Editing A Soldier's Story (section)

==Production==
{{more citations needed section|date=June 2018}}
Jewison and many of the cast members worked for scale or less under a tight budget with [[Columbia Pictures]]. "No one really wanted to make this movie... a black story, it was based on [[World War II]], and those themes were not popular at the box office", according to Jewison. [[Warner Bros.]] turned it down, as did [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]. Columbia's [[Frank Price]] read the screenplay and was deeply interested, but the studio was hesitant about its commercial value, so Jewison offered to do the film for a $5 million budget and no salary. When the [[Directors Guild of America]] insisted he must have a fee, he agreed to take the lowest possible amount. The film ended up grossing $22.1 million.<ref name="boxoffice">{{cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1984/0SLST.php |title=A Soldier's Story - Box Office Data, DVD Sales, Movie News, Cast Information |publisher=The Numbers |date= |accessdate=June 19, 2013}}</ref>

[[Howard E. Rollins, Jr.]] had just received an Oscar nomination for his role in ''[[Ragtime (film)|Ragtime]]'' and was cast as the lead. Most of the cast came from [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] careers, but only [[Adolph Caesar]], [[Denzel Washington]], [[Larry Riley (actor)|Larry Riley]] and [[William Allen Young]] appeared in both the movie and the original off-Broadway play with the [[Negro Ensemble Company]] in the [[New York City]] version.

In a 1985 interview with the [[Los Angeles Times]], Caesar stated, while crafting the character of Waters, he drew on his frustrating experiences with both [[racism]] and ignorance in [[Classical theatre]], "I’d studied [[Shakespeare]] to death. I knew more about Shakespeare than Shakespeare knew about himself. After I did one season at a Shakespearean [[repertory company]], a director said to me, ‘You have a marvelous voice. You know the king’s English well. You speak [[iambic pentameter]]. My suggestion is that you go to New York and get a good colored role.' Waters has tried his best, but no matter what you do, they still hate you."<ref name="amandlajournal">{{Cite web|last=Little|first=Dylan K.|title=Adolph Caesar: The Iconic Actor With The Iconic Voice|url=https://amandlajournal.com/999/reviews/adolph-caesar-the-iconic-actor-with-the-iconic-voice/|access-date=2020-10-26|website=Amandla!}}</ref>

''A Soldier's Story'' was shot entirely in [[Arkansas]]. The "Tynin" exterior scenes were shot in three days in [[Clarendon, Arkansas|Clarendon]]. The baseball sequence was filmed in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] at the historic [[Lamar Porter Field]].<ref name="arealbook">{{cite book | last = Gordon | first = William A. | title = Shot on This Site | publisher = Citadel Press | year = 1996 | page = [https://archive.org/details/shotonthissitetr00gord/page/146 146] | isbn = 0-8065-1647-X | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/shotonthissitetr00gord/page/146 }}</ref>

[[Bill Clinton]] (then Governor of [[Arkansas]]) dropped by during the shooting. He became very enthused about the project and later helped by providing the [[Arkansas Army National Guard]] in full regalia for a grand scene, since Jewison could not afford to pay an army of extras. Production was completed with their help at [[Fort Chaffee]] United States Army Ready [[Military reserve|Reserve]] base at [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]].

Fuller had said [[Herman Melville]]'s novella ''[[Billy Budd]]'' inspired the play.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=41398468|title=American Theater Watch, 1981-1982|author=Weales, Gerald|year=1982|journal=The Georgia Review|volume=36|issue=3|pages=517–526}}</ref>