#Yarnell Wild Fire

[sleeplessdave]

Movie Review: Only the Brave (2017) *Fitting Tribute to the Granite Mountain Hotshots*

Movie Review: Only the Brave (2017) *Fitting Tribute to the Granite Mountain Hotshots*

With wildfires continuing to rage in Northern California and across the Western United States, Only the Braveis a timely reminder of those who stand on the front lines of battling those blazes.  The film is a primer on the life of a hotshot (a specialist in literally fighting fire with fire by setting controlled burns to rob wildfires of fuel) and a tribute to the Granite Mountain Hotshots. …

[yourdailykitsch]

Taylor Kitsch will never do a Friday Night Lights movie – and please stop throwing out your cigarettes

In 2006, Taylor Kitsch auditioned for a new TV show called Friday Night Lights by downing two Lone Star beers on camera, giving the now infamous Texas Forever speech, and hoping for the best.

Eleven years on - and six years after the critically acclaimed cult TV series ended - Kitsch only has three words for those rumours about a film reboot.

‘Oh my God,’ he laughs.

‘Oh my God. I’m not doing it. I don’t think it will happen to be honest.

Kitsch has come a long way from those days of Riggins, tall boy beers and Texas but now, at aged 36, he’s finally getting into his groove, working on his directorial debut, a mix of TV and film work - and drive motorbikes across the American plains.

‘I drive motorcycles and I just went through Montana and Wyoming and it just eats me alive when people just throw cigarettes out [their window] when they’re done,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘If you’re camping, everyone wants a fire - but you’ve got to listen to the fire bans! And yet you still see people doing this, and it kills you that people don’t understand the repercussions of that.’

Kitsch’s anger comes as we discuss his new drama Only the Brave, which immortalizes the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died as they battled the raging Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona on June 30, 2013; the greatest loss of firefighters in a wildfire in eight decades and the greatest loss of firefighters in the United States since the September 11 attacks.

The film is a devastating look at the Prescott Fire Departments hotshots - elite teams of 20 wildland firefighters who battle the most serious fires across the US - and their real life friendships, romances, and family lives of those same brave men.

Miles Teller portrays McDonough, the fire’s lone survivor, along with Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, James Badge Dale, and Kitsch.

The Yarnell fire was started by lightening, however wild fires have increased in numbers and severity in recent years, and although NASA admits that ‘climate change has increased fire risk in many regions’ there is also a large role played by humans in the risk.

‘I hope there’s a level of consciousness that will be raised with this film, that you can easily start something with just “that”,’ he adds.

‘It only happened three years ago so it felt really raw and we celebrated the third anniversary while we were shooting. You just want to do everything in your power to play these guys honestly.’

‘[This film] couldn’t be more relevant - my hometown a few years ago had a huge wildfire and even this year there’s 100 different wildfires around that area, my best friend had a cabin near there and they got evacuated this summer three times. They’re getting worse - an hour away there was a big one when we were shooting in Albuquerque and you could see the flames from on top of the mountains.’

The Canadian actor stars as Christopher MacKenzie, a 30-year-old California native who had always wanted to be a firefighter, like his father.

He gets emotional and clearly cares about this role when he talks about the prep involved, which included spending time with Mac’s father Mike - ‘we still text back and forth’ - and hanging out with McDonaugh.

‘I had the best source in McDonaugh, his roommate and the only survivor,’ he says.

‘So we would hang out and have a beer and he’d tell me these amazing stories of them going out and just filling in as much as you can - any time you want to get the real info on someone you go to their best friends first, so it was an awesome experience.’

‘You needed to get to know who these guys were, when they’re not in their yellows, who are they and what makes them tick,’ he says.

The cast and crew spent two weeks on a training course before the film began so they could get a feel for how the Hotshots worked - ‘it was a boys club!’ laughs Kitsch - hanging out with each other.

‘We really made the most of the two weeks before filming with the Hotshots, hanging out before and after set. Miles would put basketball games together and everyone would show up,’ he says.

Kitsch says 100% of his scenes were filmed on location, with the crew building a ‘three plus acre set with aluminum trees that they filled with huge propane tanks so they could turn it on and off.’

