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Almost 20 years after his decisive role, the actor returns to the big screen battlefield.
Warning: this article contains light spoilers for the new movie The outpost.
Before his memorable twists as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Will Turner in the pirates of the Caribbean movies Orlando Bloom had a leading role in the Academy Award winning war drama Black Hawk down. Almost 20 years later, the actor found a special connection between that first role and his last movie, The outpost.
“The bar was pretty high; it’s one of my favorite movies I’ve ever worked on,” Bloom tells EW of Black hawk, which hit theaters in 2001. “It was interesting because in Black Hawk down I played a boy who has a tragic fall from a helicopter. It is part of what creates the catalyst to the end. And in[[[[The outpost]Similarly, my character Keating has a tragic accident but was a remarkable man. “
Set during the war in Afghanistan, The outpost starring Bloom as First Lieutenant Benjamin Keating. The climax of the film retells the events of October 3, 2009, when a force of 400 Taliban insurgents assaulted the crew of 53 Keating soldiers in Kamdesh. Sergeant Clinton Romesha (played in the movie by Scott Eastwood) and Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones) are vastly outnumbered, but Keating, who dies before the fateful battle, guides them spiritually, contributing in memory and legacy to the eventual troops victory.
In Black Hawk down, who chronicles the bloody aftermath of a 1993 US military raid in Mogadishu amid the civil war in Somalia, Bloom portrayed 18-year-old Pfc. Todd Blackburn. As shown in the film and the 1999 book on which it is based, Blackburn and his fellow soldiers saw the most intense hand-to-hand combat in the US military since the Vietnam War.
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Similary, The outpost It focuses on one of the bloodiest battles of the Afghanistan war. Bloom recalls her initial meeting with director Rod Lurie, who described Keating as “a kind of intuitive man who brought his men. He did not stand above them. He had nothing against them. He was a beloved leader of the Earth.”
Before filming, Bloom spent time connecting with Keating’s father to understand the man he was portraying and how calm and controlled Keating really was. As the film shows, Keating had spent time involving locals in community development projects before the battle. For the investigation, Bloom also received letters addressed to Keating from other military personnel. “I almost felt her presence around me,” says Bloom. “I really wanted to do this extraordinary man justice. He was a man who took responsibility.”
It is a feeling that Eastwood also felt for his character. Romesha “was as humble as he was determined,” he says. “He was going to win even if it meant dying in the process. Man is just an exceptional example of heroism.”
All of these men have been recognized in their own way. Romesha and Carter were awarded Medals of Honor for their actions during the Battle of Kamdesh, and the base where the battle occurred was called Combat Outpost Keating, in Keating’s honor.
The outpost It is now available in a limited theatrical version and in VOD.
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