I was a location manager (armoured vehicles advisor) on Band of Brothers and later on a number of D-Day anniversary drama documentaries. I worked with many of the people who worked on Private Ryan and faced the same problems.
Omaha beach as it is today, looks nothing like it did in 1944. Many houses have been built right up to the dunes, along the cliffs and beach edge. It’s popular with tourists, and we like to film during the summer when days are long. I think the Ryan Beach shoot took three months including prep time.
So when you're negotiating with the local councils, businesses and owners to close down the beach for filming, you have to at least meet that cost. Which inevitably gets tripled when you say something like Spielberg, Hanks or Hollywood.
You have to look at other considerations - where are your vehicles and crew coming from, what local resources are there, how good is access? And one important bit - tides. Saunton Sands was used to train for Omaha beach in WW2 because the fast-moving tides and beach are very similar. Great for authenticity, but it meant we were re-positioning everything every fifteen minutes for continuity - and safety.
The real problem with using all the D-Day beaches is they get that request hundreds of times a year from many production companies who don't even last the year out. They kinda have a blanket no, unless it directly supports anniversary events. I cant blame them if I’m honest.
Private Ryan used a beach in Ireland which came with a battalion of Irish soldiers, government subsidy and some tax wangle. We used Saunton and regretted it.
If I was doing it again I would suggest an indoor lot and green screen.
Source: David Rendahl (Quora)
Despite the realism in the Omaha Beach scene of Saving Private Ryan and input from military advisors, no one noticed that the tank traps were pointed in the wrong direction.
They were not tank traps.
They were beach obstacles designed to... (Read Full)