The Business: Dale Dye

For more than two decades, Dale Dye has been the go-to military adviser for such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, adding authenticity to projects from Platoon to The Pacific. Now the former Marine and Vietnam War veteran is stepping into the director’s chair for the first time. Dye has secured commitments of more than $50 million to make the World War II action drama No Better Place to Die, to be filmed in Hungary beginning in April. Dye wrote the script four years ago about a bloody battle during which the 82nd Airborne division held two vital bridges in Normandy, France, shortly after the D-Day invasion. Dye says he won’t seek a domestic distributor until casting is completed, but production funding already has been secured by financier Frederick Ulrich, with foreign sales handled by Charles Fries of Fries Films. Co-producers are London-based Wildcard Entertainment and principals Alex Rofaila, Neil Dunn and Harald Reichebner, as well as HCC Media Group of Budapest. Dye, who dabbles in acting, says he wanted to make his first film without help from powerful friends. “I could have gone and said, ‘Please put me on your production slate,’ and I think they would have agreed,” he says. “But I want to do this one on my own.” He hopes the project will open doors to adapt some of his eight completed scripts or his seven novels. (His most recent, Peleliu File, was published by Warriors Publishing Group, recently formed by Dye and wife Julia.) “Once I’ve directed it, then I’ll walk in and say: ‘Here it is, hopefully a success. Here are other stories I want to do.’”