Eastwood’s ankle forced production shift for ‘The Outpost’
An accident requiring two screws in his ankle nearly prevented Scott Eastwood from portraying a real life soldier in Afghanistan in "The Outpost" — a role that required a level of athleticism.
Eastwood was tight-lipped about how he was injured, but he said it led to an "interesting" shoot. Director Rod Lurie had a "tough as hell time trying to figure out how we were gonna design shots where for the first few weeks I couldn't walk," he said.
Lurie rescheduled the entire shoot, starting with static scenes and shifting the action to the end. "When you see Scott Eastwood in this movie, running and gunning, you gotta remember this dude has got a broken ankle and he's a bit of a stud. Just like his dad," he jokes. Eastwood, who portrays Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha, is the son of action-movie actor Clint Eastwood.
"The Outpost," which also stars Orlando Bloom and Caleb Landry Jones, follows the Battle of Kamdesh in Afghanistan in 2009. The Taliban attacked a remote American Combat Outpost, deep in the mountains, that was nearly impossible to defend. Despite winning the battle and holding the base, eight American soldiers died.
It's a story of "regular soldiers" Lurie explains. "These guys are on the ground, they have to pay the penalty not just for being in a war, but also for maybe the tactical and strategic mistakes of the command above them."
"It's not a pro-military film. It's certainly not a pro-war film, but it might be a pro-soldier film," Lurie adds. "I was a soldier myself, and so I've got this deep connection to these guys and to what is the internal fortitude of these guys is something that we really wanted to get across."
The movie is based on the book "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor," by CNN journalist Jake Tapper.
"The Outpost" is availabe now in selected cinemas and on-demand.