HBO's 'Generation Kill' miniseries debuts July 13

By April MacIntyre Jul 11, 2008, 15:51 GMT

07/08/2008 - Evan Wright and Lee Tergesen - "Generation Kill" HBO Films TV Mini-Series Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals - Paramount Theater at Paramount Pictures Studios - Hollywood, CA, USA © Tony Lowe / PR Photos

At TCA yesterday, HBO rolled out "Generation Kill" with their panel that included EP and screenwriter David Simon (The Wire), actor James Ransone, key military advisor Eric Kocher, actor Alexander Skarsgård, director Susanna White, actor Lee Tergesen, author and consulting producer Evan Wright and director Simon Cellan Jones.  

Simon and Ed Burns have turned in a new miniseries based on Evan Wright's true account of the invasion of Iraq - the seven-part "Generation Kill."

The award-winning nonfiction account follows journalist Evan Wright (played by Lee Tergesen) as he's embedded with the "recon" lead Humvee of First Recon’s Bravo Company’s Second Platoon Marines, on a quasi-road trip across Iraq.

Real events and names are used.  The filmmakers Simon and Burns made every effort to recreate Wright’s account of Bravo Two Marines riding from the Kuwait border into the slums of Baghdad. 

"It needs to feel real – not just to Marines, but to the Marines who served with the First Recon during the invasion of Iraq.  If it doesn’t feel like we’re doing our best to approximate their world, then we’ve failed.  If we capture these characters as they are portrayed in Evan’s book, then we’ll have achieved something," shared Simon.

The panel noted their previous night's Camp Pendleton screening was well-received by the actual marines stationed there.

Alexander Skarsgård, Susanna White, Ed Burns, Eric Kocher

These writers fleshed out the cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård as stoic Sgt. Brad Colbert, "Wire" alum James Ransone as loquacious Cpl. Ray Person and Lee Tergesen as Evan Wright, the Rolling Stone embedded writer whose first-hand account the story was based on.

The producers noted that viewers will "have to work" as the story is non-linear, chaotic, and needs your full attention. 

The series debuts Sunday, July 13 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT)  - Other HBO playdates:  July 13 (11:50 p.m.), 15 (11:00 p.m.), 16 (10:30 p.m.), 17 (10:00 p.m.), 19 (10:00 p.m.) and 29 (8:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates:  July 14 (8:00 p.m., midnight), 20 (7:45 p.m.) and 21 (8:00 p.m.)