Saving Private Ryan: Corey Johnson on Spielberg, and John Williams' Greatest Scores

What can an actor do with half a day on the Saving Private Ryan beach?

Corey Johnson's part in Saving Private Ryan took half a day to film. He played the radioman in the foxhole whom Tom Hanks grabs to report that "Dog One is not open." While the camera panned away to Hanks and Tom Sizemore, two crew members pulled him out and slid in a dummy with its face blown open, so the camera could come back to the horror. Spielberg shot only a handful of takes. Later, while Corey was posing for pictures with his dummy, Spielberg had him say a line a few more ways, then turned to an assistant director: "This guy's a good actor. Can we get him in something else?"

In Episode 258, the second of two parts, Christian Taylor shares the rest of her Movie Rob Minute crossover with Rob and her college friend Corey, on minute 131 of Saving Private Ryan. Corey tells stories from Band of Brothers, Ed Burns's overnight discovery at Sundance, and why a stage actor learns to protect himself on a film set. Christian ties the minute's shared stick of gum to what she has seen among World War II veterans and her own sons in the military: the bond of a tribe, and what happens when soldiers lose it, and she recommends Sebastian Junger's book Tribe.

The last 20 minutes are Maestro Monday: Christian and Corey each name their top five John Williams scores, from Jaws and Jurassic Park to Schindler's List and Star Wars, and talk about the power of silence. Christian admits she would take a little music out of The Girl Who Wore Freedom if she could.

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In this episode, you'll learn:

• What Corey Johnson's half day on the Saving Private Ryan set involved
• How a dummy replaced Corey in the foxhole in the middle of a shot
• What Steven Spielberg said about Corey after hearing him read a line
• Why the soldiers sharing gum in minute 131 shows a band of brothers
• Why soldiers leaving the military can lose their tribe
• Which John Williams scores Christian and Corey rank highest
• Why Christian thinks she overscored The Girl Who Wore Freedom

CHAPTERS

0:00 Part 2 and a Font of Crap

2:19 Corey's Half Day on the Beach

7:19 "This Guy's a Good Actor"

11:32 Sharing Gum and a Band of Brothers

17:07 Trauma Bonding, in Combat and on Set

19:53 Ed Burns, Tom Hardy and Protecting Yourself

24:24 The Tank Passes, and Spielberg's Genius

30:14 Maestro Monday: Harry Potter, Jaws, Superman, Jurassic Park

37:03 Catch Me If You Can and Schindler's List

43:03 The Power of Silence, and Star Wars

48:04 Where to Find Us, and Midnight Caller

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What did Corey Johnson do in Saving Private Ryan?

Corey Johnson played the radioman in the foxhole whom Tom Hanks grabs to report that "Dog One is not open." His part took half a day to film. While the camera panned away, crew members pulled him out and replaced him with a dummy whose face had been blown open, so the camera could return to it.

What are Christian Taylor's and Corey Johnson's top five John Williams scores?

Christian Taylor's top five, from five to one: Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Catch Me If You Can, Jaws and Star Wars. Corey Johnson's: Jaws, Superman, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and Star Wars. Both put Star Wars at number one, and Raiders of the Lost Ark also gets an honorable mention.

What is the book Tribe about?

Christian Taylor recommends Sebastian Junger's Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. She says it explains why soldiers who leave the military can struggle: they lose the tribe they belonged to. Junger was embedded with the soldiers in the documentary Restrepo, which, Christian says, Joe Amodei of Virgil Films distributes.

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Corey Johnson

Actor and Documentary Narrator

Corey Johnson grew up in New Orleans, studied drama at Catholic University and in London, and has built his career in London on stage, on screen and in voiceover. His film and television work includes Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy, Hellboy, Band of Brothers, September 5 and Midnight Caller, and he has narrated hundreds of documentaries, as well as the first trailer for The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

THE COREY JOHNSON EPISODES

• Part 1 of this Movie Rob Minute conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDoJx1DmVw
• Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-K2VyTmhDE
• Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoc5mvMwlUw

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/
• Midnight Caller, Corey's latest film, made in 2020; he believes it's streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV
• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
• The Movie Rob Minute podcast, with Rob