historical consultant. He disliked glorified depictions of the Normandy landings that ignored the reality of soldiers slowly dying in mud and water, wanting "their mothers, they wanted morphine. It took a long time." Spielberg believed the legacy of the Vietnam War had made his generation less interested in glorifying combat in film. Even so, he was influenced by early war films such as Battleground (1949), The Steel Helmet (1951), and Hell Is for Heroes (1962). Although Rodat's script came close to the ideal WWII project he had hoped for, he believed it had " a few problems." He hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited script rewrites. The scene begins as the second wave of soldiers arrive On Normandy beach (Darabont's suggestion), so they would be walking into "Hell on Earth" instead of empty beaches. Frank performed rewrites based on transcriptions of Spielberg's recorded ideas and two folders of historical facts about the Normandy landings; these gave Frank ideas but he found it difficult to parse historical facts into original ideas. The Normandy cemetery scene was based on Spielberg's own experience visiting the area as a youth; he witnessed a family accompanying a man who fell to his knees and began to cry at a grave marker. Casting Spielberg wanted older actors for his main cast, claiming that young soldiers would look older than their age under the stresses of war. Miller is the "adult in the story," intended to project a calmness and feeling of safety that is undermined by the character's uncontrollable hand shaking. Spielberg wanted Hanks to play Miller because he was the only actor he thought of who would not "want to use his teeth to pull out a pin from a hand grenade." Hanks formed Miller's character based on the history of the 2nd Ranger Battalion prior to Omaha beach, saying he believed Miller was "horribly afraid" of getting more of his men killed. Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford were considered for the role. Miller's detatchment is a diverse group, including a Jew and Italian, reminiscent of earlier WWII films; this was not a deliberate choice, although Spielberg believed he had subconsciously drawn on conventional WWII films. Burns described Reiben as a "wise guy" in the script, but the experience of filming the Omaha Beach landing inspired him to give the character a "much harder edge." Sizemore was cast in The Thin Red