--- title: How the Fury Director Made the World War II Film Realistic description: David Ayer met with vets to learn what life in a tanks was really like canonical: https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T11:00:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:50:45.160Z article:section: History og:title: How 'Fury' Got So Realistic og:description: David Ayer met with vets to learn what life in a tanks was really like og:url: https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt195a8a93f2543e4c/698760e1e20a877cf0a82796/fury-brad-pitt.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: fury-brad-pitt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How 'Fury' Got So Realistic twitter:description: David Ayer met with vets to learn what life in a tanks was really like twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt195a8a93f2543e4c/698760e1e20a877cf0a82796/fury-brad-pitt.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How _Fury_'s Director Made the WWII Film as Realistic as Possible  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 17, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Columbia Pictures  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Oct 17, 2014 11:00 AM UTC Perhaps more than any other historical event, World War II has provided fodder for Hollywood. From _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ to _Saving Private Ryan_ to _Schindler’s List_, directors keep turning to “the good war.” This year alone, _Fury_ (in theaters this weekend), _Imitation Game_ and _Unbroken_ all feature World War II heroes and will all battle for Oscar buzz. _Fury_ director David Ayer, who is a veteran himself, wanted to distinguish his World War II film with an air of authenticity. The movie takes on a single day in April 1945, when the Allies had for all intents and purposes beaten Germany. But American soldiers were still fighting on the front and, some would argue, needlessly dying. Calling into question the glory of war, Ayer and the movie’s actors—including Brad Pitt, returning to the time period he visited in _Inglourious_ _Basterds_—met with veterans to get more intimate details on the challenges of fighting in a tank crew, the Credits [reports](http://www.thecredits.org/2014/10/world-war-ii-veterans-helped-fuel-furys-realism/). According to the vets, the life expectancy of a tank crew member was only six weeks. Ayer incorporated this and other details he learned from veterans into the movie, like that every fifth bullet from a gun’s machine is a tracer, which is ignited with a burning powder that glows brightly so the shooter can follow the trajectory of the bullet with the naked eye. The actors also learned that the soldiers would differentiate between outgoing and incoming artillery by the whistling sound a projectile make when coming towards you (but not away from you). **_Read about the connection between reality and another WWII movie,_** **The Monuments Men,** **_here in TIME’s archives:_** [George Clooney’s Art of War](http://time.com/4809/the-art-of-war/) \[[_The Credits_](http://www.thecredits.org/2014/10/world-war-ii-veterans-helped-fuel-furys-realism/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/"},"headline":"How Fury's Director Made the WWII Film as Realistic as Possible","datePublished":"2014-10-17T11:00:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:50:45.160Z","description":"Director David Ayer met with vets to learn what life in a tank was really like","url":"https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/","keywords":["movies","Veterans","World War II","Brad Pitt","WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt195a8a93f2543e4c/698760e1e20a877cf0a82796/fury-brad-pitt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt195a8a93f2543e4c/698760e1e20a877cf0a82796/fury-brad-pitt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"fury-brad-pitt","caption":"","creditText":"Columbia Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3514047/fury-movie/","name":"How Fury's Director Made the WWII Film as Realistic as Possible"}}]}] ```