Ryan Phillippe Says He Has New Respect for Lensmen

Actor Ryan Phillippe said his unpleasant encounters with paparazzi nearly soured him on taking a role in a film about photographers.

"I think the invasion aspect has been something I've struggled with," he said, "and to see a photographer as something heroic or noble was a difficulty for me initially."

After watching a documentary by war photographer James Nachtwey in which he photographed a woman whose son was killed, Phillippe said he realized the significance of the craft: "Then I realized without him being there, this woman's story goes unreported. ... I came to realize how important it is."

The actor spoke along with photojournalist Greg Marinovich on WNYC's Leonard Lopate show Thursday to promote their film "The Bang Bang Club," which debuts at Village East Cinema Friday, about a group of photographers who risked their lives in South Africa to chronicle the violence there in the early 1990s.

The film will debut just days after photographers Tim Hetherington, who co-directed war documentary "Restrepo," and Chris Hondros, a Pulitzer Prize nominee from Getty Images, were killed during fighting in Libya.

"In this case it's a real army against a rag-tag bunch of people who want to liberate themselves," said Marinovich, speaking of conditions in Libya.

"It makes a very fluid very dangerous unpredictable situation. And even people with a lot of experience - which those two had - you cant really prepare yourself."