After losing its South by Southwest premiere last month, the Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad)-starring war thriller The Outpost has been acquired by Screen Media, with a digital release planned in time for the US Independence Day.
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Based on Jake Tapper’s New York Times best-selling non-fiction book, the film follows a tiny unit of US soldiers alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan as they battle to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it’s known, was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.
“I wish upon every director a movie so suited to their emotional needs,” director Rod Lurie said in a statement. “It was an honor and a duty to tell the story of my brothers in arms. I can think of no modern story that so beautifully displays the spirit of the American soldier. What we are willing to die for tells us so much more about ourselves than what we are willing to kill for. You’ll understand what I mean after you see the film.”
Directed by Lurie (The Last Castle) and adapted by Oscar-nominated duo Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (The Fighter), the ensemble cast led by Eastwood also includes Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out), Orlando Bloom (Carnival Row), Jack Kesy (Without Remorse), Taylor John Smith (Hunter Killer), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life) and Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge).
“It’s been a challenging seven year journey to bring this important story to the screen and we were always just one RPG away from it not happening,” Tamasy and producer Paul Merryman said in a statement. “Thankfully, we accomplished the mission and now get to share this story with audiences everywhere.”
The film is produced by Millennium Media with Paul Merryman, Marc Frydman, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Tamasy and Les Weldon, with Avi Lerner, Jake Tapper, Tervor Short, Johson, Boaz Davidson, Robert Van Norden, John Kalafatis, Mark Rhino Smith and Tommy Vlahopoulos executive producing.
“The true story depicted – and incredibly executed – in The Outpost, is one of the most heroic stories of American triumph. Rod Lurie, the terrific cast and crew did an amazing job bringing Jake Tapper’s book to life. We couldn’t be more honored to be working with everyone involved to bring this film to audiences this summer,” said Seth Needle and Mike Messina of Screen Media said in a statement.
