The Verge: Ryan O'Nan

At the same time, the story it presents isn't a pretty one. How do you solicit the help of the Army when you're showing things that don't necessarily paint a tour of duty in the most flattering light?

We actually just came back from a USO tour in Iraq -- myself, Ryan, America, and Jason Ritter -- and we all sat down and had lunch with people like General Odierno and General Anderson, and everybody seemed very concerned and wanted this conversation [about PTSD] to be had. They want these guys to feel like they can talk about PTSD and get help for it -- nobody supports their soldiers more than they do.

Mental health in the Army is a stigma. If you got shot in the leg, people would look at it and everybody would know what it meant, but the thing about invisible wounds is that nobody knows about it. You can attempt to hide it by not getting help and not admitting it, but it's like if you got shot in the leg and didn't do anything to it: It would get infected and worse and worse without treatment. These soldiers don't want to talk about it because they don't want to let their friends down or they want to get promoted. They don't tell anybody and they don't talk about it, and it comes out in various ways they don't intend.

And they're so young when this happens to them.

Completely. We're taught at a young age that you don't point guns at people -- you don't even point a squirt gun at somebody because it's rude. So you get taught all these things at an early age that become the norm for you, and then all of a sudden you have to reject all of that. You're put in a place where not only do you have a gun, but you might have to use it to protect you and your friends and all the people around you. You might do something you're not proud of, and you don't feel like you can tell anybody about it, or that anybody would even understand it!

Was it hard for these soldiers to talk to you about it, then?

I think there was a real outpouring of experience with us. They would share stories with us that they hadn't shared with anybody because they really wanted it to be as authentic as possible. They wanted us to get it right. I mean, all these soldiers watch anything that has to do with their experience, and the second you say you're making a movie about this, they instantly are looking for a political agenda, or they want to know if you'll make soldiers look like victims or f***ed up. They want it to be done with integrity, so because of that, I feel like they told the truth in a lot of ways. I heard some of the most awe-inspiring, harrowing stories I've ever heard in my life... You know, we've been doing a lot of screenings all over the place. We just had a screening at Fort Carson in front of 500 active duty servicemembers and their families. It was intense, man.

Active duty! And this isn't exactly a rah-rah movie.

Some of these guys have come back from five tours, and their families had been with them for all of that. A soldier came up to me, this woman whose brother had committed suicide the day before she enlisted, and her parents didn't tell her because they knew it was what she wanted to do. I mean, you hear so many humbling stories that remind you, "You're just a actor. Step it up." Something needs to change, because the fact that the suicide rate for this war is higher than the casualty rate? I mean, more people have come back and committed suicide than have actually died in the war. That's f***ing staggering, man. But I think there is a huge movement -- within the armed services, as well -- to change that.

What's your next project?

I'm actually directing my first feature. It starts shooting in October, and I'm so excited about it. It's called The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, and it's kind of a late-term coming-of-age comedy about these two misfit musicians -- one guy plays acoustic guitar, and the other guy plays reprogrammed children's instruments.

Who's in it?

It's me and Joe Lo Truglio in the two lead roles, and Arielle Kebbel plays the lead girl. Wilmer's in it, Melissa's doing a cameo in it, Sebastian Stan's in it...

That's a good cast.

I'm absolutely thrilled. I've written all the music for it with a friend of mine. I can't wait.

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