Jeff Danielsis a talented actor who has received plenty of accolades throughout his television and film career, which spans more than four decades. He has dipped his toe in nearly every genre, appearing in classiccomedies likeDumb & Dumberand101 Dalmatians, indie dramas likeThe Squid and the Whale, and sci-fi flicks likeLooperandThe Martian. However, there is one project in particular that Daniels would likely rather keep off his resume: the 2003 Civil War epicGods and Generalsfrom director Ronald F. Maxwell.
Based on the novel of the same name by Jeff Shaara,Gods and Generalsfocuses heavily on the life of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson,portrayed by Stephen Lang. Rounding out the maincast is Robert Duvallas Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Jeff Daniels as Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of the Union Army. The film was created as a prequel of sorts to Maxwell’s 1993 movieGettysburg,which was similarly adapted from a Shaara novel and received average reviews. Daniels reprised his role as Chamberlain forGods and Generals, though he couldn’t have predicted how badly the movie would bomb nor the PR disaster that would follow.
‘Gods and Generals’ Was Doomed From the Start
Gods and Generals
Examining the early days of the American Civil War through the experiences of three historical figures. Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain must leave behind his quiet academic life, General Thomas Stonewall Jackson must contend with his great religious faith, and General Robert Lee is forced to choose between his loyalty to the USA and his love of the Southern states.
Gods and Generalsis one of the most expensive independent films ever produced, with Ted Turner, founder of TNT, TBS, and CNN, personally dropping nearly $60 million to fund the project. The budget was certainly put to use, with the final version of the movie clocking in at an astounding five and a half hours, making it one of thelongest war movies ever made. Rather than split the work into two feature films to be released over the course of two years, an option that was on the table for Turner and Maxwell, they decided to cut the theatrical release by two hours. The result was a poorly-paced film filled with dry expository writing, a heavy emphasis on both tactical strategy and Christianity, and historical figures drenched in self-righteousness.
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Maxwell blamed the shortened version of the release for the film’s poor reception, explaining in an interview withHistoryNet: “Because we had to take so much out, I must confess the storytelling became disjointed in a way that we just couldn’t completely fix.” The full director’s cut of the movie was released in 2011, but much to Maxwell’s dismay, the longer iteration did little to change public opinion and, in fact, only further highlighted whyGods and Generalswas so problematic in the first place: it’s startling pro-Confederate slant.
‘Gods and Generals’ Perpetuates Dangerous Mythologies
While Maxwell maintains that his goal was to “give every character in the film a chance to explore why they were in the war,“Gods and Generalspresents a mythical version of history in which Confederate soldiers were merely fighting for their land and livelihoods against Union profiteers. Some prominent far-right figures and publications applauded Maxwell’s take, but most viewers found it to be a revisionist tale with shockingly little reference to race.
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Civil War historians balked at the wayGods and Generalspropagated the “Lost Cause” myth — the idea that the war was not about slavery at all, but rather a fight for states' rights. The myth attempts to erase the experiences of slaves, who were subjected to unpaid labor, sexual abuse, corporal punishment, lack of education, and denial of freedom in all forms; instead, it suggested that they were apathetic, if not wholly content, with their circumstances — makingGods and Generalsan insult tohonest movies about the horrors of slavery.
Historian Steven E. Woodworth explained inThe Journal of American Historythe dangers of sending such a message:
“Gods and Generalsbrings to the big screen the major themes of Lost Cause mythology that professional historians have been working for half a century to combat. In the world ofGods and Generals, slavery has nothing to do with the Confederate cause. Instead, the Confederates are nobly fighting for, rather than against, freedom, as viewers are reminded again and again by one white southern character after another.”
Revisionist History
Maxwell has continued to defendGods and Generalsto this day, though the movie’s reputation as “a veritable celluloid celebration of slavery and treason,” as Woodworth called it, has followed him. Even author Jeff Shaara tried to avoid the negative connotation by explaining toa bloggerhow “radically different” the movie was to his book and emphasizing his lack of involvement in the project: “I made some suggestions that were ignored, little historical things that I thought were problematic, and they listened dutifully and ignored everything I said. I realize at the end of the day, this was not my film — it was Ron Maxwell’s and Ted Turner’s film.”
Though it’s understandable that Shaara would want to distance himself from the dark cloud that hangs overGods and Generals, his point loses poignancy when one considers his own work has a slightly pro-Confederate take — though, admittedly, not as drastic or forthright.
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Jeff Daniels, who has historically supported democratic politicians and likely rejects conservative, pro-Confederate ideology, has been notably silent about his participation inGods and Generalsin favor of highlightinghis many other TV and film projectsand his work as a playwright and musician. Perhaps the actor hopes his silence on the matter will cause the truth to fade from the public’s minds and be replaced with a more palatable story — much like Ron Maxwell tried to do with the Civil War.
