4 Questions for 'Warfare' Filmmakers Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza

A24's "Warfare" has a relatively simple mission: to drop audiences into the chaos of a Navy SEAL mission gone wrong, told in real time and drawn from memory.

Co-written and directed by Alex Garland ("Civil War," "28 Days Later") and former SEAL Ray Mendoza, the film is based on Mendoza's own experience during a deployment to Iraq. At its core is a surveillance op deep in insurgent territory, one that spirals into a life-or-death struggle. The film also serves as a tribute to Elliott Miller, a SEAL who was gravely wounded during the mission that inspired the story. An unfiltered look at modern combat, "Warfare" is a study in memory, trauma and brotherhood.

Where Mendoza brings firsthand experience, Garland brings a filmmaker's eye for tension and emotion; together, they've crafted something urgent, immersive and deeply personal. In this Q&A, the pair reflect on the emotional weight of recreating real events, the responsibility to honor those who lived them, and how "Warfare" became a powerful bridge between veterans, their families and civilian audiences.

Related: The Real Military History Behind the New Iraq War Film 'Warfare'

Military.com: What is it like seeing the finished product on screen?

Ray Mendoza: "For me, watching it each time, especially with veterans, it has been less weight off my shoulders. There have been phases of approval, to the guys that were there ... getting their sign-off was great. Then there is appealing to the masses of the veteran and active-duty military community. I want to make sure it's representative, although you cannot please everyone.

"Each time I go to these screenings and you talk to wives, sons or daughters who lost a loved one who was active duty or a veteran, the burden is further lifted. It has started to function more as a voice and a conversation starter. Initially, it was for Elliott [Miller] because he doesn't remember, but it has become more useful and tangible in other facets."

Alex Garland: "I would say that the experience of watching it, I don't really get partly because when I finish working on something, which is the final mix of the film, I then tend to never watch the film again. I can't change anything, so what's the point? The meaningful part of it was being on set. That was the really powerful, experiential part of the whole process, particularly on this film, because there was the responsibility of giving an account of real people, real lives, a moment of real trauma, real horror.

"Not only that, but the set we built was like a location. We ... accurately recreated the physical space. The house that, when you walked through a door, you didn't suddenly start walking into scaffolding and bits of plywood. There was a whole house [where] you could go upstairs; you could look out the windows. It functioned like a location.

"While we were filming, Ray was there all day, every day, directing the actors. Bringing all of his personal knowledge. We also had an actor, Cosmo [Jarvis], playing Elliott, or Joe Quinn playing Sam, based on Joe Hildebrand, and the real guy who experienced this thing and had their legs damaged, standing a few feet away watching the recreation of it. There are these incredibly complicated layers of blurring reality, memory and recreation, but at the heart of it is experience -- what this looked like, what this sounded like. We shot it quickly in five weeks. Five weeks in other ways is quite a long time. That was incredibly powerful, incredibly educational and incredibly meaningful."

Military.com: Could you describe the interactions between the real veterans of the operation and the actors portraying them?

Ray Mendoza: "Not every single actor had their representative there, and only a handful of guys came out. They had discussions, and we interviewed all of them [those that came out]. I had to keep track of what I had to represent. It could be the physical action they did; or, 'I remember locking down this street'; or, 'I remember going up to the roof and doing x, y and z.' The other part of it was how they felt, whether it was fear and in spite of fear, still functioning, those internal struggles.

"Essentially a bunch of little micro character arcs that I and the actors wanted to represent. The actors wanted to represent that as well. Not just the machine of the running and gunning of it, which is fun, but they wanted to represent how they felt. It was a bit challenging to keep track of that. They all did really well and are great actors. I didn't have to do much, other than just reiterate where they were in their arc.

"There was a lot of responsibility and pressure there because those are my friends. I'd rather represent them more accurately than represent myself. I was more focused on the other guys, because they are my friends. Putting them before me is more important."

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Alex Garland: "The most important part of it is a word that Ray used, which was true with the actors, but also true with the entire crew, which was that gave everybody, the presence of these people gave everybody the immense sense of responsibility to get it right. What we had was a cast and crew that were primarily civilians. There were a couple that were veterans, but mainly civilians. Civilians who were doing their best to get this right and not let down Ray, the other people, or the people that were being represented but couldn't be present...

"It was an intense focus, and you could feel it on set every day. A very, very intense focus on making everything efficient, accurate and trying again if it wasn't right and really listening to Ray. I would see these actors so zoned in on every single word he [Ray] was saying. Because they knew that if the rifle didn't sit on their shoulder in the right place, or they didn't move across the room in the right way or they didn't take a position in the right way that they would be letting real people down. They [actors] didn't want to do that and the crew didn't want to do that." 

Military.com: How did you move from "Civil War" to making "Warfare''?

Alex Garland: "It was quite simple. I was lucky enough to work with Ray, lucky enough to get to know him and also lucky enough to see how experienced he was not just with film sets but also in transmitting and relaying information. I could see how actors responded to him and how the crew responded to him and put together some sequences that were a gift from the film's ["Civil War"] point of view.

"In the edit, putting those sequences together, it was a very natural question to call Ray and say, 'Are you interested in making a film together? To take an hour and a half of real combat and attempt to recreate it honestly and truthfully, without the typical romance of cinema, without you bumping on anything wrong with the script or production. To try to get all of the wrongs out of it, so a veteran could watch it from start to finish and not get bumped, but for veterans to say this fairly represents and gives an account. For veterans to feel respected and listened to."

Ray Mendoza: "I wanted to tell this story for a very long time. I've been on a journey telling stories. This is just something I always wanted to do. I was really careful because it's one of those things that you can give to somebody that they would ruin it or be focused on something I wouldn't focus on. I had to ask myself questions, as there are a lot of emotional things tied to this story. Having to go through this was going to unearth a lot of those feelings we compartmentalize and take years of therapy to have the courage, understanding or verbiage to communicate it. It was a long journey to make it to this point. I had to understand what I was going to talk about."

Military.com: Do you have any final thoughts?

Alex Garland: "I hope the film has two functions, one of which is to speak to veterans and their families. It has that side, and I'm excluding how the film talks directly to Elliott. There is the veteran side and also the civilian side. Civilians often say and correctly say, 'Thank you for your service,' but they don't necessarily understand very clearly what service might mean. The unfiltered voice of a veteran and a group of veterans just helps fill in that blank space, which could only be a good thing."

Ray Mendoza: "I would shout out to veterans in the film industry, and I hope this serves as a voice to them. As a filmmaker, especially for veterans, we have a lot of stories to tell. We [veterans] have a voice, and it doesn't have to be recreating real combat experiences. There are things we've seen as a younger generation that involve a lot of chaos and evil. We've seen a lot in a very short amount of time, which morphs a lot of people's lenses or changes how we view things.

"I think we can connect with a lot more people than society can understand. We can relate to people who have experienced trauma. We, as veterans, have a lot to give to the film industry. To tell stories even if it has nothing to do with the military. We understand the trauma, the journeys and the struggles to get back into society, to become functional members of society. It takes more veterans in the film industry, and I hope this breaks the mold open. We can help tell stories as well."

Watch Joel Searls' full interview with "Warfare" filmmakers Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza below: 

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