Hollywood Will Take on the My Lai Massacre in 'Two Wolves'

On March 16, 1968, the soldiers of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the village of My Lai. Frustrated by previous attacks from the Viet Cong, the men took out their anger and frustration on the villagers as part of a brutal "search and destroy" mission.

Army pilot Maj. Hugh Thompson witnessed the attack from his vantage point in a Hiller OH-3 Raven helicopter and tried to stop it, helping villagers get away from the troops and radioing in what he was seeing on the ground.

Thompson was initially labeled a traitor and threatened with a court-martial while President Richard Nixon, and much of the media celebrated the actions of Lt. William Calley and his men. The truth came out only after Gen. William Peers launched an investigation.

Thompson's story is coming to the screen in a new movie called "Two Wolves," set to star Caleb Landry Jones and Viggo Mortensen. Alex Gibney, who won an Oscar for the documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," is set to direct a script written by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, best known for "The Darkest Hour" and "Bohemian Rhapsody."

There's no word on exact casting, but it's likely that Jones, so excellent as Medal of Honor recipient SPC Ty Carter in "The Outpost," will play Thompson. Mortensen, best known as Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, seems right to play Peers.

Related: 'The Outpost' Powerfully Confronts the Contradictions of the War in Afghanistan

The events at My Lai were a hot-button issue during the Vietnam War, increasing both the homefront protests against the war and the pushback from supporters. Eventually, there were trials related to the incident, but only Calley was convicted of crimes related to the events that day.

"This is a film I have wanted to make for seven years," Gibney said in a press release. "Now that I have the right team in place, we can tell this powerful tale. It's a true story about how everyday people can become heroes, not through supernatural powers, but through a commitment to do the right thing in the worst possible circumstances. Since 'Enron,' I've been making films about people who abuse their power. This is a film about two men who fought back."

The script is complete. Producers are securing financing, and with luck, production should begin early 2022. If that's the case, we can look for the movie sometime in 2023.

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