I had the chance earlier this week to speak briefly over the phone with Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh, co-directors of Act of Valor. It was such a whirlwind talk, and the recording I got was so poor, that I was never really sure when I was talking to McCoy and when I was talking to Waugh... so in the transcription that follows, I just refer to them as McWaugh!

HJ: The first question I have for you is not really mine, but an observation of people who have both seen the movie and have only thought about seeing it... and that's about the acting. People have said, "Hey, these guys are actual Navy SEALs; how good can the acting be?" And I say, "Well, have you seen The Expendables?"

McWaugh: Well, I think the difference in this movie, from the audience view, is that they're not watching an actor portray a character; they're watching a character himself. So it's a completely different experience, and when you're going in you need to know that. These guys are just being themselves.

HJ: Definitely. Obviously, you knew going in that you were going to be dealing with real SEALs and not actors, and you probably knew you were going to get some skeptical reaction about the performances. How did you philosophically handle that in terms of how you approached the guys?

McWaugh: It's important to note that all the operational planning was done by the guys themselves, so we were really raising the stakes for it to be accurate. And then as we moved in, scene by scene, we worked hand-in-hand with the guys to have them say what they would say in the moment. So it became in their voice, and the guys were really comfortable with that. They weren't having to say something that they (or their own personal character) wouldn't say; and that's where it started to work for us, and we started to believe it was doable.

HJ: I was actually pretty happy with the performances. Again, especially when you compare to other stuff in the genre, it's not every action picture that gets Ridley Scott directing and a cast like he had in Blackhawk Down. Given that these guys were SEALs, I thought they did great.

McWaugh: Thank you. And I think your point earlier was that this is an action movie, after all. Trying to compare these men to great character actors like Daniel Day Lewis, Ryan Gosling, George Clooney... our guys are not great actors. And they're not trying to be that. But if you look at them in their own moments, and especially in the middle of the action scenes, for real, that's extremely rewarding to have your leads fully immersed in their own action scenes.

HJ: Plus the bonus you get there is that you know it's not a stuntman stepping in when things get tough, too.

McWaugh: You're right on the money, there. We set out to make a new kind of movie, an authentic action film, and we're sort of trying to reinvigorate that genre. Handheld camera, live action—instead of a character actor with a green screen and CGI. There's no CGI in this movie.

HJ: Definitely. It felt like something absolutely unique, like nothing I'd seen before. And I don't run across that very often in this line of work.

McWaugh: Thanks!