Writing Lone_Survivor

—peter berg (writer, director , producer)

while book lone survivor chronicles marcus luttrell s 1999 enlistment , training, 2005 deployment afghanistan, berg decided film adaptation focus on events of failed united states navy seals mission operation red wings, bonding , camaraderie of luttrell , fallen teammates. prior writing screenplay, berg met families of deceased. research started meeting families of seal teammates killed , said. went new york , met murphys. went colorado , met dietzes, , went northern california , met axelsons. after spending time them, realize these kids best , brightest; stars of families. grief , wounds still raw. have inhuman not feel responsibility when kind of grief gets shared you. berg expressed motivated families make story realistic possible; goal put [the viewer] experience of these guys went through. , traumatic , violent , exhausting experience .

to provide authenticity, luttrell moved berg s home 1 month while berg writing script. luttrell acted consultant, detailing berg eyewitness account of events unfolded during operation red wings. berg later embedded navy seal team—becoming first civilian so—and lived them month in iraq while continued writing screenplay. in re-enacting injuries , deaths of fallen navy seal servicemen, berg relied on luttrell s eyewitness accounts book, autopsy reports of deceased , after-action reports. united states navy provided incident reports related mission, archival military training footage, shown during film s opening credits sequence. still photographs shown during opening credits sequence taken richard d. schoenberg s war photography book easy day yesterday: making navy seals. during filming, there dialogue changes in comparison berg s script, filmmaker encouraged actors improvise lines.