In September 2001, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks changed the face of television with the 10-part HBO limited series, Band of Brothers. The emotionally charged and action-packed historical drama about the 506th Infantry Regiment, a.k.a., “Easy Company” during the final year of World War II was a massive hit with critics and audiences alike, and is still considered one of the best shows with under 40 episodes nearly a quarter-century later.
If you’ve ever wanted to go back in time and see how the landmark HBO series, which is still impactful decades later, came to be, stick around. We have uncovered some great details about its conception, production, and so much more. Here are 10 Band of Brothers behind-the-scenes facts to look back on…
When Prepping Band Of Brothers, Series Writer Erik Jendresen Supplemented His Research By Visiting Dick Winters
Erik Jendresen, who served as the main writer and showrunner on Band of Brothers, spent months preparing for the show that eventually earned him, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. While he did spend a tremendous amount of time reading, dissecting, and adapting Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992 non-fiction book, Band of Brothers, he later explained on the show’s official podcast that he felt he needed to meet with Major Richard D. Winters to get those nitty, gritty details:
I mean, Ambrose was a master of writing populist history as opposed to the rigor of academic history and it was a compelling story, but obviously there was a lot missing. So the next step was to meet with Major Winters himself. And that’s really what changed everything.
Jendresen would go on to state that not only was the meeting a success, but it also started what would become a very personal and strong friendship between the two men, one that would carry on until Winters’ passing in January 2011.
Band Of Brothers Reportedly Had A $125 Million Budget, Which Was Roughly $12 Million Per Episode
Several of the most expensive shows of all time have called HBO home over the years, and that includes Band of Brothers, which is easy to pick up on, considering the show’s movie-level production quality, scope, and scale. Ahead of the show’s September 2001 debut, the New York Times reported that the budget for the 10-part limited series was said to be around $125 million, or roughly $12 million per episode.
A big gamble for HBO at the time, even with the likes of Spielberg and Hanks – only a few years removed from their all-time great war movie, Saving Private Ryan – being major players behind the scenes, the risk quickly paid off for the network. Strong ratings, critical acclaim, multiple awards, and quite possibly the birth of prestige television were all the result of this massive budget.
The Band Of Brothers Cast Went Through Actual Boot Camp And It Was No Easy Feat
The Band of Brothers cast, which included the likes of Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, and Donnie Wahlberg, looked, felt, and acted like a close-knit group of soldiers throughout the 10-part limited series, and that could have something to do with the fact that they were put through the wringer at boot camp before shooting began. In a profile on the show’s prep published by the Telegraph, actors, who didn’t think they could make it through the 10-day camp, explained that some guys cried themselves to sleep the first night.
Tough conditions, 18-hour days, five-mile runs, and barracks that smelled like feet certainly didn’t help them feel comfortable, but it did get them in the physical and mental state needed to accurately portray real-life veterans once cameras started rolling.
Band Of Brothers’ Production Was About Five Times Bigger Than That Of Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers followed Easy Company all the way from their arrival on D-Day to the conclusion of the war around a year later, which meant the production had to be massive to properly match the scope and scale of the story. In the Making Band of Brothers documentary that accompanied the home release, it was revealed that the show was primarily shot on a 1,100-acre backlot in England that included a 12-acre village set that was constructed and then modified multiple times to be 11 different European cities.
Speaking with the documentary crew, Hanks said that the production was about five times bigger than Saving Private Ryan, simply because there were so many cities and locations throughout Europe that had to be replicated.
How They Came Up With The Idea To Introduce Each Episode With A Real Easy Company Member Interview
Each episode starts with a real member of Easy Company talking about their experiences in the war, but this wasn’t the original plan. In a 2023 interview with the Television Academy, Erik Jendresen explained that they were toying around with different ideas to add context to each chapter, but couldn’t really settle on anything. However, that changed when they checked out interviews being conducted by documentarian Mark Cowen:
And he was coming up with this phenomenal footage of these guys. Tom [Hanks] suddenly realized, ‘Guys, this is how we're going to go. And we're not going to identify them until the final episode.’ It was just such a stroke of genius. It was a really brilliant and poignant touch because it contextualizes the drama, not necessarily the plot. The plot is the course of the war. It contextualizes the men and what they were feeling. And it did it so elegantly, without any contrivance. So that happened in the course of making the series — it was just discovery.
