Scott Eastwood brings real-life heroism to screen in ‘The Outpost’
Scott Eastwood may be a ringer for his famous father but in Friday’s “The Outpost” he’s all gung-ho John Wayne.
“The Outpost,” an intense, violent look at men in war, tells the incredible but true story of one of America’s fiercest battles in Aghanistan.
It ranks in military history as the only time two living men were awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest honor, for their exploits that day.
“It’s about the October 2009 Battle of Kamdesh, one of the bloodiest battles in a 10-year war that is still going on,” Eastwood, 35, began.
“What is incredible about the story is it’s everyday people who have to defend this indefensible outpost and what happened.”
Eastwood as Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha has what feels like a Hollywood John
Wayne moment as Taliban insurgents overrun the base perimeter. They’re inside the fort and the commander calls, “Alamo!,” meaning everyone retreat to a bunker stand-off.
Only Romesha, wounded, says not today and rallies a counter charge through the 12-hour battle.
“That’s pretty much what happened. There needed to be a shift in the tide in that firefight and that was what changed the direction,” Eastwood said. “It’s unreal that the story kind of wrote itself.”
“The Outpost” is based on Jake Tapper’s 2012 bestseller. Romesha, now retired from the Army, published his version of the fight in his 2016 book, “Red Platoon.”
Did that make for an awkward situation for Eastwood because while other surviving soldiers from the battle appear in the end credits, Romesha does not?
“I was able to speak with him. He did have his own book that was set up at Sony — and that movie’s not getting made now. So he was gracious enough to speak with me on the phone and I’m grateful for that. I read his book, it’s a firsthand account.”
Eastwood had an unexpected hurdle making “The Outpost.”
“Normally,” he explained, “we would have had a ‘boot camp’ before we began — and some of the cast did. I, however, was battling a broken ankle five weeks before shooting. The doctors told me I needed eight weeks to recuperate.
“Somehow,” he laughed, “in my head I shaved that down to five. That’s how we kicked off.”
What happened?
“I’ll save the broken ankle story for later. But that was a first — working long hours on my feet and then physical therapy and back to the gym.”