‘Full Metal Modine’ transports Marine Corps museum visitors to Kubrick's set

A new temporary exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle is giving museum-goers a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes of a movie set.

“Full Metal Modine” is a photographic exhibition of images captured by actor Matthew Modine during the filming of 1987’s “Full Metal Jacket.” The show will be on display at the museum from March 2 through September 2025.

“Full Metal Modine” offers a glimpse into the making of a war film.

A Vietnam War drama directed and produced by famed director Stanley Kubrick, “Full Metal Jacket” is based on Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford’s 1979 novel “The Short-Timers.”

The exhibition includes dozens of images captured during the filming of the movie and printed on metal. 

Modine, who played war correspondent Private J.T “Joker” Davis in the movie, captured the black and white images on a Rolleiflex camera given to him by a friend. 

While Kubrick seldom allowed photography onset, his response upon seeing Modine with the Rolleiflex was, “Listen, if you’re going to take pictures on my set, this is the camera you need to get … ,” according to Modine.

“He told me about a state-of-the-art 35mm camera and which lens I should get. He even told me what kind of camera bag to purchase,” Modine said in an interview with museum officials. “The important part of this story is that he said, ‘If you’re going to take pictures on my set.’ That was something unheard of. And I took full advantage of that invitation.”

Modine continued, “I can look back at those days as being part of another person's life, this young kid who went on a journey to work with the legendary filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick.” 

Modine made the images available to the museum for display, and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation paid to have them printed on metal and framed. 

The National Museum of the Marine Corps is a public-private partnership between the corps and the foundation, which preserves and exhibits the material history of the Marine Corps.

Similar to the other rotating photography and artistic exhibits, “Full Metal Modine” is intended to help visitors view the Marine Corps from different perspectives.