Though there weren’t many people out there who appreciated Peter Berg’s recent board game cash-in, Battleship, he was generally a well-regarded director before he laid that one on us, so there should still be interest out there for what he’s doing next. Especially since he’s already assembled a fairly impressive cast for it.
The film is called Lone Survivor, and it tells the true story of a Navy SEAL mission in Afghanistan gone bad, as adapted from the biography of soldier Marcus Luttrell. While on a reconnaissance mission along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Luttrell and three of his fellow SEALs made a fatal error. After showing a bit of compassion and letting an old man and three boys who came upon them walk away, they soon became victims of a Taliban ambush, which took the lives of every member of the team other than Luttrell, the titular lone survivor.
Berg has already signed Mark Wahlberg to star as Luttrell, along with Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster for two of the supporting roles. And now THR has word that Eric Bana is the latest name to join the crew. He’s reportedly signed on to the film in the role of a SEAL lieutenant.
In addition to directing, Berg has also co-written the screenplay for this adaptation, with Emmet/Furla Films and Norton Herrick ponying up the dough. Universal will handle the distribution. We will serve as the audience.