Channing Tatum and Alex Frost in Stop-Loss Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Do you have a personal opinion on the stop-loss policy, how the U.S. military can require soldiers to remain in service beyond their normal discharge date?
Yeah. My personal opinion is that it's bullshit. I think it is one of the worst things — to have to go back to war — especially if you are in the service as most of [this film's] characters are. These guys live and breathe it every single day that they are over there because they are damn good at their jobs. Ryan's character has done over 150 personal combat missions. He had to get his whole team involved in [missions] and risked their lives on a day-to-day basis. To have to go back to that for several more years than you had initially planned — I think it is terrible. A few guys who worked with us on the film had been [in Iraq] as Army Rangers and had been sent to do things like kill people in the night. You don't want to have to go back to that when you think you're getting out after six or seven years of service.

These Army Rangers were actually on the set giving you advice on the authenticity of the scenes?
Absolutely. And, I have got to be honest with you, I have never been more mortally afraid of what things can do to a human being's conscience. It is terrible.

Do you have any thoughts on why films focused on the Iraq War — despite often incredible scripts and great casting — have not fared well recently at the box office? I am thinking about In The Valley of Elah, Jarhead, Rendition and Redacted. Do you think this movie will be received differently from those films?
I feel like it will be. I really, really do. You are absolutely right: Iraq movies have not been doing well. And for a big reason: the marketing for these movies focuses specifically on [actual events] that are going on in Iraq. This movie is about something factual but it is all based on the soldiers' perspectives. It is told from the [viewpoint] of people who were over there. You are watching everyday people do horrible things in the name of war, and I think that is what is going to be most jarring about it. It is just so real, these day-to-day people and the friendships they have. It is not about [the idea that] they have to go to war and we are going to show a lot of 'war' for the whole movie. You don't see very much war in the movie. It is all about being home and trying to find your place back home.

I want to go back to where it all began for you. Can you talk briefly about being cast in Elephant with no acting experience and working with Gus Van Sant and what that has meant for you?
Well, it totally changed my life. I was 15 before that. I wasn't really looking at my career path; I was just trying to finish high school. When I got cast in the movie, I was working for a good month and a half and I had never before in my life worked so hard on one thing. It felt great and that is why still I do it today. It is the one thing that I love to do more than anything else in the world. And I will continue to do it for as long as I possibly can, but I did lose all my friends when I got cast in that movie. Everybody shunned me because I was working. I don't know, for some reason I just lost all my friends and it totally changed my life. But for the better. I actually found focus in my life. I found something I could study, and a craft I could throw myself into. I've loved every bit of it since.