For the first half hour or so of Warfare, a new film based on the real-life experiences of American Navy SEALs who were ambushed during the Iraq War, the characters act like most soldiers we see on the big screen: methodical, in control, following protocol. Then Iraqi fighters open fire, and an EID (Improvised Explosion Device) traps the platoon inside a civilian home as the unseen enemy closes in. Control gives way to chaos. Soldiers scream in agony, begging for shots of morphine. The others turn to their commanding officer, played by Will Poulter, asking for orders.

Mere moments ago, Poulter’s character would have known exactly what to do. Now he just stands there, overwhelmed by stimuli too numerous to process. 

Warfare’s creators — Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland — can relate to this predicament. Mendoza is a former SEAL, a veteran of the Iraq War turned military consultant for film and TV who took part in the very operation the film revolves around. Garland, for his part, is a veteran filmmaker, director of both small and big budgets hits, from 2014’s Ex Machina to last year’s Civil War.

The military and the film industry resemble one another in more ways than you’d think. Both can be described as high-pressure working environments where people must make a plethora of important decisions in the blink of an eye, learn to work together as a single unit, and depend on others to catch them if they fall. 

Sitting down with Big Think, Mendoza and Garland answer questions one would normally be asked at a job interview. How did they learn to cope in situations of seemingly unbearable stress? How do they suppress their emotions to make rational decisions? How do they know when and when not to rely on others? Their answers cast an intense light on leadership and teamwork in any occupation. Read on.

Big Think: Ray, you served for more than 16 years. How did the military prepare you to face the intense, high-stakes scenarios portrayed in the film?

Mendoza: In the army, I was a communicator, which meant that I had to monitor multiple frequencies at once. It’s a skill that, while it doesn’t necessarily deal directly with combat, is still useful for combat. The way it works is you detach yourself so that you are better able to process information and perform in the midst of chaos. I can have an aircraft speaking to me in one ear and a tank in the other, and even though they’re both talking at the same time, I can mentally shut one off and focus on the other, shifting back and forth as I’m writing things down, like you see my character doing in the film. 

As for preparation, we do a lot of training that simulates actual combat, and over time, those simulations have become more and more realistic. We now have detailed replicas of buildings, pyrotechnics, even helicopters. Obviously, we can’t take you all the way. We can’t make you shoot your friend or blow their legs off. Still, a lot of the heavy lifting is done during training. You’re always pushed towards failure — rarely are we put in a scenario where we’re likely to succeed. You also have to prioritize. Multiple men down. You’re surrounded. There’s terrain you need to occupy. Which goal is most important? 

Big Think: And how exactly do you figure that out?

Mendoza: You just keep running through it until you can hardly even call it decision-making anymore. I’ve been through these simulations so many times that responding to them has become like driving a car or riding a bike. If you’re on the road and you need to turn left, you turn left — at a certain point, you don’t have to actively think about turning anymore. 

Again, it’s just exposure. There are no tricks, no techniques — no handbook for how to handle stress levels like this. Some people are just able to handle pressure better than others. That’s the reason we do BUD/S [Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, the official selection process for Navy SEALs, which involves rigorous physical and mental challenges]: to weed out candidates who cannot function under stress.

Big Think: What about you, Alex? What has working in the film industry taught you about prioritization and stress management?

Garland: Prioritization is perhaps the most important skill for a director to have, and I’d say it comes down to distinguishing tasks in order of importance. You’ll have to deal with a lot of issues on a daily basis — lots of questions being thrown your way. Some of those are made to sound like they’re important and urgent when, really, they’re not. Others are important and urgent — to the point that, if you do not deal with them quickly, your whole day could unravel. Potentially even the whole film you’re working on.

Prioritization is perhaps the most important skill for a director to have, and I’d say it comes down to distinguishing tasks in order of importance.

Alex Garland, co-director, Warfare

Big Think: This was your first time working with a co-director. Considering you’re known as somewhat of an auteur, what was it like to collaborate with someone else for a change? Was it difficult in a sense? 

Garland: I learned that I really like co-directing, actually. I imagine it’s a nightmare if you’re working with the wrong person, but great when working with the right one. Fortunately, Ray and I are both instinctive problem solvers, and he possesses the same skills of evaluating information and distinguishing priorities, which means that we can efficiently divide the workload. You do this, I’ll do that. 

Big Think: Sometimes when people are having a bad day and nothing goes according to plan, their impulsive, negative thought patterns become their own worst enemy. On days like this, what does your internal monologue sound like?

Garland: Normally, I always have an internal monologue on set. But this time, I didn’t, and that’s because I had a co-director. The internal monologue was externalized because Ray and I would discuss everything with each other.

Mendoza: Often when you do things on your own, you doubt and question yourself. Am I doing this right? Will this work? Are people going to like it? Am I going to be criticized? Working as a team eliminates those questions because you can bounce them off each other. Alex and I, we were constantly running decisions by one another, asking the other if what we were thinking of doing was right or wrong.

L-R: Actor Will Poulter and co-director Ray Mendoza on the set of Warfare. Credit: Murray Close

Big Think: Whether you’re a commanding officer, a film director, or working in any other type of managerial role, there’s a fine balance between leading and stepping back. How do you lead teams of highly skilled individuals without micromanaging them — especially when the margin for error is extremely slim?

Garland: There’s a similarity between filmmaking and the military insofar as you work with highly proficient and efficient people in different, specialized roles. Bottom line: it’s not the case that Ray or I were telling the crew how do their job; on the contrary, we worked with people who were really good at their job.

Imagine you are someone in the camera team, say a focus puller, about to shoot an important and highly stressful scene — stressful for you, for the actors, and the real people the actors are playing, who are watching along on the monitors. We didn’t have to tell them that if they screw this up, the day is ruined. They bring their A-game and look after themselves.

The most important thing we did was ingrain this concept that, as a team, you can accomplish anything.

Ray Mendoza, co-director, Warfare

Mendoza: Touching on this — a lot of people have asked wanting to know how we prepped the actors for their roles. Sure, there was bootcamp and all, but the most important thing we did was ingrain this concept that, as a team, you can accomplish anything. Everyone has a strong suit. Some people are physically gifted and they can carry 100 pounds or run really fast for long periods of time. We all have different skill sets and the way to succeed as a team is to leverage each of those skills. 

Big Think: Ray, working on Warfare must have been extra demanding on you — not only because of the hectic nature of production, but because making the film involved reliving a traumatic episode from your life. How did you decompress after the work was done?

Mendoza: After filming wrapped we went into editing and post-production, so I didn’t turn my brain off yet. The fight wasn’t over, so to speak. While getting over that first hurdle brought a wave of relief, the weight didn’t start coming off until we showed it to the guys from my platoon. I made it for them: I could[n’t] care less what anyone else thinks about the film.

As for decompression, making the film pieced together a lot of memories that were fragmented — things I got confused about or didn’t know how to explain to people. Now, if I were to describe the worst day of my life, I can do it concisely and coherently. In the past, I struggled with that, so it was all very therapeutic and helped close in a chapter of my life.

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[This interview has been edited for clarity]