WASHINGTON — His courage was a global inspiration after a moment of national tragedy.
This Friday, Jeff Bauman’s story hits the big screen in “Stronger,” based on his 2014 memoir chronicling life as a double amputee in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
“I became aware of Jeff from that photograph … but his story I didn’t know until I was handed the first draft of a screenplay, which was an adaptation of his book,” Gyllenhaal told WTOP. “When I opened to the first page, I expected what you’d think, which is a [serious] movie about a guy going through all the things that he goes through, but his sense of humor was a surprise and such an amazing thing. It’s one of the things that makes the movie so special.”
Upon waking up in the hospital after the attack, a progression of three written statements says all you need to know about Bauman’s character. First, he asks, “Is Erin OK?” Turns out, he was at the finish line because he promised ex-girlfriend Erin Hurley that he’d watch her race.
“I was worried about Erin, because she was on the course,” Bauman told WTOP. “I heard the second bomb and I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know how far down it was or if there was even more further down the course. I had no idea what was going on.”
Next, he looks at his concerned buddy in the hospital and decides to cut the tension with a lighthearted movie reference to Gary Sinise’s character Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump” (1994).
“His face was trying to explain to me that I didn’t have my legs,” Bauman recalled. “I couldn’t just tell him, ‘Bro, I already know.’ I couldn’t say that to him, so I had to joke with him. I had to mess with him somehow! That was perfect. [Lt. Dan] just popped into my head.”
His third and final written statement will give you chills: “I saw the bomber.” Yes, it was Bauman who helped authorities identify one of the bombers, shown in the background out-of-focus behind Gyllenhaal. Still, the movie isn’t about the attack and manhunt like Mark Wahlberg’s “Patriots Day” (2017); “Stronger” is about the struggles and triumph of recovery.
“This isn’t a movie about the event at all; it’s about a human getting through a really tough time,” Gyllenhaal said. “That’s where we can all relate. … Jeff said something beautiful on Facebook the other night: ‘It doesn’t have to make headlines to be hard.’ … No matter what you or someone you love is going through, if he can get through it, you can get through it.”
Bauman admits he was initially hesitant at the attention of a huge moviestar playing him.
“I was like, oh man, I didn’t want it to be that big,” Bauman said. “I was like, ‘Can’t I just play myself? Maybe somehow this falls through.’ I knew that as soon as Jake jumped on, it was going to happen because Jake doesn’t mess around. He doesn’t mess around, man. He works hard. So I was really excited to see this thing evolve into a great movie.”
Gyllenhaal was equally nervous for their first meeting.
“I was nervous to meet him,” Gyllenhaal said. “I was surprised at how well we got along, then approaching playing him was an enormous task. There was a huge responsibility in trying to get his journey right … what he went through emotionally, physically, recalibrating an entire life after an event. Then it was months and months of work talking to everyone around him. … Lots of time around him, watching him, observing him, understanding how he got up every day, what he did, his family, all the people who take of him. Over time, I got a sense.”
The biggest challenge was the physical transformation as a double amputee.
“The first thing we went over was just how I transferred out of my chair into cars, how I moved in and out of the chair off the ground, taking off my legs,” Bauman said. “He watched all this and got really into it, did a lot of research. I showed him a lot in the beginning, then he just took off from there. That was amazing to see because I was really concerned: how far are you going to go with this? He went all the way with it, which is amazing. It makes me proud.”
Working with director David Gordon Green, cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, editor Dylan Tichenor and a complex visual effects team, Gyllenhaal created the illusion of missing legs.
“We had incredible visual effects artists, incredible makeup effects, an incredible prop department who designed the wheelchair that I’m in and prostheses that fit over my legs so I could move them while my legs were tucked under. There were so many [people], an incredible editor and an incredible cinematographer. So to get the physicality was teamwork.”
Even with the best effects folks, Gyllenhaal went to grueling lengths to master the physicality.
“One thing you realize is your center of gravity completely changes,” Gyllenhaal said. “There’s a scene where I’m trying to get down the stairs onto the wheelchair. … When I watch Jeff move without his legs, his legs move up and down very quickly because they don’t have the extra weight of the legs that you would normally have. In order to capture that [speed] took a lot of really smart people to try and put that together. Certain scenes, we did it different ways.”
Beyond the legless transformation, Gyllenhaal also had to master the Boston accent.
“I worked with an incredible dialogue coach, Tim Monich, [who] considered Boston’s accent to be more of an idiolect than a dialect. The way Jeff talks, he’s not doing a deep accent, though there are moments when he had a couple beers, it would come out! … What I felt regardless of dialect was who he was as a human through his voice, always loving and engaging. You can always feel him bringing him you into the conversation. … I learned so much about his personality from the way he spoke, not just where he was from, but from his inside.”
For Bauman, the hardest part to watch is the relationship drama with Erin (Tatiana Maslany).
“It’s really tough because I love her so much and I had to relive me getting in the shower, telling her to leave and pushing her away,” Bauman said. “That was the toughest thing to relive. Tatiana and Jake did it so well. They just captured that and it hurt a lot. It still hurts, but it’s real and it’s lovely. I’m starting to find it lovely. It shows what we went through together.”
While Bauman finds loveliness in the pain, Gyllenhaal has found one of his most rewarding roles in a career of “Jarhead,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Zodiac,” “Prisoners” and “Nightcrawler.”
“The number of people who have come up to me or shared stories of their pain, their vulnerability, their struggle is what changes you,” Gyllenhaal said. “I don’t think it’s about one person — Jeff would be the first to say that — it’s about us as a world community. That’s what Jeff shows people, and by proxy, that’s what I feel. That’s what changed me. His story, yes; his strength, absolutely; his sense of humor, without a doubt. … But more than that, all the people he touched and all the stories that have come my way as a result. It’s unbelievable.”
The outpouring may be unbelievable, but you best believe it if you see Jake and Jeff walking — yes, walking — along the red carpet of a certain awards ceremony in the coming months.
‘Stronger’ hits theaters on Friday. Listen to our full chat with Jake Gyllenhaal & Jeff Bauman below:
