Affleck Talks Pearl Harbor

May 25 -- NEW YORK (ABCNEWS.com) — A massive ship is sinking, sailors are clinging to the decks for their lives. But it's not Titanic. Hollywood's latest historical disaster epic is Pearl Harbor — and Ben Affleck is the farm-boy-turned-flyboy there to save the day.

Hollywood hasn't taken on the Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii in more than 30 years. Certainly, schoolchildren still memorize the date Dec. 7, 1941. But younger audiences may very well be just as shocked as the country was back then when they see the skies darken with Japanese fighter planes and the bombs ripping through the Navy base.

"It made me proud to be involved in a movie that was going to try to show some of the gratitude that we owe as a nation to that generation of Americans," Affleck told ABCNEWS.com at the film's premiere in Hawaii.

Disney's $135 million war movie opens nationwide today. (Mr. Showbiz and ABCNEWS.com are owned by the Walt Disney Company.)

Boot Camp, Research as Preparation

To add gritty realism, producer Jerry Bruckheimer put the actors through an Army-like boot camp. Veterans were on hand to make sure the story was told correctly.

Bruckheimer, however, faced the challenge of remaining faithful to U.S. history while mixing in classic elements of big-screen heroism and romance. Many of the characters portrayed in the film are real-life heroes, such as Alec Baldwin's Maj. Doolittle, who led the counterattack on Tokyo shortly after the Pearl Harbor assault.

Affleck brings a fictional character to life in Rafe Macawley, a crack pilot who joins the Army with his childhood buddy Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). During basic training, he falls in love with a nurse (Kate Beckinsale).

As an actor, he found himself understanding their struggles while researching the role. "One of the most gripping and affecting moments for me, emotionally, was … visiting the [USS] Arizona memorial, and that affected me," said Affleck. "That gave me a sense of place and history, and a real sense of humility."