Adam Driver will portray Air Force Medal of Honor recipient John Chapman

Marine veteran and actor Adam Driver will portray Air Force combat controller John Chapman in a movie based on the battle in Afghanistan that earned him the Medal of Honor. Chapman died as he fought alone for hours on a mountain top in Afghanistan early in that war, drawing fire on himself as a vulnerable helicopter approached carrying a team of Army Rangers.

Longtime director Ron Howard is set to direct the film, which is reportedly to be called “Alone at Dawn.” Howard has directed dozens of movies, including Apollo 13 and The Da Vinci Code, Deadline reported

The movie will be based on the book of the same name about Chapman, written by Air Force veteran Dan Schilling and Lori Chapman Longfritz. Longfritz is Chapman’s sister and Schilling was a 30-year combat controller and special tactics officer, the Air Force’s job title for officers who train with and lead enlisted combat controllers. Rumors have long circulated about movie deals around the book and Chapman, but no cast and crew have previously been confirmed.

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Along with Driver, the Hollywood Reporter reported, Anne Hathaway will play an intelligence officer who helped push for Chapman to receive the Medal of Honor. The feature film is being made for Amazon MGM and will get a theatrical release, according to industry trades. No release date has been set. 

A final fight uncovered years later

In early 2002, Air Force Technical Sgt. John Chapman was thousands of feet up on a snowy mountain in Afghanistan, left for dead and surrounded by al-Qaeda fighters. Despite being heavily wounded, Chapman held them off, even providing covering fire for a rescue helicopter before being killed. 16 years later he would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. 

An Air Force Combat Controller, Chapman was part of a special operations mission during the Battle of Takar Gur in early 2002 in Afghanistan. Attached to a Navy SEAL team, Chapman and his team flew in to establish a reconnaissance spot during Operation Anaconda. Their helicopter took RPG fire and Navy SEAL Neil Roberts fell out. Chapman and the SEALs eventually returned to look for Roberts and were immediately pinned down in a firefight. The engagement came to be known as Roberts’ Ridge in honor of the SEAL, who investigators eventually determined was killed within minutes of falling from the helicopter.

But with Roberts’ fate unknown, Chapman and the SEAL team fought on. Roberts charged a bunker, killing two fighters as the SEALs moved to cover. Within minutes, Roberts was hit and the SEALs believed he was dead. But Chapman was still alive, a years-long investigation later proved, and eventually recovered consciousness after the SEAL team withdrew.

Over the following hours, other Air Force combat controllers on the operation’s radio network believed they heard Chapman’s make radio calls.

“I am absolutely positive [it] was John’s voice. I have no doubt whatsoever,” eventually one unnamed operator told investigators.

Overhead, two AC-130 gunships and a Predator drone circled the mountaintop, capturing night-vision video and radio traffic from the mountain top. Years later, investigators would piece through those files and realize that, though the aircrews did not realize it that night, the cameras and audio captured gunfire and enemy radio descriptions of Chapman fighting through the night.

Badly injured, Chapman held off al-Qaeda fighters, killing one militant in hand-to-hand combat. Hours later, a rescue force consisting of Army Rangers and Air Force special operators approached via helicopter. While the fighters on the ridgetop were in position to ambush the helicopter, Chapman laid down covering fire, drawing attention to himself as the helicopter approached.. 

Chapman was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross in 2003. After years of efforts, his Air Force Cross was officially updated to the Medal of Honor in 2018. He was the first airman to earn the highest military honor since the Vietnam War. His death was the first Medal of Honor action to be captured on video. 

“Despite severe, mortal wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple enemy personnel before making the ultimate sacrifice,” his Medal of Honor citation reads. “By his heroic actions and extraordinary valor, sacrificing his life for the lives of his teammates, Technical Sergeant Chapman upheld the highest traditions of military service and reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

From Marine to Star Wars fame

Driver enlisted in the Marine Corps after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. He served with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines as a mortar man before he got a medical discharge following an injury. He left the corps as a lance corporal and years later still can do the “lance corporal salute.” Driver was nominated for an Oscar for his work in ‘BlacKkKlansman.’ Although he has been in several biopics and played a military officer in the Civil War-set ‘Lincoln,’ ‘Alone at Dawn’ would be his first role as a service member from the Global War on Terror. 

An earlier attempt to adapt the book ‘Alone at Dawn’ was announced in 2021. Stuntman-turned-action movie director Sam Hargrave (‘Extraction’) was attached to direct the film, then-titled “Combat Control.” That project was to star Jake Gyllenhaal as Chapman.