It sounds terrifying but it’s clear that for Kitsch nothing but getting his hands dirty and getting a real sense for who these men were would do for him.

In the 11 years that Kitsch has been working steadily, he’s appeared alongside names such as Brolin and Bridges, Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson, and Mark Strong.

‘I think any actor will tell you longevity is the most flattering thing you can have,’ says Kitsch when asked about what he’s learning from these men, ‘and when you’re working with the Liam Neeson’s and Josh Brolin’s and the icon Jeff Bridges...one, they haven’t changed which I love.

‘Brolin is Brolin and what you see is what you get, they don’t turn it on, and I’d like to think I don’t either, and so I think that’s the biggest attribute.’

He admits that he was still green when he went to work on X-Men: Origins as Gambit but that working with Hugh Jackman made him realize that ‘work ethic is the most important thing you need to have if you want to stick around.’

That ethic is something Kitsch clearly thrives on as he hasn’t stopped working since.

Up next is his directorial debut, which he says will start shooting on November 27, and which is based on a short film he made in 2014 called Pieces.

‘It took me a couple more years to be happy with where the script is now,” he says, ‘we have 80% of the cast so when I’m done with press we’ll go into pre-production and take a swing.’

He’s got his good friend Peter Berg on board as producer and the two go way back; it was Berg who produced and is therefore responsible for Kitsch starring as Tim Riggins in the cult classic Friday Night Lights.

It’s a friendship that changed his life, and something Kitsch is fully aware of: ‘I wouldn’t be here without Pete.’

[mceproductions]

MCE Best of 2017: Honorable Mention

Movies: Only The Brave

Year four of my annual salute to a movie TV show and song, while not making the list it did make a significant impact for the year on  another level.

And this list kicks off with a personal connection to what someone i know all to well actually does for a living.

Prescott Arizona is located right on the edge of a vast forest. The area is susceptible to wildfires like nobody business.

The defense of the town comes from an outside city limits fire crew known as The Granite Mountain Hotshots.

Enter young Brendan McDonough a burnout on his last bridges, who arrives on the scene with only a determination to prove himself and redeem his young daughter.

As that crew of 20 would go through the fire seasons gaining experience and popularity among the veteran hotshot teams who always go on the front lines of defense. 

But, their bravery came at a valiant sacrifice when all but McDonough were killed in Yarnell Hills when the flames would surround them while trying to escape.

A truer than true story that is magnificently brought to life via great turns from Miles Teller, Josh Brolin and Jennifer Connely

This hit me personally as my brother in Redding actually goes into the same storm that Josh Brolin describes in vivid detail. While no fire bears were near him, his daily life makes me ponder how many other heroes there are that defend places and small towns that need it the most.

Those Hotshots gave their lives for a purpose and that truly makes them heroes.

Sum 22: The firefighters of the wild get their story told first hand via Only The Brave’s excellent style and heroic overtones.

[art--work]

Toying with the idea of transposing a fire perimeter onto an urban context. Collapsing the physical and conceptual distance between “wild” and “domesticated” landscapes, making distant tragedies proximate and tangible, and highlighting environmental and cultural volatility. Here with an incident map of the Yarnell Hill fire, which burned 34 sq.km in Arizona in 2013, killing 19 firefighters, injuring 23, and burning 129 structures (and recently dredged up and reenacted as a Hollywood drama, ��Only the Brave,” released in the US in October, 2017). The last image shows an aribtrary 34 sq.km area transposed onto a map of the greater Oslo metropolitan area (drawn using DraftLogic and Google Maps).

