to back the project, but when a miniseries about George Armstrong Custer, Son of the Morning Star (1991), got low ratings and after the Gulf War started, ABC pulled out. Maxwell, with help from documentarian Ken Burns, finally secured funding for the film from Ted Turner at the 3rd Golden Laurel Awards in 1991. Originally it was planned as a miniseries for Turner Network Television, but it was released as a film instead. Duvall decided against starring as Robert E. Lee in order to appear in Stalin, while Albert Finney and George C. Scott declined the role. For the first time, the National Park Service allowed the motion picture industry to recreate and film battle scenes directly on the Gettysburg Battlefield, including scenes of Devil's Den and Little Round Top. However, much of the movie was shot at a nearby Adams County farm. Thousands of Civil War reenactors from across the country volunteered their time to come to Gettysburg to participate in the massive battle scenes. The score was composed by Randy Edelman. During filming of the battle scenes on Little Round Top, Bradley Egen, an extra playing a Union soldier, was unintentionally struck in the head by the butt of a musket and suffered a mild concussion, however Bradley was able to resume light duties the following day. Soundtrack The soundtrack was composed by Randy Edelman and issued on Milan Records. Two more soundtracks, More Songs and Music From Gettysburg and a Deluxe Commemorative Edition, were released as well. The first one included popular songs from the time period and a recitation of the Gettysburg Address by Jeff Daniels, while the second featured the original soundtrack album (above) and a second disc several previously unreleased tracks from the score and the aforementioned recitation. Release The miniseries was set to air on TNT, but when Ted Turner saw part of the film during post-production, he realized it was much bigger than a miniseries and decided to release the film theatrically. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema which Turner had just acquired. Only released to 248 theaters at its widest release and limited to just one or two showings per day because of its length, the film still managed to gross $12,769,960 at the box office. It would go on to become an all-time high seller on the VHS and DVD market, and has become a staple of classroom