‘Warfare’ Created Explosion Scene With Real Injuries On Set

Warfare is directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza and was based on Mendoza’s own 2006 tour of Iraq from his personal Navy Seal experience. In the movie, there is a gut-wrenching scene that depicts an IED explosion in the movie that features a group of soldiers fighting for survival following an intense explosion surrounding their station. The actual film crew traveled to the Czech Republic to record live bullet and gunshot sounds used in the production.

The production designer for Warfare, Mark Digby, built a 360-degree set on an airfield at Bovington Airfield Studios to stage and capture the action. The shots used here are shown when the explosion first occurs on an outside street and while the wounded soldiers drag themselves back into a kitchen in an interior house. Digby commented on this by saying,

“The traditional way of doing it would have been to build the exterior of the street as a backlot, and then, once we step up the threshold of the house, go into a studio. But for the practicality of both the timing and resources and to also allow for realism in the acting, it is very important to render it inside and out as one singular building.”

Tristan Versluis, the Oscar-winning prosthetics designer for Warfare, claimed the IED explosion shooting was the key moment in Warfare for its makeup department.

Warfare was recently theatrically released on April 11th through A24.