[luv-engineering]

The worse wildlands firefighting disaster since 1933 I'm reading "The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting" by Fernanda Santos. Its about the 20-man firefighting crew wiped out by the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona in 2013. The worse wildlands firefighting disaster since 1933. One man survived being elsewhere as a lookout. Go to Amazon

Captivating & thoughtful - A book I couldn't put down. What an amazing book. It took a few days until I got around to picking it up, but began, fittingly, on a flight to Phoenix. On the outbound leg, I made it halfway through, and then almost finished it on the return flight. The last few pages seemed to fly by this afternoon. The book is written in such a thoughtful way. Fernanda Santos was able to bring these 19 men very close to the reader. Her writing captures so well the spirit that is a unifying factor among those who work as emergency responders, yet it is the personal closeness she is able to convey what makes this book feel different. Thank you for a riveting book and for making broadly accessible the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. - And to anybody who's looking for a captivating book, I highly recommend "The Fire Line." Go to Amazon

Fantastic read I couldn't put this book down. It was so well written. I loved how she not only told the story, but educated us along the way. The way she introduced us the men and their families, their trial and tribulations of being a hotshot. I was born, raised and live in Prescott. I was there when this happened. I live on Mt Vernon and stood on the curb of my house to show respect to the men and their families as they went up and down the street for funeral services. Your book was respectful to the familes, the fire crews and all those involved. These men will always be my hometown heros.We will never know what really happened that day, but your book answered a lot of questions. I have been telling everyone to read it. Congratulations on a job well done!!! Go to Amazon

A Story of Family A Story of 19 men of different ages and backgrounds who trained together and worked as one. Hopefully as time passes these men will not be forgotten for making the ultimate sacrifice. Go to Amazon

A riveting account of a tragic story The Fire Line is an outstanding book. As a journalist in Arizona, I’ve read my share of articles about the Yarnell Hill Fire and the Granite Mountain Hotshots since the 2014 tragedy occurred. But there’s nothing that compares to Fernanda Santos’ comprehensive and extremely well-written account. The Fire Line is an informative, gripping and often heartbreaking read that covers every facet of that that tragic event. An unbelievable amount of work went into this book, and it shows through on every page as you learn about the 19 men who lost their lives and the details of how their fight against the blaze went so horribly wrong. Go to Amazon

Compelling look into the politics and risks of wildland firefighting Hard, but necessary, read to understand the culture of wild land firefighting and the risks that hotshots feel compelled to take fire after fire. Fires are burning hotter and more erratically than ever, and the continued push of homebuilding into forested areas means that firefighters are put into almost unwinnable situations at great risk to their personal safety. The tools at a wildland firefighters disposal are almost the same now as they were 100 years ago - criminal! GPS is not the norm and radio contact is sporadic and unreliable. There are not enough air tankers to put on every fire and the ones that are in service are old and often grounded due to mechanical issues. Any one who reads this should sit back and consider our own culpability - we want beautiful homes in forests, chapparal or grasslands, we want firefighters to keep the fire away from us but dammit don't increase my property taxes to pay for the protection provided! And so our firefighters work with outdated tools and methods because of our selfishness. The takeaway from this is do not put firefighters in harms way to protect structures. No house, or 100 houses, is worth a firefighters life. This book, in my opinion, should be read as well as Brendan McDonough's "My Lost Brothers". Brendan was the 20th member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who served as lookout and was not with the rest of his crew on that terrible afternoon. He barely got out himself and was actually rescued by a member of another hotshot crew. While "The Fire Line" does an excellent job of describing the conditions that lead to the the deaths of the 19 hotshots, Brendan's book takes us deep into the brotherhood of the crew and the relationships he formed with each of the firefighters. Go to Amazon

A Gripping Tragic Story I could not stop reading this book. Was it because I knew many of the people in the book? Maybe. The author did a fantastic job of telling a story of tragedy without embellishment, without placing blame, just telling the facts and leaving it to the reader to come to their own conclusions. It was a tragedy that happened by accident. Everyone forgets about the survivors, she didn't and she does a fantastic job in describing what the survivors went through. As long as I live June 30th will be remembered just like September 11th in knowing exactly where I was and what I was doing. Highly recommend this book. Go to Amazon

A well researched and factual account of the fire in Arizona I have been interested in this story since my parents moved from Peeples Valley/Yarnell about 11 years ago. To find out, in factually researched detail, the truth about this tragedy is truly heart breaking. Go to Amazon

I felt like I was there with this crew Heart breaking story Informative but terrible writing style Riveting and tragic Thank You to these Heroes! Pretty well written but still difficult to follow what decisions ... Five Stars Enlightening It was good, but I wish it had more info on ... Belongs in People magazine.

[onlyjbd]

Only The Brave: James Badge Dale On The On-Set Hardships & Camaraderie

You play a lot of men in uniform. What do you think sort of separates this role from the other roles you’ve played in the past?

Dale: I’ve played a lot of bad guys too, man, I just want to point that out.

That’s true.

Dale: This film was very special to me. The week of the Yarnell hill fire — I’m a New York City kid, and I was riding the 6th train downtown, the subway. The New York Times did a two-page article on these guys. Fernando Santos is the writer, and she, the 1st half of the article was on what it takes to becomes a tier one hotshot crew. The difference between tier one and tier two. How hard these guys worked. What it meant to be the first crew to come from city, and not a federal agency, or state. Then it was about how they stuck together to the end. What those shelters are and what they do. What it is was like, or would be like. The science behind if you’re standing there, and forty foot wall of flames are coming at you at 3,000 degrees. I was struck by that story. I was sitting on the subway, I don’t know, man. Something seemed deeply important in this story thread. It deserves to be told. I think we can all learn something from this, take something from this. This movie is a celebration of life. It’s a celebration of love, because they gave and their family members gave. If you watch this film, and you watch Jennifer Connelly’s performance, what she gives. This job was special from the beginning, and we’ve all tried to treat it as such. I hope that answers your question.

I think when you’re watching the film you can feel the authenticity, and the tools, the way you guys move and operate the terminology. Can you maybe give an example how on the set on how the advisors helped? It felt like the kind of movie where the details seemed right. I just thought that as an actor, what you got input from and how that helped you create those characters.

Dale: Yeah, thank you. I’m glad you brought that up. We had four former Granite Mountain Hotshots train us. These guys they were all friends, with these guys. Yes, they trained us physically, technically. But also this other side of it was, “Look man we have fun a lot of fun while we’re at work. This is our attitude. This is the way we do it. We’d love you guys to have that same attitude,” so how do we create this culture. Our tech advisor was with us the whole time. We had a firefighter who was with us the entire time. So at every moment, on that set, there was someone who was there for you, supporting you, also telling you you’re doing it completely wrong [laughs]. You know. You start to get into it, man. These guys have a lot of pride in their work, and what they do. The fact that they’re marathon runners, they’re not sprinters. They come in and they last, and they will outlast the man next to them. There’s that little competition with them. The strength isn’t this outward thing that you look at. It’s not a bunch of big, large guys running around, those guys wash out. Strength comes from within, so by the end of it, we were, we’re the number one actor firefighting crew around. There’s no number two crew, and no one is ever going to call us to put out anything, but we took a lot of pride in our work, and it was a beautiful thing at the end of the day. Even as an actors, we’d sit there and be like hey man, look at that line. That’s a nice line.

How did you prepare for the days where you knew that it was going to be hard scene to film? You knew there were certain days where there were big scenes coming up. How did you mentally and emotionally prepare for that?

Dale: I don’t want to get too actory with you, and take to you about process. Everybody works a little bit differently. What I will say that is that we shot Yarnell last. We all knew that was, and what that meant. I’m proud to be apart of this film, and I’m also proud of all the actors that I worked with to be able to do that. We didn’t double people. We didn’t stunt double people. It takes a lot of trust to trust an actor with a chainsaw.

Especially with a beer bottle — opening that beer bottle with the chainsaw.

Dale: That was [firefigher advisor] Brandon Bunch, yes that’s totally true. What you see in the film is the firefighter Brandon Bunch, who was on the crew for a number of years. He was best friends with Garrett Subner, and on the last day of boot camp, we brought out a bunch of beers and we’re all sitting around watching the sunset. He says, “Guys check this out,” and fires up the chainsaw and opens a beer bottle with a chainsaw. Taylor Kitsch was like, “No f**king way, do it again.”

Did he try it?

Dale: No, no. Taylor was like, “Don’t even hand me a chainsaw, I don’t want anything to do with that.” I don’t know if you noticed, Taylor Kitsch had a rake in the movie, and we would anyways make fun of him. It’s his main tool. It’s an important part of the movie, to cut the line you’ve got to break down the mineral soil, and you got to make that thing clean. So Chris MacKenzie, Taylor Kitsch’s character, will come back from the back end after — he cut it himself — but he would come in with that rake and be like, “Yeah, what’s up man? Bad ass at the rake.” Taylor Kitsch filmed Brandon Bunch opening a beer bottle with a chainsaw, and brought it to [director] Joe Kosinsky, and was like you got to put this in the movie, and that’s why it’s on the film.

That’s so cool. This movie is obviously very personal, like emotional. There’s a lot of movies that when they talk about wars, fire, they sometime just don’t go beyond that. This movie touched very personal levels with their family. I’m a military wife, so I know, I’ve seen it, it’s crazy. I’ve seen those scenes in the movie, and I cried like a baby, in the whole movie, I think.

Dale: It’s a good cry.

It’s a good cry. When you think about the portrayal of the more personal moments — like the gym scene at the end [where Miles Teller’s character comes in at the end to a room full of grieving families]. What do you think about those more personal moments?

Dale: That’s a big part of the true story. I’m glad you brought that up because I feel like there’s two heartbeats in this film, meaning there are the guys up there on there on the line. Then you look at Josh Brolin and Jennifer Connelly, and the work that they put into this film. Two people who are flawed, as we all are. We all have cracks and fissures in us, and we’re looking to fill them somehow. To see that those characters trying to navigate each other because they love each other, but they’re both sacrificing. They’re both giving. They’re both giving something up, and both trying to give to each other. That’s an important part of our story, and that’s the part of the story that’s relatable to everybody. You might not know everything about wild land firefighting. You might not have any relationship to a firefighter. I live in New York City, we have a completely different relationship to wild land firefights. It just doesn’t exist. We’re on the structure side. But everyone can relate the Marshes’ relationship in this film, and I mean Jennifer Connelly is so good in this movie. It’s so ridiculous. We all saw this, and Brolin, man — because we’d be out there out there cutting lines. We’re all working together as a crew, and then a day or two would come, where Brolin would go and work with Connelly. He’d come back and be like, “Badge I got to — she’s so good. I got to raise my game because she’s so good.” We’re proud of the movie and proud of everyone’s work in the film.

You think about the film you did last year, “13 Hours.” This is a journey of a different film, but it felt like there was a connection there, sort of selflessness, or heroism, what they’re willing to sacrifice. Did you see that connection in some capacity?

Dale: Yes, sure it is. This is a different story, but selflessness comes in a lot of forms in life. What’s interesting to me just on a personal level is as actors we spend a lot of time thinking about ourselves. Maybe we take, and maybe I’m guilty of taking. I’ve been lucky and fortunate enough to play a number of men who aren’t here anymore to tell their stories. I take something from that, but now I’m learning that I’m taking something different, taking something a little more positive. I didn’t know [the character I play in the film,] Jesse Steed. I didn’t know Tyrone Woods, but these guys have taught me something. I’ve learned from Jesse Steed, and I want to be a better person because of that, because he gave. There was things about him that made me nervous because I didn’t know if I had that within myself. It was something as simple as the fact that this man had the bravery and strength to walk up to people with a big smile and give them a hug, and say, “I love you man.” That scared me more than anything.

So you called this film a celebration of life, and I think that’s an important distinction to make. It’s not just a recreation of a tragedy that sits heavy on everyone. But it’s actually a celebration of these men as actual people. What was important for you that you brought to this character to make sure that Jesse Steed was not just someone who died tragically, but was a round and dynamic character?

Dale: He was a dynamic guy, just what we were talking about. He came to work with this kind of gregarious, positive attitude. He wasn’t involved in himself, he was involved in you, to a man. Everybody I know that I’ve talk to that worked with him would talk about how much he gave. He was that type of guy. He wanted to help you out no matter what, no matter what position you were in. If things weren’t possibly going right over here, he was the type of guy to come up and work right next to you. To show you the way they were suppose to be done. Not tell you you’re doing it wrong, tell you we’re going to do it together the right way, In my conversations with his wife — he left a wife and two children behind. What blew me away was this guy would go work 16 hours a day cutting line. He would spike out for two weeks, and come home and be present with his family. He gave to them, he had that ability. He didn’t struggle with that. He was larger than life guy.

What was training like for the film? Where there some times where you were, “Like holy s**t this is hard,” and then did you find yourself like competing with some of the other guys on set?

Dale: There wasn’t a day when someone wasn’t going like, “Holy shit this is hard,” and there wasn’t a day we weren’t competing with each other.

Were there weird tactics that you had to do, like Josh [Brolin] was mentioning, or Miles [Teller] was mentioning, there’s a 45 pound back on your back for sit-ups and push-ups. Were there some tactics where you were like I’ve never done this in a gym before, but it’s happening?

Dale: Oh you don’t go to a gym. If you worked on this film, there was no going to the gym. I’m a runner. I run a lot, so I get up in the morning and run. We would be out there or something, you start to really, you take pride in your work. You don’t want to take a break, I don’t want to sit down. I don’t want to take my pack off. I want to cut that line. I want to be in front line. I would watch Miles, what was so funny about Miles, is he was at first like, “God, what am I doing? I’m an actor, I’m a Hollywood actor,” and  by the end he would be like, “F**king put me in front of the goddamn line.” He enjoyed being able to set that pace. I’ve never experienced anything like this. Come to work with 20 guys everyday. Work was everyday, all day, no matter what, and all of them came with the right right attitude and gave to the film. From Josh Brolin, Miles Teller to myself, and Taylor and all the way down to the guys doing their first movie. It was their first experience in filmmaking. We would grab them and I’d tell them, “Look, this isn’t normal. So soak up every moment of this because this is rare.” In filmmaking there’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. When we finish production, that’s it. You don’t get a second chance at it. There’s no second season. It’s done. So you give everything, everyday. Every moment you have, you be present. You soak that up.” On an actor level, I’m proud of those young guys that we worked that that was their 1st film. It was pretty cool.

Your parents were in show business in different capacities, how much did it influence you? Or did you want to rebel and not do that, or just sort of say I’m going to do what they’re doing in some capacity?

Dale: I tried to rebel as much as I could. I played hockey. I was like this is what I want to do. What’s strange to me is hockey got me back to New York City, and then I got injured, and all my energy went into the theater department because I thought that was the easiest thing to study while I was playing hockey. It’s funny where you end up. But they were — just a little shoutout to my parents, they were strong performers. What they did impart on me was this is a blue collar job. This is born and bred in work ethic. What you put in is what you get out. They weren’t Hollywood, they were New York theater actors. It’s a different mentality.

Were they nervous when you went into it? Were they proud of it, or was it?

Dale: Hated it. They’re like go be a doctor, go get a real job. Why do you want to do this for? My father is still around, and we have a close relationship. He’s really happy because we have something we share. We talk about it all the time.

[gwynnew]

'Only the Brave' Trailer: Josh Brolin and Miles Teller in True-Life Firefighter Story (Exclusive)

If some of the wildfires in the new trailer for Only the Brave (in theaters Oct. 20) look real, that’s because they are. For his action-drama about the Granite Mountain hotshots, the elite firefighters who protected their Arizona community from a historically deadly fire in 2013, director Joseph Kosinski wanted as much in-camera authenticity as possible. He took footage of actual, raging wildfires near the shooting location in southern New Mexico. His crew set a few fires — small burns in wildland areas, under the supervision of local firefighters. And for close-up shots of stars Josh Brolin, Taylor Kitsch, Miles Teller, and James Badge Dale, who play the real-life hotshot heroes, he commissioned trees that could burn on command.

“We built our own forest that was lined with propane lines, so that we had a forest fire that we could basically turn on or off,” Kosinski tells Yahoo Movies, adding, “It was still hot as hell. You had to be very careful. “

Thankfully, no one was hurt on the set of the film (which also features Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly, and Andie MacDowell), though they quickly learned to respect the awesome power of fire. “We were all amazed by how even flames that are 4-6 feet high, the incredible amount of heat that they put off,” says the director. “And then you start thinking about the fires that real Hotshots deal with: you know, thirty, forty, fifty-foot flames. And you quickly appreciate the extreme conditions that they work in every day.”

