With America’s Independence Day upon us, the country seems to be more divided than ever. With the ongoing pandemic, ongoing protests, and an ongoing election season raging on, the American people could certainly use something to come together on and celebrate. On Friday, July 3rd, there may just be something that has the power to unite them.
The Outpost, one of the first films in the country to be shown in theaters since COVID-19 seemingly brought the film industry to a halt in March, is scheduled to be released to On Demand Video, while also receiving a limited release in theaters. That limited release is set to include Sterling’s Fox 5 Theatre.
The film, based on a book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper, tells the true story of 53 American soldiers who faced off against roughly 400 members of the Taliban at an Outpost in northeastern Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. There are some big names attached to the movie, including screenwriter Paul Tamasy.
Tamasy, whose parents live in Haxtun, originally conceived of the idea to turn Tapper’s book into a feature film after stumbling upon Tapper’s CNN documentary on the outpost while channel surfing. Though the documentary was already halfway over, the image of an outpost based at the bottom of three mountains in Afghanistan stuck with Tamasy.
“I remember thinking at the time ‘why the hell would they put an outpost at the bottom of three mountains?” he said. “They had a river right by it so these guys there were literally in a fish hole, surrounded on both sides. They were fourteen miles from the Pakistan border so they were really in an area that’s considered one of the most dangerous assignments anywhere on the planet.”
From there, Tamasy became fascinated. After watching the documentary in full, reading Tapper’s book and reaching out to his writing partner Eric Johnson (who co-wrote the screenplay), Tamasy reached out to Tapper to get the film made.
It was a long path to get the movie done, as Tamasy put it. After initially developing the script with director Sam Raimi for a time, the writing team’s path crossed with director Rod Lurie, known for hit films such as The Contender (2000) and Nothing but the Truth (2008). Lurie, a graduate of West Point, seemed like the perfect fit to Tamasy.
“It just made sense that a real military man should direct this film,” he said. “We really cared about authenticity and Rod had all the right things to say about how he wanted to do the movie so we partnered with him.”
The team partnered up with Millennium Media and began shooting in Bulgaria, wrapping up in October of 2018. The production crew recreated the entire outpost from scratch as Tamasy, Johnson, Lurie and Tapper wanted to make the film as authentic as possible. It wasn’t the only authentic approach they took, however, as Tamasy credits Lurie with one of the most unique aspects of the films production.
“Rod really wanted to cast real soldiers in the film and tried to cast actors that were soldiers,” said Tamasy. “Jack Kesy was the fourth lead in the film and he’s a former marine. The movie is an ensemble piece but it primarily focuses on two central characters, Ty Carter and Clint Romesha, who both earned the Medal of Honor for their actions there.”
Tamasy says Carter allowed him and Johnson to “pick his brain” while writing the script. Carter also served as a consultant during filming. Tamasy’s father was a member of the United States Air Force while Johnson’s father was a member of the Military as well, but neither Tamasy or Johnson served in the Armed Forces. As such, Tamasy reached out to former soldiers to ensure The Outpost was as accurate as possible.
“We actually showed the film to military audiences first,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that the military really liked the film, that it was authentic and that the jargon was correct. We had guys that were actually at the outpost make sure all of the radio talk was correct. We asked them to make sure how these guys communicated, what things looked like, the uniforms, guns, everything was authentic.”
Tamasy is no stranger to making true stories authentic on screen. Tamasy’s first feature length script was 1997’s Air Bud, a blockbuster hit that spawned an entire franchise. Aside from Air Bud and 1999’s Walking Across Egypt, however, all of Tamasy’s films have been based on true stories.
His 2010 screenplay for The Fighter earned him an Academy Award nomination. That movie was based on the true story of boxing brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Ecklund. Tamasy’s two films released in 2016, The Finest Hours and Patriots Day, were based on a real life coast guard mission and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, respectively.
Now, Tamasy has ventured into the ongoing war in Afghanistan, and with a July 4th release date during one of the most divisive times in American history, he feels that release date is important.
“Obviously (the July 4th release) is significant,” he said. “We’d initially tried to push the movie back but we realized that fourth of July carried with it a lot of significance. This movie’s all about these soldiers and their brotherhood and their triumph over the enemy and defense of this outpost. I think it represents the best in all of us here in America right now and I think it’s a story we could really use, especially in a time that we’re all so divided. I think it’s a story that really speaks to our time. It’s not your typical war film. Rod really immerses the audiences in the story and puts you right there with these guys. You feel like you’re at the outpost.”
Wanting to push the movie also made sense, given the initial plans for the film. The distinction of being one of the first movies released in a COVID-19 world brings a “mixed bag” of emotions, Tamasy said. The film was originally scheduled to be released on 600-700 films nationwide. Needless to say, that’s not currently possible. The film was also schedule to be played at the prestigious SXSW Festival in Austin back in March. The festival was canceled a week before The Outpost was set to premiere.
Still, Tamasy is grateful that the film will still be shown in some theaters and acknowledges that On Demand releases are “the way things are going right now.” His hope now is not that people see it for financial gains, but that they come to appreciate everything that the real life soldiers were willing to sacrifice.
“I think people should recognize what great heroes these guys really are,” he said. “These guys weren’t special forces or anything like that. They were just regular guys put into an extraordinary situation. They never question why they’re there, they’re just doing it because they’re told to be there and they’re doing it for us. We have a line in the movie when somebody asks, ‘Do you think anybody’s talking about this back home?” Someone responds, “No they’d rather know who Paris Hilton’s (dating) right now.’ That’s really the truth of it. We hope that people will recognize what it is these men and women actually go through when we send them into these places.”
Tamasy wanted to credit Tapper for immersing himself in the world of the soldiers, their families and the outpost itself. He wanted to thank Lurie for honoring the true story being told. Lastly, though, he wanted to ask audiences to watch the movie, appreciate the reality of it, and maybe, just maybe, come together this holiday weekend to celebrate the people who’ve earned it.
“Go see it,” he said. “It’s authentic, it’s the real deal, and it’s a time when we should be celebrating heroes like this. These guys are like our frontline workers in the hospitals right now. These are the people on the frontlines. People looking out for our safety here. The story’s not political in anyway. It just is what it is, we just lay the story out exactly as it happened.”
The Outpost will begin showing at Fox 5 on Friday, July 3rd with screenings at 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and 9:15 pm. The film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Scott Eastwood, and Orlando Bloom. You can watch the trailer for the movie here.
