Neal McDonough as Captain Dave Severance Harve Presnell as Elderly Dave Severance Melanie Lynskey as Pauline Harnois Gagnon Tom McCarthy as James Bradley Chris Bauer as General Alexander Vandegrift, the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gordon Clapp as General Holland Smith, who led the invasion of Iwo Jima Ned Eisenberg as Joe Rosenthal, the journalist who took the famous photograph Judith Ivey as Belle Block Ann Dowd as Mrs. Strank Myra Turley as Madeline Evelley Jason Gray-Stanford as Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier Joseph Michael Cross as Private First Class Franklin Sousley Benjamin Walker as Corporal Harlon Block, who was misidentified as Hank Hansen Alessandro Mastrobuono as Corporal Chuck Lindberg Scott Eastwood as Private Roberto Lundsford David Patrick Kelly as President Harry S. Truman Jeremiah Kirnberger as Gunners Mate 1st Class Stark Sands as Private Walter Gust Production The film rights to the book were purchased by DreamWorks in June 2000. Producer Steven Spielberg brought William Broyles to write the first drafts of the script, before director Clint Eastwood brought Paul Haggis to rewrite. In the process of reading about the Japanese perspective of the war, in particular General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Eastwood decided to film a companion piece with Letters from Iwo Jima, which was shot entirely in Japanese. Bradley Cooper auditioned for one of the leading roles. Flags of Our Fathers was shot in the course of 58 days. Jared Leto was originally cast as Rene Gagnon but had to back out due to a tour commitment with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. Flags of Our Fathers cost $55 million, although it was originally budgeted at $80 million. Variety subsequently downgraded the price tag to $55 million. Although the film is taken from the American viewpoint of the battle, it was filmed almost entirely in Iceland and Southern California, with a few scenes shot in Chicago. Shooting ended early 2006, before production for Letters from Iwo Jima began in March 2006. Release Critical reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Flags of Our Fathers has an approval rating of 73% based on 196 reviews, with an average rating of 7.01/10. The site's consensus states: "Flags of Our Fathers is both a fascinating look at heroism, both earned and manufactured, and a well-filmed salute to the men who fought at the battle of Iwo Jima." On Metacritic, the film scored a 79 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "Generally