SLIGO, KY

Wrangling Marines, and Horses

Sligo, Ky. -- Six stops into production of America’s Marines, commercial crews for the first time were confronted with a temperamental actor. Needless to say, it wasn’t a Marine.

Chorus Line, a 2-year-old Morgan stallion refused time and again to run along the fence-lined road where the Silent Drill Platoon was doing its rifle drill.

“If you were a horse would you run towards 36 trained riflemen,” quipped director Iain MacKenzie. Finally, after nearly an hour, the horse cooperated, for one take. That’s all they needed.

Of course the Marines were right on their marks, as they have been all along. Corporal Daniel Anderson saw to that. The 20-year-old drill master from Dwight, Ill., has been at director MacKenzie’s side for virtually every shot, relaying directions to the Marines, making sure the shots are true to their training.

There are many on set who out-rank Cpl. Anderson. On Saturday, however, he had an extra level of pressure. His parents were watching his every move.

“He told us he was going to be busy, so not to expect that he’d have time to talk,” said Molly Anderson. She and her husband, Tom, drove more than six hours to watch the production.

They started their morning in a field of soy beans in Smithville, KY. Corporal Anderson was there too, lining up Marines in front of an iconic red barn and trying to figure out how to keep the spinning rifles from whipping bean stalks into the air.

Like all the men he leads, this is Cpl. Anderson’s first assignment since graduating from recruit training and infantry school. He was selected by the previous drill master to take over the roll this fall. Typically the drill master organizes the four-month training and coordinates any last-minute changes to the SDP routine.

It’s no surprise to his mother that Cpl. Anderson was selected, or that he can lead so well.

“He’s been a natural born leader since he was a little kid,” she said. “At 10 he knew he wanted to be a Marine. After 9-11 we tried to talk him out of it, but he was insistent that now more than ever, this was the life for him.”

The America’s Marines commercial represents one of his biggest challenges since stepping into the roll.

The SDP is often filmed, so making a commercial isn’t entirely new. But a commercial that spans the country, along with a documentary crew and still photographers in tow, adds a number of complexities.

“I thought I had a general idea what it would be like. I didn’t,” he said. “There are so many moving pieces and so much happening. Times Square was crazy.”

“This whole thing will be something that years from now I can look back on and say, ‘Wow, I was part of that,’” he said.

On occasion Cpl. Anderson will step in front of the camera to be part of the line when he wants to be. But at the next stop he’s content to stay behind the camera.

“There’s no way at the Grand Canyon,” he said. “You’re not going to see me standing with my toes on the edge, spinning a rifle.”

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