Robert and Eskimo Go to War

How a Palisadian Oscar-Winner is Planning a Fresh Take on His Father’s Troubled Story

By MARIE TABELA | Contributing Writer

It’s a good life: Robert David Port spends his days writing on the beach or in his home in the El Medio Bluffs accompanied by his writing partner, a Siberian Husky named Eskimo.

But it is also hard, emotional work: The two just wrapped filming on a World War II film based on the award-winning novel “Peace” by Richard Bausch.

But this is not just another war story. For Port, who won an Academy Award for his 2003 documentary “Twin Towers” about brothers caught up in the nightmare at Ground Zero, this, too, is family business.

Only this time, it’s his friend Bausch’s family and how such terrible tales dovetailed with his own family history,

The book and film focus on four American soldiers with vastly different backgrounds who witness their unit sergeant kill the female companion of a German soldier after the German kills two of their men.

The story follows them as they battle both the moral dilemma surrounding the event and the treacherous and arduous journey through the freezing mountains of 1944 Italy. Allegiances are tested and trust waivers as they follow an Italian man they meet on their odyssey as their guide, unsure of whether he is ally or Nazi sympathizer.

The book itself is based on a true story of the author’s father, Robert C. Bausch, to whom the book “Peace” is dedicated.

For Port, this film has been a passion project he started a decade ago after discovering a review of the novel in the Sunday Times book review, “bells went off,” Port said.

His fascination with the WWII genre began with his own grandfather, Henry Mogan, a decorated WWII veteran himself.

“He escaped from Austria when he was 16 from the Nazis, and came to America and ended up going back and serving under Patton, liberating a concentration camp.

“He taught me the importance of learning from that era, how to lead your life and how to follow your moral compass.”

And so began Port’s fascination with the moral complexities involved in war.

Before even reading the book, he called his agent to acquire the rights to it.

“I fell in love with the book, I fell in love with the characters and I optioned it with my own money. I knew after reading that book what people meant when they said that this was my life passion, this took me 10 years to make, because I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy film to make. I’m not some big feature film guy, but I knew I had to direct it, and that was the beginning of it.”

He went ahead with his labor of love with the blessing of the writer. This is not always the case but through filming, the two men have forged a friendship rooted in mutual understanding, respect and most importantly, laughter.

When the Palisadian-Post asked each man to describe the other, they both used the same word: mensch.

When Port needed to rewrite scenes, the first person he would call is Bausch.

“I had the greatest resource in the world [with Bausch]. That’s almost unheard of, and it was amazing. He came up and got to be on set, and we had a lot of laughs,” the writer/director reminisced. In fact, the two even enjoy playing pranks on one another.

Bausch enlisted the help of a reporter when, after an interview, he asked the reporter to report back to Port that he was belligerently drunk for his morning interview and not only had no knowledge of the film’s existence, but also no concept of who Port even was. This ended well only for the fact that the two have an effortless relationship and infectious senses of humor.

One of the film’s biggest backers is executive producer Maury Povich, who was also the executive producer on “Twin Towers.”

Rick Dugdale of Enderby Entertainment also signed on as Port’s partner in producing the film while Port focused on writing and directing, and contributed the remaining funding needed for the project.

Also on the project is executive producer Daniel Petrie, Jr., an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and partner in Enderby Entertainment. Edd Lukas, named by Variety as a “cinematographer to watch,” signed on as director of photography.

After assembling his team, Port had to pick a location to shoot the film and poured over photos of Italy in the winter of 1944. Serbia was the first location they scouted, and while it was a perfect match geographically, it lacked the ever-present snow crucial to the film.

Dugdale is originally from Kelowna, Canada, and recalled that the Canadian troops prepared for the invasion of Italy in Kelowna, as the terrain was very similar in nature. The duo traveled to Kelowna and Port knew he had found the perfect location for his film.

In the novel, the soldiers deal with abysmal weather riddled with snow and ice. The actors and crew for the film suffered the same conditions.

Port told of their brush with certain death as they drove down a vertical precipice with no guard rails, the men remaining in total silence for the first (and only) time in several weeks of filming.

“That was the most treacherous part of the entire process,” he said laughing with the tale behind him, “everything else was downhill after that, no pun intended.”

The cast features Alexander Ludwig as Marsten, the lead character, as well as Sam Keeley, Chris Brochu, Lochlyn Munro and Tyler Hynes.

Also joining the cast is Franco Nero.

“We had the greatest cast; I could not imagine having better human beings on set to work with,” Port said. He spoke of their consummate professionalism, work ethic, and evenings filled with karaoke and revelry.

“My favorite part of the entire production were my dinners with Franco, and he would tell me stories you wouldn’t believe. Forget six degrees of Kevin Bacon, it’s six degrees of Franco Nero,” Port said with a laugh. “Within one minute of entering a room, he’d have a room full of Canadians who didn’t know him in stitches. He’s a performer, 24/7. He’s amazing. They all fell in love with him.

“Why I think ‘Peace’ is such an appropriate story to tell now and why I think it’s very different than a lot of WWII film is because it starts as a story of morality, which goes back to what my grandfather taught me,” Port said. “It’s a story about how you lead your life.”

Shooting for “Peace” wrapped in December, and the goal is to have the movie ready for this summer’s film festivals.