From Navy SEAL to showbiz

MANILA, Philippines – Military and showbiz seem like an odd combination. But it works perfectly fine for retired US Navy SEAL Mitchell Hall.

Hall was the consultant on the Bin Laden film Zero Dark Thirty, among other combat-themed Hollywood films. He currently serves as the technical advisor and producer of the war drama series Six, which Filipino viewers can watch on the History Channel on Thursday nights at 10. 

A quick look at his bio on www.militarytimes.com tells you of a decorated, two-decades-plus military career. He received the US presidential award, the Silver Star, for his work as the chief special warfare operator of the US Navy. The website also noted his “extraordinary bravery” while he and his teammates were under enemy attack during a deployment in Iraq.

With that, Hall was right to say in a phone interview with The STAR that he’s the least person you’d expect to enter show business.

“I had no training (in entertainment) whatsoever,” he said. “I just have the right temperament for it.”

And the right background (if one may add) to mine for story ideas for an eight-episode, action-packed series.

According to the production notes, “The eight-episode first season of Six follows members of the Navy SEAL Team Six, whose covert mission to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan goes awry when they uncover a US citizen working with terrorists. Inspired by real missions, the series authentically captures the inside world of America’s elite Special Operations unit, what these SEALS do, their personal lives, combat and the life-and-death decisions they make to protect and serve their country.”

Hall told The STAR that he decided to be a producer on the show because he believes viewers will always be interested in what “the most elite warriors of our time are doing.” He said the US Navy SEALS has garnered a lot of attention in the media over the last five to 10 years, most especially for the “capture of Bin Laden” which spawned a Hollywood account via Zero Dark Thirty.

“I guess, (there’s) no shortage of material out there about Navy SEALS these days,” Hall said, noting however, that what makes Six different is that it shows the elite unit’s respective lives at home. “But I believe we are the first to show the guys at home as well.”

Here are more excerpts from the phone interview:

On why Hall decided to co-produce Six:

“Well, again, it’s a very, I guess, what I call sexy material. You know, again, right now, in this current time, the Navy SEALS are a hot item. And there have been a bunch of films about it — everything from Zero Dark Thirty to Lone Survivor to Act of Valor. So, there’s no shortage of interest in this. But the one thing that hasn’t been done, that we have done here, is we’ve shown the home life, too. You know, it’s not simply about what these SEALS do on the battlefield but it’s also about who these men are, who these men are at home, the struggles they have at home in being good husbands and good fathers, and then ultimately, the costs that they have incurred by trying to do this — you know, to execute this impossible balance.”

Inspired by real Navy SEAL missions, History Channel’s action drama Six airs on Thursday nights at 10

On how he got into the elite Navy SEALS:

“I have a very, I guess, what I would call normal upbringing with divorced parents, financial struggles and you know, so many things with so many, I guess I would call them average Joes we’d have to deal with, gearing into childhood and gearing into adulthood. And then, for me, I just have this drive, this so-called switch kind of flip for me and I was kinda captured by the idea of being this elite soldier that I worked for. And quite frankly, it was a gamble and there was no guarantee I was gonna do it. As a matter of fact, the odds were stacked squarely against me. You know, 70, 75, 77 percent of the people that go through this training don’t make it. So, it’s a course, it’s hard by design because you’re trying to find the few and far between soldiers that can actually take on these strategic — strategically important — missions.”

On some of his most unforgettable experiences/missions as a Navy SEAL:

“I can’t go into exact details of missions I’ve done, all I can say this that your collectively having served a career with the US Navy SEAL means immense pride. It’s something I can look back on and draw from. You know, it may sound funny but once you’ve done a career like that, it almost feels like there’s nothing you can’t do. You had to dig. I had to dig so deep, you know, to be in spirit with the rest of these amazing guys. But now, as I leave that career behind and get into entertainment, it’s quite frankly very foreign to me. I never imagined being in the entertainment business. I’m applying the same principles to this new facet of my life. Just being very aggressive and resilient, you know, with everything that I have, because instead of being the best SEAL, I wanna be the best producer and the best adviser I can be.” 

On what led him to the entertainment business:

“Yeah, they (military and entertainment) are worlds apart. And, to be honest, I was never even, even a little bit interested in entertainment. I received a random phone call from the producers of Zero Dark Thirty. I listened to this gentleman on the phone and I was, I have to admit, not interested at all. But out of respect for the guy and respect that they won an Oscar for Hurt Locker, I had to finish the conversation. And when I hung up the phone, I already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to do it. But one of the things that I’ve learned in this second career of mine is to, you know, always have the conversation. And so, I just kind of turned it over in my head a little bit more and decided that okay, I can always go do this and leave anytime I want. And so I went and I had to be in Jordan. I think it was five or six days later. And it turned out I was wrong and I had the most amazing experience with (director) Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Purcell who wrote the movie and it was the exact opposite experience that I thought it’s gonna be. It was amazing. Kathryn was awesome to work for. Mark was awesome to work for. The crew turned themselves inside out to tell an amazing story and I found out that I had a good temperament for this business and being the mediator between the authentic and, you know, the creative.”