JESSICA BIEL BRAVES WAR

Jessica Biel plays an Iraqi soldier home from the war dealing with trauma in Home of the Brave.

Jessica Biel stars in Home of The Brave as a cargo specialist sent on a mission in Baghdad when their outfit is ambushed. Returning home to her family Biel’s character must handle her physical and mental disabilities.

Jessica says her character Vanessa goes through a gamut of emotions when she returns home.

“Actually an explosion hits her truck in a roadside bombing that goes off and loses her right hand. When she comes back home everything is different. She has a serious, serious injury and she is emotionally and mentally very confused and angry and upset and sad and mad all at once. She has lost her sense of confidence, lost her sense of self.”

Jessica says taking on the role of a female soldier was not as uncommon as you may think in today’s war.

“One in seven soldiers in Iraq are females so it’s huge. It’s what’s happening and I think it’s probably the highest number ever. And it’s all volunteer. These women are not being forced. They’re choosing to go. That’s another debate people are talking about. No one wants to see a woman injured or a mother hurt but these women choose passionately to fight for their country. We need to see their perspective, a story about their feelings and being a mother and coming home to a child that you can’t relate to anymore.”

Her next project is the sci-fi action thriller Next based on the Philip K. Dick story The Golden Man. She’s playing the love interest of Nicolas Cage, a man who sees the future and must save the world and Biel from a terrorist attack. Home of the Brave opens Friday in theaters.