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Director's Statement

I didn't go to film school – I went to work, raised a family, built a business. I don't know or care what post-modern anything is and while I subscribe to the New Yorker, I can tell you there’re not enough pictures for me and I don't get the cartoons. I like a thick steak, and tequila over ice, and I'm beginning to think my wife isn't as smart as I thought she was since she hasn't divorced me yet. I know what my IQ is but I'm not smart enough to understand what it means. And I don't make films, I make movies – about real life, not what passes for real life in Hollywood. No one's going to lose a guy in ten days in any of my movies.

Courage Doesn't Ask is a movie about honor, duty and service in the military, and the courage it takes to serve, no matter who you are or what you do. The U.S. Government has refused to support Courage citing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy against gays serving in the military.

But Courage is not a movie about gays in the military – this isn't "Brokeback Army"; in fact, there is no gay character or storyline in the entire movie. It is, rather, a movie about the kind of men and women who volunteer and serve with dedication and honor. It is a movie about the realities of service in an all volunteer military; where men and women from all walks of life join, driven largely by the triad of duty, pride, and service – those elusive qualities we call honor, be they exhibited by straight or gay soldiers, sailors or marines.

Courage is not a movie about lifestyle, nor is it a polarized version of the military à la John Wayne or Oliver Stone that asks you to believe the military is inherently good or evil. Instead, Courage asks you to consider that the military does and should represent the civilian population it serves and protects: white, black, brown, straight, gay, men, women. Part of our cast includes actual gay veterans, which we included in the movie to put a face on the issue. Most Americans don't agree with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, but neither do they want Jack from Will & Grace defending our country. Parenthetically, I can assure you that neither do any of the gay veterans with whom I’ve spoken.

By ignoring a gay storyline but identifying the actors as gay veterans, Courage Doesn't Ask stands for the proposition that being gay in combat is as transparent as being black, brown, white, Democrat, Republican. It just doesn't make a damn bit of difference and shouldn't disqualify otherwise honorable service.

This is the right movie to make and the right time to make it. Rather than focusing on a gay storyline, it focuses on the mission of the military and asks the question, "If our national defense is really an issue, don't we want to engage the best and most dedicated people to defend us?"

Courage isn't straight or gay, it just is ... courage runs toward danger, not away ... courage doesn't ask, it shouldn't have to.

– Joe Acton
Summer 2006