The true story that inspired the film is a sad one: In 2013, 19 members of the Granite Mountain hotshots lost their lives battling the Yarnell Hill Fire, the deadliest incident for U.S. firefighters since September 11. But Only the Brave doesn’t dwell on tragedy. Instead, the film focuses on the brotherhood between the men, and the daunting heroics of the hotshots. “Basically wildland firefighters fight fires without water,” Konsinski explains. “They try to control wildfires by digging fire breaks and cutting down trees, or even setting fires themselves to backburn against wildfires. “

There are 107 hotshots crews in the U.S. – the most elite level of wildland firefighting – but the Granite Mountain hotshots are unique, in that they started as a local fire department, rather than a Forest Service team. In order to re-create the level of teamwork and expertise that these men achieved, Kosinski sent his cast into the wild for a two-week firefighter training course, taught by former Granite Mountain hotshots. When the actors returned, says the director, “Not only could I tell them to dig a line or set a back burn and they knew exactly what to do, but more importantly, there was a bond that was built, a comradery that is such an essential part of a hotshot team. And I knew it was the most important aspect to get right in making this film.” (The cast member who was most hardcore about the training? “Definitely Josh Brolin,” Kosinski says with a laugh.)

Only the Brave is a departure for Kosinski, known for effects-heavy sci-fi films TRON: Legacy and Oblivion. (He’s also attached to the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, of which he’ll say only, “I’m very excited about the direction we’re taking it, and we’re trying to figure it out.”) Why did this film appeal to him? “ I was really drawn to the idea of, what is it that makes a certain type of person go into something that everyone else is running away from? “ he says. “And then the more I learned bout who these guys were, the more fascinated I became with their story and what an incredible story it was.”

Read more:

James Franco holds court — and courts Oscar — in ‘The Disaster Artist’

Nicolas Cage insists his ‘Superman Lives’ ‘would have been beautiful’

‘Brad’s Status’ star Ben Stiller talks aging and prosperity: ‘Success doesn’t relate to personal happiness’

[abookishplace]

Originally published as "My Lost Brothers" it's now titled as "Granite Mountain". It's really a gripping read. It seems like a short book, but once you start it has that effect that makes it seem much longer. I was searching through the little library near me and I came across this book. I can't explain what this book makes you feel as you work your way through it, but it's something I think is important to know about. Especially what these men and women have to face. Too many people care more about the belongings that are lost. Don't get me wrong, I understand, there are memories and such that once lost you cannot get back. They risk their lives to protect lives, homes and everything in them. They do what they can, but if something became lost to the blazes, especially when people live right on a fire line or push into nature, they get blamed for not trying hard enough. Enough of my rant. This is a heart gripping book, and I cannot express my gratitude and how much my heart hurts.

[sleeplessdave]

Only The Brave Trailer #3 (2017) “The True Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots” All men are created equal… then, a few become firefighters. Only the Brave, based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, is the heroic story of one unit of local firefighters that through hope, determination, sacrifice, and the drive to protect families, communities, and our country become one of the most elite firefighting teams in the country.

[sleeplessdave]

Only The Brave Trailer #2 (2017) “It’s Not What Stands In Front of You; It’s Who Stands Beside You” I've been a fan of Joseph Kosinkski's since Tron: Legacy (still mad Disney killed the third film), and he's got an amazing ensemble cast to tell an incredible true story here.  