This structure ultimately worked in the show’s favor and added a great sense of reality and gravity to everything that followed in each installment.
Feedback From The Real Dick Winters Had A Major Impact On The ‘Day Of Days’ Episode
One thing that we have to remember about Band of Brothers is that it was based on the stories and experiences of real soldiers. During an appearance on the Band of Brothers podcast, Hanks recalled a conversation he had with Major Winters during post-production where he learned that the decorated paratrooper wasn’t happy about Easy Company being portrayed as ill-prepared or inexperienced during the “Day of Days” episode, recalling that Winters said:
‘Tom, we knew what we were doing. We knew where we were. We knew what needed to get done. You have it looking like we haven’t even read the map correctly!’
Hanks explained that hearing “Guys, you’re getting this wrong” from the man himself gave them a heading and a reminder that they could embellish the story or edit it in a way that would sacrifice reality for the sake of more engaging television. The two-time Oscar winner said that conversation not only helped him in that situation but also as a producer moving forward.
The Art Department Spent Weeks Turning An Airplane Hanger Into The ‘Battle Of Bastogne’
The sixth episode in the series, “Bastogne” features some of the most intense fighting in the entire series with its depiction of the consequential Battle of the Bulge. It takes place in a sprawling snow-covered forest deep in the European continent, but, in reality, the entire fight was filmed in an airplane hanger in England.
In the Making Band of Brothers documentary, the art department provided a detailed run-through of how they turned a massive building into one of the most well-known battles in World War II, revealing that they spent weeks spraying fake snow on trees constructed out of fiberglass, hemp, and other materials to replicate all the tress torn apart by artillery and gunfire.
Actors Suspended In The Air, Wind Machines, And A Massive Blue Screen Made The Normandy Jump Sequence Possible In ‘Day Of Days’
Easy Company’s drop into Normandy in the “Day of Days” episode is one of the most disorienting and chaotic moments in the entire series, and it’s all thanks to the hard work behind the scenes. In the making of documentary, the episode’s director, Richard Loncraine, revealed that a decision was made during production to follow Damian Lewis’ Dick Winters from the time he jumped from the plane until he landed on the ground as one continuous shot, which required a lot of effort.
With Lewis connected to a rig and hanging high above the floor of the soundstage, a camera moved up and down around him while wind machines were blowing air from various directions so it looked like he was falling. The planes, other paratroopers, explosions, and other details were all then added in post-production.
James Madio Has Said The ‘Why We Fight’ Set Was ‘Truly Difficult’ To Be On
The penultimate episode of Band of Brothers, “Why We Fight,” is one of the most harrowing chapters in the 10-part saga, mostly because it shows Easy Company witnessing the impact of the Holocaust first-hand. Stumbling into a concentration camp, the soldiers are greeted by emaciated prisoners, dead bodies, and a hellish landscape beyond comprehension. And, it wasn’t just the characters who were impacted, as James Madio, who portrayed Sgt. Frank Perconte, told the National WWII Museum in 2020:
The set itself was truly difficult to spend time on. The magnitude of those events and the importance of that specific episode really sunk in. I would frequently tell fans of the show that we had plenty of good, important, hard fun while shooting Band of Brothers, but respectively the fun stopped while filming Episode 9.
Much like revisiting the trauma in The Zone of Interest years later, the sights and sounds of this painful episode put a lot of things into perspective about the war, why the soldiers fought, and what we’ve learned in the decades since the last concentration camp was liberated.
Tom Hanks Thought Band Of Brothers Would Be Put On Hold ‘Indefinitely’ After Its Debut Because Of The September 11th Attacks
Band of Brothers premiered on September 9, 2001, just two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed the world in an instant. Looking back on the show’s 20th anniversary, as well as the 20-year mark for September 11th back in 2021, Tom Hanks told Deadline that he and his fellow producers thought the show “would be put on hold indefinitely” because it seemed like WWIII had just started.
The series went on break for two weeks as the nation healed from the physical and emotional wounds caused by the devastation, but would ultimately return and finish its run, becoming one of the most iconic shows of all time in the process.
Band of Brothers is currently streaming for anyone with a Max subscription if you want to go back and watch the landmark series after checking out all these behind-the-scenes facts.
