Apparently undaunted by Battleship's sinking at the box office, Universal is still very much in the Peter Berg business. The film they agreed to with him is Lone Survivor, his Navy Seal passion project he's been trying to get underway for quite some time. With Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, and Taylor Kitsch set for three of the four real life soldiers at the heart of the story, the final piece of the puzzle is now in place.
The story is based on a true 2005 event in which Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell(Wahlberg) and his men were attacked by Al Qaeda forces during a covert operation in Afghanistan, chronicled in Luttrell's book. Emile Hisch, who just starred with Kitsch in Oliver Stone's Savages, is the latest to join the team. Hopefully this turn playing a soldier is more believable than in Taking Woodstock, which was laughably awful. Hirsch is a solid actor for the most part, and he continues to make unexpected choices, and I expect this will be one. If anything, it'll be interesting based on the considerable amount of research Berg has put into the film.
If The Kingdom is anything to go by, Lone Survivor is going to be intense and have a very pointed take on what's going on in the Middle East. At the very least we know it will be very different than Act of Valor was, and that's a good thing. Filming on Lone Survivor begins this September.
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