Written By: Jayme Face
We caught up with Joey Luthman from National Geographic’s mini-series The Long Road Home. The Long Road Home is based on journalist’s Martha Raddatz book of the same name about the real experiences of soldiers on what is considered Black Sunday.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about The Long Road Home and your character Jonathan Ridell?
Joey Luthman: Yeah! So, The Long Road Home is about Black Sunday which is April 4, 2004. A platoon of 19 guys went into Sadr City, Baghdad for what was supposed to be a really boring routine mission. It was just keeping peace and sucking up some sewage, it smelled and that was just about as crazy as it got. Then they were on their way out when they got ambushed, a city-wide ambush and they were not prepared for it. They had to quickly improvise a plan to seek shelter as best they could and wait to be rescued. So, the mini-series The Long Road Home is about them getting rescued and surviving throughout this night because it all takes place over one night. This is day four of the tour, they must go back the next day, but a lot happens in that one night. There were over 60 wounded and 8 people dead. My character, Jonathan Ridell, he is the driver for Humvee number 1 which has got Eddie Chen, our translator, Jassim, our note taker Matt Fisk and our Lieutenant Shane Aguero. We are up front and it is Lieutenant Shane Aguero who gives me the order to go back into the firefight after we get ambushed to go back for our guys. It’s me who has to make that decision. Because Ridell hasn’t seen battle, a lot of these guys haven’t seen battle, but I’m one of the younger ones and so it’s harder for me to take all this in super-fast. I have to make some big decisions very quickly and without a lot of hesitation. A lot is asked of him and in a way his innocence is taken away very quickly, but yeah that’s Ridell and that’s the show.
upfrontNY: Now you did a boot camp before filming, what was that experience like?
Joey Luthman: Well, the boot camp was definitely an experience. I was super nervous. I remember feeling really nervous after I got off the plane. We stayed at these units on base, they were very nice and the military was really great to let us stay there. I just remember the night before boot camp being like I don’t know what to expect. I sort of knew what to expect, but I didn’t know because when I heard boot camp I thought it was like you know obstacle courses, push-ups, crawling through the mud and drills. In a way it sort of was, it was boot camp minus the mud and the push-ups. It was a lot of work. We went through gun handling, safety drills, how to stand, how to walk, how to always be at the ready, how to hold up the rifle and keep it steady and how to change out the mag in just a few seconds. We learned a lot of gun maneuvers, gun handling. The ranger adviser and military adviser, Mike Baumgarten, wanted to get through to us that we don’t want to be scared of the weapon, we want to be comfortable with it because that is what a military person would be. We’d have sort of an accelerated process. As actors, we can fill in the gaps, but there’s big gaps to fill. Even though we had a little bit of a boot camp; a normal training process, if we were in the military, it would be six months. So, there was a lot of time we kind of had to imagine. It was amazing going through what we did in the couple weeks with Mike Bumgarten and the other military adviser Jariko Denman. Doing boot camp with these guys built a great bond with everyone too. Even though we didn’t have a lot of time in the boot camp we were continuing to learn together. We could learn who each other was, it was a great experience for a lot of different reasons.
upfrontNY: Did you know much about this event before you had gotten the role and what did you do to prepare for this role in addition to the boot camp?
Joey Luthman: I didn’t know anything and I’m not ashamed to say that because that’s why we made the show. That’s why Mikko, our writer, felt so passionate about it because so many people don’t know about this event and how critical it was. It was a really big turning point in the war because for like a year before it was relatively peaceful. There was some tension, but no major fighting going on. This really turned it around and kick started the war. I hadn’t heard about it when I read the audition, breakdown for my character and the description of the show. It sounded interesting but when I found out it was based on true events ‘I was like what?! I never even heard of this’. That is something I’m not afraid to share. In preparation they gave us Martha Raddatz book The Long Road Home which is what the show is ultimately based on. Then they gave us Black Nights Dark Days written by Matthew Fisk who was the (I can’t think of the technical term) but the one writing down all the notes in the military notebook in the Humvee. I was driving in the show, but in real life he is that position. He wrote a firsthand account of his experiences going through all of this. He interviewed a lot of the guys who were there, so that was really cool reading that just before we started filming. I kept reading throughout filming, but even what I did get to read and experience beforehand was really helpful. Hearing it from them was incredible especially since a lot of the guys that were there visited set several times. Matt Fisk was on set a lot, a couple of other guys Eric Bourquin and Carl Wild, which was great because we got to hear either that we were doing a great job or we need some work. For the most part it was that we were really doing a great job. They appreciated that because we are doing the best that we can to make it look good for them and for their friends that they lost.
upfrontNY: What would you say is the biggest take away from this series?
