The brainchild of Mike Medavoy, who was born in Shanghai in 1941 and who developed the story through his Phoenix Pictures shingle, project was subsequently bought by Harvey Weinstein while still at Miramax; it took eight years in the making.
Paul Soames: Conner and I had joined the Navy like our fathers and grandfathers before us. Our lives were set. Birth, school, Yale, war. The great American tradition.