the best part. He reads it without affectation, but has the acting chops to do voices and accents when he needs to. It's an interesting account of the filming of Full Metal Jacket that gives you a pretty good idea of what the mysterious Stanley Kubrick was like (a genius but a pain in the ass).
December 18, 2021
could've done without the auto-tune
April 11, 2023
A tremendous piece of film historiography.
August 25, 2015
ABR's original Full Metal Jacket Diary audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews