Trailer
Plot summary
Thomas Jackson teaches at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington when his state votes to leave the Union. He leaves his family behind to fight for the Confederacy, while Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States Army. At the Battle of Manassas, General Barnard Bee, whose troops have fallen back after a short stand at Matthews Hill, asks Jackson for help against the Federal soldiers pursuing them. Bee rallies his shaken men and gives Jackson the name Stonewall; the Confederates break the Federal attack at Henry House Hill. Jackson holds his ranks steady during the fighting, and a spent ball wounds his left hand. Joshua Chamberlain moves from teaching to military life, drilling soldiers of the 20th Maine under Colonel Adelbert Ames.
Cast
- Bo Brinkmanas Major Walter Taylor
- George Allenas Confederate Officer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Gods and Generals (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ted Turner originally pitched Gods and Generals to Warner Bros. Pictures in 2000 and decided to personally finance it after they turned him down. The final cost was $60 million for the production and $30 million for distribution, making it one of the most expensive independent films ever produced.
- Russell Crowe was the original choice to play Stonewall Jackson but scheduling conflicts ruled him out, so Stephen Lang, who had begun to reprise his role as George Pickett, was moved into the Jackson part and Billy Campbell was called in to hastily replace him as Pickett.
- Ted Turner gave himself a cameo as Colonel Waller T. Patton, great-uncle of George S. Patton, and serving politicians also appear: senators George Allen and Robert Byrd play Confederate officers, Phil Gramm a member of the Virginia Legislature, and Ed Markey an Irish Brigade officer.
- The film's box office failure, at a time when Ted Turner was losing much of his wealth after the AOL-Time Warner merger, caused him to cancel his and Ronald Maxwell's plans to adapt The Last Full Measure, the third book in the Shaara family's Civil War trilogy.
- Writing in The Journal of American History, historian Steven E. Woodworth derided the movie as a modern-day telling of Lost Cause mythology, calling it "the most pro-Confederate film since Birth of a Nation, a veritable celluloid celebration of slavery and treason."
- Martin Sheen was prevented from reprising his role as Robert E. Lee by contractual obligations to The West Wing, so the part was recast with Robert Duvall, who had been the first choice for Lee before deciding to appear in Stalin instead.
- Most of the extras were American Civil War reenactors who provided their own equipment and worked without pay. In exchange, Ted Turner agreed to donate $500,000 to Civil War battlefield preservation.
- Bob Dylan wrote and performed a new song commissioned for the movie, "Cross the Green Mountain", which was later included on his compilation album The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs.