[luv-engineering]

The worse wildlands firefighting disaster since 1933 I'm reading "The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting" by Fernanda Santos. Its about the 20-man firefighting crew wiped out by the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona in 2013. The worse wildlands firefighting disaster since 1933. One man survived being elsewhere as a lookout. Go to Amazon

Captivating & thoughtful - A book I couldn't put down. What an amazing book. It took a few days until I got around to picking it up, but began, fittingly, on a flight to Phoenix. On the outbound leg, I made it halfway through, and then almost finished it on the return flight. The last few pages seemed to fly by this afternoon. The book is written in such a thoughtful way. Fernanda Santos was able to bring these 19 men very close to the reader. Her writing captures so well the spirit that is a unifying factor among those who work as emergency responders, yet it is the personal closeness she is able to convey what makes this book feel different. Thank you for a riveting book and for making broadly accessible the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. - And to anybody who's looking for a captivating book, I highly recommend "The Fire Line." Go to Amazon

Fantastic read I couldn't put this book down. It was so well written. I loved how she not only told the story, but educated us along the way. The way she introduced us the men and their families, their trial and tribulations of being a hotshot. I was born, raised and live in Prescott. I was there when this happened. I live on Mt Vernon and stood on the curb of my house to show respect to the men and their families as they went up and down the street for funeral services. Your book was respectful to the familes, the fire crews and all those involved. These men will always be my hometown heros.We will never know what really happened that day, but your book answered a lot of questions. I have been telling everyone to read it. Congratulations on a job well done!!! Go to Amazon

A Story of Family A Story of 19 men of different ages and backgrounds who trained together and worked as one. Hopefully as time passes these men will not be forgotten for making the ultimate sacrifice. Go to Amazon

A riveting account of a tragic story The Fire Line is an outstanding book. As a journalist in Arizona, I’ve read my share of articles about the Yarnell Hill Fire and the Granite Mountain Hotshots since the 2014 tragedy occurred. But there’s nothing that compares to Fernanda Santos’ comprehensive and extremely well-written account. The Fire Line is an informative, gripping and often heartbreaking read that covers every facet of that that tragic event. An unbelievable amount of work went into this book, and it shows through on every page as you learn about the 19 men who lost their lives and the details of how their fight against the blaze went so horribly wrong. Go to Amazon

Compelling look into the politics and risks of wildland firefighting Hard, but necessary, read to understand the culture of wild land firefighting and the risks that hotshots feel compelled to take fire after fire. Fires are burning hotter and more erratically than ever, and the continued push of homebuilding into forested areas means that firefighters are put into almost unwinnable situations at great risk to their personal safety. The tools at a wildland firefighters disposal are almost the same now as they were 100 years ago - criminal! GPS is not the norm and radio contact is sporadic and unreliable. There are not enough air tankers to put on every fire and the ones that are in service are old and often grounded due to mechanical issues. Any one who reads this should sit back and consider our own culpability - we want beautiful homes in forests, chapparal or grasslands, we want firefighters to keep the fire away from us but dammit don't increase my property taxes to pay for the protection provided! And so our firefighters work with outdated tools and methods because of our selfishness. The takeaway from this is do not put firefighters in harms way to protect structures. No house, or 100 houses, is worth a firefighters life. This book, in my opinion, should be read as well as Brendan McDonough's "My Lost Brothers". Brendan was the 20th member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who served as lookout and was not with the rest of his crew on that terrible afternoon. He barely got out himself and was actually rescued by a member of another hotshot crew. While "The Fire Line" does an excellent job of describing the conditions that lead to the the deaths of the 19 hotshots, Brendan's book takes us deep into the brotherhood of the crew and the relationships he formed with each of the firefighters. Go to Amazon

A Gripping Tragic Story I could not stop reading this book. Was it because I knew many of the people in the book? Maybe. The author did a fantastic job of telling a story of tragedy without embellishment, without placing blame, just telling the facts and leaving it to the reader to come to their own conclusions. It was a tragedy that happened by accident. Everyone forgets about the survivors, she didn't and she does a fantastic job in describing what the survivors went through. As long as I live June 30th will be remembered just like September 11th in knowing exactly where I was and what I was doing. Highly recommend this book. Go to Amazon

A well researched and factual account of the fire in Arizona I have been interested in this story since my parents moved from Peeples Valley/Yarnell about 11 years ago. To find out, in factually researched detail, the truth about this tragedy is truly heart breaking. Go to Amazon

I felt like I was there with this crew Heart breaking story Informative but terrible writing style Riveting and tragic Thank You to these Heroes! Pretty well written but still difficult to follow what decisions ... Five Stars Enlightening It was good, but I wish it had more info on ... Belongs in People magazine.