Spider-Man and Evil Dead trilogy helmer Sam Raimi is targeting a new project in The Outpost, a big screen adaptation of the true Afghanistan war tale by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Variety reports that Raimi will produce and potentially direct.
Published in 2012, The Outpost is subtitled “An Untold Story of American Valor” and is officially described as follows:
At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating was viciously attacked by Taliban insurgents. The 53 U.S. troops, having been stationed at the bottom of three steep mountains, were severely outmanned by nearly 400 Taliban fighters. Though the Americans ultimately prevailed, their casualties made it one of the war’s deadliest battles for U.S. forces. And after more than three years in that dangerous and vulnerable valley a mere 14 miles from the Pakistan border, the U.S. abandoned and bombed the camp. A Pentagon investigation later concluded that there was no reason for Outpost Keating to have been there in the first place.
“The Outpost” is a tour de force of investigative journalism. Jake Tapper exposes the origins of this tragic and confounding story, exploring the history of the camp and detailing the stories of soldiers heroic and doomed, shadowed by the recklessness of their commanders in Washington, D.C. and a war built on constantly shifting sands.
Raimi most recently helmed Oz The Great and Powerful and has had a number of other films rumored as his next big screen outting, including a direct sequel to 1993’s Army of Darkness.
The Fighter team of Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy will adapt The Outpost under Raimi’s supervision. Rob Tapert and Paul Merryman are also attached to produce.
