Forest Whitaker and the Cast Were Attacked by Oliver Stone While Filming 'Platoon' (VIDEO)

If you thought the cast of 'Platoon' perfectly captured that haggard and frayed wartime soldier look and attitude perfectly, there's a reason for that. One that made for a great movie, but appears to have been more challenging for the cast, as Forest Whitaker described it on 'Late Show with David Letterman' (Weeknights, 11:35PM on CBS).

As he explained it, "I think [director Oliver Stone] wanted us to feel in some ways what it was like to be in war."

That included having them dig a hole for sleeping during filming, and really living in the jungle. Stone even perpetrated what Whitaker described as "a simulation" experience.

"We got lost for a few days in the jungle, and we had no water or anything, and then someone started to attack us," Whitaker said. "We thought it was the farmers because we'd been taking the coconuts off the tree and stuff. It turned out it was Oliver and a group of marines."

Whitaker laughs about it now, but we can only imagine there had to have been moments during filming when he and other members of the cast wondered if all that craziness was going to be worth it in the end.

For the record, it was.