Joey Luthman: The biggest take away, I would say, there is a big divide. I think this is a good stepping stone for closing that divide between military life and civilian life. Whether that be someone who is transitioning or someone who is just a civilian communicating with people who are in the military or coming back. There’s just a weird thing, people don’t know how to talk about it. It’s sort of like we know what they do so we’re just going to say thank you for your service, but we don’t know everything that’s happened. This show gives you just a glimpse of the sacrifices they’ve done and what they’ve gone through. You can see this show and get a closer look. We are actors, but we are portraying real stuff. I think the more people see stuff like this hopefully it could close some of that divide that is there right now because it is really important. I think our veterans are amazing people. PTSD is so real and so apparent and Matt Fisk talks about it in his book a lot as well. Welcoming veterans in and not having that weird divide is important. It’s not that we’re wrong, we’re all good people, it’s natural to think that way because it’s a different world. They came from a war zone and we’ve never been in one so there can be a weird tension of sorts because you don’t know what to talk about with someone who’s been through that. We can all close that gap a little bit. Hopefully this helps, but I think it’s one step closer to that. From what I’ve seen, the reception has been nothing but good stuff. I think it is doing a good job.
upfrontNY: You are part of a large family of actors what is the dynamic, do you often compete with each other or work with each other?
Joey Luthman: Well, yeah I come from a big family and my parents were doing theatre before me with my other brothers and sisters. I come from a family of 7 including myself, but we all kind of at one point were acting together. As the years kept going we sort of alternated between people acting and doing other things until it was just a couple people and then it was just me. For a while my brother acted as well before he went into electrical engineering which is very different, but he’s had a passion for it for a long time. He loved acting but eventually he just loved the electrical engineering thing more. Yeah, we all kind of did stuff together for a while, it was fun. We did a lot hometown productions in local theatres in Ohio. I remember being really young, all acting together, but I didn’t fully understanding what was going on. I knew to say a certain line and stand in a certain place, but it wasn’t until a little bit later when they [my family] weren’t acting as much and I was doing plays when I really developed a love for acting. I knew I really wanted to keep doing it. I didn’t know how that was going to work or be possible, but I knew I wanted to keep doing it in some way.
upfrontNY: You have also done a little directing and producing, do you think we will see more of that from you in the future?
Joey Luthman: Yeah, I mean I hope so. I love it! Whenever someone asks me what I want to do, I say I want to be in film, obviously in acting, but there’s times where I want to make my own things. I get stubborn because I want to do everything. I want to do the editing, the sound, star in it and just do everything and that’s not completely realistic. I mean it can be done and I totally could, but it would be crazy and I would need help. So, when I think the best middle ground that can kind of do all of it from afar is directing. I am able to have at least a say in what I think should be done. Even though it’s not my department, I can say “Well if the sound can do this, the video can be here, and the lights could be there.” Directing is the best compromise to not doing everything, but doing everything. I’m working on something with a friend, hopefully filming and making it sometime in the middle of this year. We’re very close now. We’ve been working on the script for a long time and now we’re at a place where we like it. So, we’re going to start the process of making it because it will definitely take a while. I haven’t fully made a film with someone else before so this will definitely be a cool first experience.
upfrontNY: You are the Star Power ambassador for Starlight Children’s Foundation, can you tell us more about the organization and your role as ambassador?
Joey Luthman: Yeah, Starlight is incredible! I think what they do is just awesome. They go to different places, different venues, and they put on giant holiday parties. They bring a ton of kids, hundreds, most of them are diagnosed with terminally ill diseases. You can find happiness in a lot of things, but it’s harder when you’re in a hospital and that’s mostly what they know and it’s sad. So, what Starlight likes to do is take these kids to these cool holiday parties and have tons of events, activities, games, and arts and crafts. As ambassadors, we get to be cool celebrity faces for these kids, who a lot of them get to watch T.V. in the hospitals and know who we are, they see our faces and they light up and smile. It’s so powerful, but it’s very simple. Starlight’s whole thing is to bring in the families and the children and just have fun and smile to escape. They can escape a mostly painful experience. That’s their mission and as an ambassador we get to go to these different events and interact with the kids, it’s great.
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