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Generation Kill
HBO miniseries
Premiered July 13, 2008
Lee Tergesen plays embedded reporter Evan
Wright in this seven-part miniseries that premiered July 13, 2008, on HBO. Each
episode lasts more than an hour.
Evan Wright -- nicknamed "Scribe" -- wrote the award-winning book
"Generation Kill," which expanded upon his articles in
Rolling Stone magazine when he was with U.S. troops in the
first phase of the Iraq war in
2003.
The other principal cast members are Alexander Skarsgard, James Ransone, Stark Sands and Jon Huertas. The miniseries is being adapted by David Simon and Ed Burns, the creators of the acclaimed HBO series "The Wire."
The miniseries is a gritty look at the early movements of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion
as they spearhead the military march into Baghdad. It depicts the
complex challenges faced by the U.S.-led mission in the war's early
stages. Wright rode in the lead Humvee of on the leading edge of the
invasion.
The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Generation
Kill puts viewers at eye level with the battles fought by Bravo
Company's 2nd Platoon, framing the story as a long, dusty road trip
punctuated by moments of terrible violence."
PRESS COVERAGE AND REVIEWS
IGN Coverage
Reviews for each episode, plus other features
Opie and Anthony Show on XM radio
Aug. 10, 2008 ?
TV Guide
July 21-Aug 3 issue
As scribe Wright's alter ego, Oz vet Tergesen, 42, is bemused and
appalled by the war's savagery and dark comedy, "It's an incredible
journey that opens his eyes to a lot of horrors of the world,"
Tergesen says. "At the same time," he admits, "We laughed our asses
off."
Especially during the many sing-alongs in the Humvee, which reminded
Tergesen of his part in the "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene in "Wayne's
World": " I'd be like, 'This is weird. I'm in the backseat again!'"
Knoxville News
July 13, 2008
The Knoxville News interviews Lee, who talks about the rigors of
being cast in "Generation Kill":
"I was a little freaked out from ... traveling so much. I was really
trying focus on staying in New York. Then this came up: Seven months
(of shooting), a 22-hour ride by plane. My dad was turning 75 while
I was away ... I just felt weird about leaving (home). I don't know.
The unknown freaked me out."
And in a video, he talks
about the fans who came to see him for "Good
Boys and True." [See also: Meeting
Lee No. 9]
Entertainment Weekly
July 4, 2008
EW gives the miniseries receives an A- and notes:
Kill is adapted from a book by
Rolling Stone
correspondent Evan Wright, who was embedded with those Marines and
is a writer on the miniseries. He's also a character; as played by
Oz's
Lee Tergesen, he's our innocent-eyed surrogate among the soldiers...
New York Sun
July 11, 2008
The New York Sun provides an excellent
analysis of the miniseries as well as this note about Lee:
Mr. Tergesen is also particularly adept
at capturing a journalist's hovering outsider presence, and
at registering a reporter's joy at all the foul-mouthed bon mots thrown his way.
UGO.com
July 8, 2008 This reviewer attended the
HBO-hosted Los Angeles premiere and had praise for Lee:
The mid-episode arrival of Evan Wright himself (perfectly
embodied by Oz castmate Lee Tergesen) portends a noble-minded
onscreen surrogate, but Simon and company make sure to absorb
him in the ensemble - he's no omniscient observer, just another
guy doing his job, one more mysterious splotch on the canvas.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
July 10, 2008
Evan Wright is interviewed and describes his advice -- or lack
thereof -- to the man who portrays him.
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Intriguingly, the actor Wright
gave the least guidance was Tergesen.
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"I worked closely with all of
the actors, because I knew the real guys," Wright said. "But with
Lee, I didn't want to upset the balance. I didn't want him to freeze
up. . . . We talked. We had dinner in Africa, and he kind of
interviewed me."
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It was
while peppering Wright with questions that Tergesen figured out
how to play the writer from Cleveland.
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"The
key was that I had quit drinking several years earlier," Wright
said. "I was a very heavy drinker previously. And there's
something about combat that replicates the sort of emotional
chaos of being a heavy drinker. And even though you quit
drinking, you kind of miss the chaos in a sick way. So he asked
me how did I feel over in Iraq, and I told him that. . . . For a
person like me, who's kind of a control freak, there's something
almost nice about the fact that you know you have no control.
It's sort of a relief."
New York Times
July 11, 2008 “Generation Kill” ... is bold,
uncompromising and oddly diffident. It maintains impeccable
dignity even as it tracks a group of shamelessly and engagingly
profane, coarse and irreverent Marines, members of an elite
reconnaissance battalion that spearheaded the invasion. The
odyssey of these men from training tents in Kuwait to occupied
Baghdad is laid out with brutal candor and without the aid of
maudlin cinematography or emotive music. ... It is in keeping
with the series’ sense of propriety that Mr. Wright’s tale is
never about Mr. Wright. The reporter is in the lead Humvee on
all the missions but remains a self-effacing minor character,
not a star.
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