By Jonathan Alcorn/Redux

On July 13, HBO will begin airing Generation Kill, the true story of a Marine reconnaissance unit during the invasion of Iraq, as observed by an embedded journalist and adapted by the creators of The Wire. The reporter, Evan Wright, discusses the process of turning his nonfiction book into a miniseries.

Q: There are scenes in the show that are likely to upset both opponents and supporters of the war in Iraq. Do you worry about the reaction to it?

A: I don't. When the book first came out, I went to Camp Pendleton and one marine grabbed me and handcuffed me. He said, "We don't like your book." They passed me over to an MP, and he said, "I read your book. Can I get an autographed copy?" I said, "Sure—once you take the handcuffs off me."

Q: The unit was on the leading edge of the invasion and got shot to pieces. Yet no one died. That's not how they like war stories on TV, is it?

A: I was all for them killing people off. Basically, before [The Wire creator] David Simon said he wanted to do my book, I assumed it'd have to be Hollywood-ized and turned into bullshit. I wanted the reporter to be killed while he was trying to save the unit. I thought that would have been cool.

Q: I've heard that originally you didn't want to be involved with adapting your book . . .

A: I went to combat with these guys, and I've become friends with all these guys. The people involved generally liked the book, and I wanted to be in the position, if the show came out, to say, "Well, I didn't have anything to do with it." But I've been intimately involved in all of it, and it was a huge pain in the ass! [Laughs] David Simon and Ed Burns and I would sit in a room, figure out how to do a scene, and then try to make each other laugh—because the Marines were hilarious, they made me laugh. The book and the miniseries, despite the violence and destruction, are funny in places.

Q: What was it like working with David Simon?

A: The cool thing about David Simon is he's very humble. I don't know if any other producer would open up the editing process to as much input. Early on we were in the editing room and one of the actual marines, Sergeant Colbert, came in, sat down cold, and watched. David was like, "What do you think?" They'd never met, and Colbert told him, "I think you should change this and this." David was like, "Okay, let's try it."

Q: How did that experience compare with being an embedded reporter?

A: The whole embedding process, from a policy standpoint, it's right and proper. The public has a right, an obligation, to understand what it does when it sends people to war. But think about it: Just imagine if someone told you, "We're going to send this guy to your job, home to sleep in the same room with you, and if you fight with someone in your family, he's going to record this, and any mistake you make—he'll record that, too." And if you're in the military in Iraq, mistakes involve blowing up the wrong house. So on a personal level, the whole embedding process is unfair. It totally sucked. Here are these guys, they're fucking fighting a war and they have to carry a reporter along and keep him alive only so he can write about their worst moments. There's a line from the book that's in Episode 7: "I'm glad we kept you alive so you can return home and betray us with your venial lies."

Q: Right, the story isn't just rooted in your experiences—you're also a character in it. What was it like to see yourself played by an actor?

A: When I saw Lee Tergesen's comic genius on set, I thought, this is perfect. I had never seen Oz, and when I heard Lee Tergesen was going to play me I e-mailed a buddy, who said, "He was Beecher. He's the guy that was punked out and took a shit on someone's face! He's perfect to play you." Alex Bhattacharji

The miniseries trailer for Generation Kill