Director Rod Lurie’s THE OUTPOST Set To Debut July 4 Weekend And Stars Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom

Screen Media announced today the acquisition of all U.S. rights to the feature film The Outpost, based on The New York Times best-selling non-fiction book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor from CNN’s Jake Tapper. 

In this military thriller, a tiny unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it was 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.

The film was set to have its world premiere at the South by Southwest Festival before the event was cancelled. Screen Media will release the film around the July 4^th weekend.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Rod Lurie (The Contender, The Last Castle) and adapted by Oscar-nominated screenwriting duo Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (The Fighter) the film stars Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jack Kesy, Taylor John Smith, Jacob Scipio, and Milo Gibson. Three troops who fought at COP Keating  appear in the film including Medal of Honor recipient Ty Carter (whom Caleb Landry Jones portrays.) The film was produced by Millennium Media, with producers Paul Merryman, Marc Frydman, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Paul Tamasy and Les Weldon; and executive producers Avi Lerner, Jake Tapper, Trevor Short, Eric Johnson, Boaz Davidson, Robert Van Norden, John Kalafatis, Joanna Kalafatis, Mark Rhino Smith, and Tommy Vlahopoulos.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Rod Lurie (The Contender, The Last Castle) and adapted by Oscar-nominated screenwriting duo Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (The Fighter) the film stars Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jack Kesy, Taylor John Smith, Jacob Scipio, and Milo Gibson. Three troops who fought at COP Keating  appear in the film including Medal of Honor recipient Ty Carter (whom Caleb Landry Jones portrays.) The film was produced by Millennium Media, with producers Paul Merryman, Marc Frydman, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Paul Tamasy and Les Weldon; and executive producers Avi Lerner, Jake Tapper, Trevor Short, Eric Johnson, Boaz Davidson, Robert Van Norden, John Kalafatis, Joanna Kalafatis, Mark Rhino Smith, and Tommy Vlahopoulos.

“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.

Rod Lurie, who is a graduate of the military Academy at West Point, says, “I wish upon every director a movie so suited to their emotional needs. 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.”

Millennium’s Jonathan Yunger added, “Finally, the world will see what these young men came face-to-face with and overcame.”

“I couldn’t be prouder to bring to even wider audiences the story of the selflessness and sacrifice, the courage and determination, of the troops who served at COP Keating,” said Jake Tapper. “Rod, the producers, and the actors did an incredible job re-creating the outpost and the battle and perhaps most importantly the essential truths of the experience and the heroes there.”

“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. Thankfully, we accomplished the mission and now get to share this story with audiences everywhere.” Added co-writer/producer Paul Tamasy and producer Paul Merryman

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Screen Media by Seth Needle, SVP, Global Acquisitions and Co-Productions, and Mike Messina, EVP, Distribution, with Jonathan Yunger and Jeffrey Greenstein, Co-Presidents of Millennium Media, on behalf of the filmmakers. Millennium Media is handling foreign sales. 

Screen Media announced two other acquisitions last month: mystery thriller Suicide Tourist starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and historic drama Robert the Bruce, starring Angus MacFadyen, both for a Spring 2020 release. In addition, production just wrapped on another upcoming Screen Media release, Wally’s Wonderland with Nicolas Cage. Their most recent release is John Turturro’s The Jesus Rolls.