Ok folks, Here is what I know about this new motion picture. Gods and Generals is the prequel to The Killer Angels. I have The Killer Angels & the Ted Turner motion picture Gettysburg is based upon this book. It was written by Michael Shaara. Michael's son Jeff is the author of Gods and Generals. ( I have not read the book, but I have & enjoyed the movie Gettysburg, so I'm looking forward to seeing this ) Even if you dislike Ted Turner, ( For whatever reason ) you have to applaud his efforts to keep alive our historical interest in the Civil War. He coughed up the money to produce the movie & hired Ron Maxwell to write the screenplay & direct it. ( Ron also did Gettysburg ) Ted will be making a cameo in the movie, by the way, as Colonel Patton. Actors from the Movie Gettysburg, will be recreating their roles for this project. More on that, in a bit, but first, a little story on how this all came about. In 1964, Michael Shaara took his family on vacation, & Jeff, who was twelve at the time, asked his dad to stop off at Gettysburg, because Jeff was a huge Civil War buff. Michael had absolutely no interest in history or the war, but to please his son, took the family there. A transformation took place inside Michael that day as he took in the battlefield & monuments. He suddenly became obsessed with Gettysburg & the War & for the next seven years, he researched the material for the book he would write, The Killer Angels. Sadly, Michael would die in 1988 & never knew his book was turned into a movie. Ron Maxwell had read The Killer Angels & wanted to make it into a movie, but it would take fifteen years to finally complete this dream. During this time, he had a conversation with Jeff Shaara about continuing his father's work, perhaps other books should be written about the subject, before or after Gettysburg. Jeff decided that he should try to do this, & Gods and Generals came about. Kevin Conway, who portrayed Irishman Buster Kilrain of the twentieth Maine in Gettysburg, will be returning for Gods and Generals. Martin Sheen who portrayed Robert E. Lee in Gettysburg (And did an excellent job, I might add) is being replaced by Robert Duvall, who is related to the General on his Mother's side of the family. He looks more like Lee than Sheen did in this role, by the way. Stephen Lang will be portraying Stonewall Jackson & there is a lot of pressure on him, I would think, because Jackson is never portrayed in film. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the role. Tom Berringer, who appeared as General James Longstreet in Gettysburg, will be replaced by Bruce Boxleitner for Gods and Generals. Huge numbers of volunteer re-enactors appear in this film, in fact, the movie would not have been able to have been made without them. Kali Rocha plays Anna Jackson, Stonewall's wife & here is a bit of trivia for you. Cortlandt Creech, the Grandaughter of Stonewall Jackson, heard that this film was being made & showed up on the live location, to see for herself, just what was going on in the production. Stephen Lang was a big hit with her & felt that having her there, helped bless the project. Jim Choate will portray General Bee, who coined the "Stonewall" name & there are people who are in this movie, like Ceaser ( a reporter for USA Today ) who you will not know, but were given the opportunity to participate. Chris Conner will portray John Wilkes Booth & looks just like him, it is almost spooky. Mira Sorvino will be in this movie as Fanny Chamberlain, not a big part as I understand, but essential to the story. What I think is nice is the company tried to film in locations that were authentic or reproduced as best as possible. They basically took over the lower half of Harper's Ferry, to film some scenes. Kudos to the National Park Service for allowing this to happen. Patrick Gorman will play General John Bell Hood & Stephen Spacek will portray James Power Smith. Senator Phill Gramm will do a cameo & Jeff Daniels & C. Thomas Howell will be back from Gettysburg as the Chamberlain brothers. Mia Dillon will be in this movie as Jane Beale & Jeff Shaara will do a cameo as well. I'm sure his father would have been proud. I understand Bob Dylan wrote & performs a song in the film. It is rated PG-13 & from what I understand, the movie concentrates on General Jackson more than Lee. There are some other scenes that I know about, but I would not want to give everything away here. I truly hope this does well at the box office, but I would love to see it at the drive-in on the big screen under the stars. Desoto Joe/The Record Man