David Ayer earned his reputation as one of the grittiest writer-directors in Hollywood with Training Day, Sabotage, and Harsh Times, and his latest film Fury is being considered one of the most realistic WWII feature films ever made. Starring Brad Pitt as the battle-scarred leader of a tank squad pushing through Germany, the dark war film is reportedly on track to open to a strong $25 million.

Ayer had the spotlight put on him earlier this week when Warner Bros. announced that he will helm their highly-anticipated upcoming adaptation of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad. The writer-director is proving himself with this weekend’s Fury, which is being considered his first true passion project and is thus far receiving excellent reviews.

Ayer joined the Navy as a teenager, and worked for two years on a nuclear submarine. He aimed to create a World War II movie that doesn’t glamorize the events of the war, but instead puts emphasis on the brotherhood of combat and the dark violence that takes place.

“Fury gives us terrible glimpses: tank treads rolling over a body pancaked into the mud, an elderly woman cutting meat off a dead horse, a woman in a wedding dress among a crowd of refugees,” wrote the Boston Globe in their review of the film. “The battle violence is similarly harrowing, and its effect on the men in the Sherman tank with “FURY” painted crudely on its barrel is unsettling and uncertain.”

“It’s pretty fucked up,” Ayer proudly admitted to HuffPost Entertainment. “But it’s nothing compared to my research. It’s so candy-ass compared to the crap that really happened.”

The film takes place in the waning days of World War II, and Ayer set out to capture the aftermath of such a violent period. To get the most out of his cast, he encourage them to get in real fist fights with each other on and off camera, and his directing led co-star Shia LaBeouf to become so immersed in his method-acting process for the film that he pulled out a tooth and repeatedly cut his face. This unconventional approach seemingly paid off, as reviews state that many of Fury‘s lead actors give their best performance in years in the film. Ayer himself feels that the film is his best work, calling it the first project of his that he truly likes.

“This is a good movie. I hate everything I make, and I like this one,” he told Huffington Post. “That’s a good indicator. I think it’s there to be discovered.”