The film stars actual, active-duty US Navy SEALs and SWCC.

During production, after the SEALs became frustrated that they were not being accurately depicted, they were invited to play key roles in the cast.

The film was mostly shot digitally on the Canon Eos 5d mk2; a decision made between the directors and D.O.P Shane Hurlbut to both save a vast amount of money on the budget and use the size and weight advantage of the 5d to capture the stunning action sequences. Hurlbut, who is an advocate of the HDSLR shooting system used a large number of the cameras, each fitted with a different lens system that stayed in place for most of the film.

“The fact of the matter is, there’s certainly plenty of swearing in the teams but in a mission, it’s a lot more calm and collected, and disciplined,” Lt Commander Rorke said. “So in ‘Act of Valor,’ you’re going to see during a gun fight, very calm and tempered communication and that’s the way it really happens.”


For an extra shot of danger and adrenaline, the SEALs wanted — and got permission — to use live ammunition in their weapons, a first in nearly 75 years. Rorke said he and his fellow SEALs didn’t need a lot of extra coaching in acting out their roles.

“There were a lot of time we didn’t need to rehearse anything because we’ve done it a thousand times,” he said. “We called in aircraft for fire, we called in boats to help us on fire support and, and talk to one another on missions where bullets are flying. So it wasn’t it wasn’t new for us in that part and that made it a lot of fun.”

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591479/trivia
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/02/act-of-valor-a-hollywood-mission-for-real-navy-seals/