B.L. It was inspiring and insightful to finally see a movie about war that shows the point of view from the woman's side. Madeleine, what was your reaction to reading the script and getting the opportunity to play this phenomenal woman Julie Moore (Colonel Hal Moore's wife)?
M.S. Phenomenal is right! We sat down and had lunch. It was Hal and Julie, Joe Galloway (the co-author of the book) and myself, and it was really interesting because Julie is a highly intelligent woman who is very smart. She knows her husband all too well and came from a military family. Her father was in the military. Hal was terrified of him.

J.M. He married the boss's daughter

M.S. Yes, he did. They ended up liking each other quite well. But Julie has an incredible depth of warmth and it just doesn't stop. There is never a moment when she just says I can't have this smile today. She is there one hundred percent and she understands that people from her past needed her very much. She provided a wonderful thing for them. A wonderful sense of comfort.

J.M I hope that I did. I had 13 telegrams to deliver. I wanted to help the widows and to comfort the children and also to be sure that the army took care of them. There are so many legal things that need to be done.

B.L. Julie, I want to know where you found your strength. I honestly don't know if I could have done what you did.
J.M. Oh you could. You dig down deep and you know you are needed but originally though I was so afraid that they would resent me because it was my husband that had carried these men into this war. Isn't that a Southern expression, carried them? I mean led them into war and I was just so afraid how they would react. It turned out that they were all so happy to see me.

B.L. Madeleine, I am sure that Julie was probably close by for most of the filming. Did that place more pressure on you as an actor trying to portray her properly?
M.S. You know what, typically it would have really bothered me, but it didn't with Julie. What was very interesting was kind of an incredible experience because so many participants, wives and soldiers who have gone through this were there and were watching through the monitors. It was a very emotional experience for them and it was never the kind of thing were they would say this didn't happen this way or that way. Hal used to lurk in the bushes sometimes (laughing) they'd see him out there peering through, but it was a very familial feeling.

J.M They are a family. We get together once a year on Veteran's Day for a reunion and its just like your whole big extended family coming together again cause you have shared this horrendous moment.

B.L. At the end of the film Hal says that he will always feel guilty about what happened and for the men that died under his command, and that he would never forgive himself. Julie, how did you help him cope with that burden for all these years?
J.M Fortunately, part of the fact is that Hal is a professional soldier. This is what he has been trained to do, what he's gone to school to do. He has learned how to handle and how to bury this grief, but it's never gone. I don't think that there is a day that goes by that some little thing won't trigger just a memory. He doesn't dwell on it but he remembers.

M.S. If I may add something. Hal also doesn't have hatred in him and it was really interesting to speak to him. He never felt hatred towards the people that he was fighting and I think that may have helped. He and Julie are truly the most amazing people that I have met in my life.