Do you think of Ryan Phillippes character as going AWOL?
KP: He doesn’t think so. He really doesn’t. He even says, “We’re not like these guys.” That’s a moment of shock to him. This is something we really worked hard on. There were times when he met other AWOL guys in the script, and we wondered if he should bond with these guys and say, “Great, I’m gonna be AWOL too.” But we decided he’d meet them and say, “I’m not like these guys. I’m trying to solve my problem.” He sees himself as a sergeant who did his time in battle. There were times that he saw things were unfair and stuck through it, and now he wants to put it behind him. He’s not trying to be a deserter. It’s not even in his consciousness. He’s just like, “I’m gonna go solve my problem quickly, so it’s no longer a problem.” He says he’s going to talk to the senator to get this cleared up. AVC: It seems like this film is about somebody developing their own value system. KP: Absolutely. But also, he already thinks he has a value system, but doesn’t think it’s being carried out. But you
