Is Lone Survivor based on a true story?

❘ Published: 2023-11-22T10:31:33

Taylor Kitsch and Mark Wahlberg carrying guns into war during Lone Survivor.

Universal Pictures

Thanks to Lone Survivor dropping on Netflix, there’s renewed interest in the 2013 Mark Wahlberg movie, so is it based on a true story?

The current Netflix Top 10 in the US features new movies like The Killer and Pain Hustlers, as well as older releases like Cold Pursuit, and Mark Wahlberg war movie Lone survivor.

The 2013 release was written and directed by Pete Berg, with the official synopsis as follows: “Lone Survivor tells the incredible tale of four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative who are ambushed by the enemy in the mountains of Afghanistan.

“Faced with an impossible moral decision, the small band is isolated from help and surrounded by a much larger force of Taliban ready for war. As they confront unthinkable odds together, the four men find reserves of strength and resilience as they stay in the fight to the finish.”

Is Lone Survivor based on a true story?

Yes, Lone Survivor is based on a true story, with the movie an adaptation of Marcus Luttrell’s first-person memoir of the same name.

The book was published in 2007, and immediately became a New York Times bestseller. Peter Berg met with Luttrell to discuss the possibility of a movie version, and Universal Pictures acquired the rights that same year.

Producer Sarah Aubrey said at the time: “When I read the book, I knew instantly that this would be a perfect movie for [Berg]. His strengths as a director are in taking an audience into a closed world.

“He loves to take an audience into a world and show them the details but then hit them with this emotional wallop. The book has this incredibly emotional story of brotherhood and sacrifice, and then ultimately, in the story with Gulab, this grace and humanity even in the midst of war.”

Lone Survivor cast

The fact that Lone Survivor is based on a true story means the main cast all play real life soldiers, with the actors and people they portray as follows:

Mark Wahlberg as Hospital corpsman First CLass Marcus Luttrell
Taylor Kitsch as Lieutenant Michael P. ‘Murph’ Murphy
Emile Hirsch as Gunner’s mate Second Class Danny Dietz
Ben Foster as Sonar technician Second Class Matthew ‘Axe’ Axelson
Eric Bana as Lieutenant Commander Erik S. Kristensen

Ali Suliman plays the aforementioned Afghan villager Mohammed Gulag, and Wahlberg says his actions are one of the reasons he wanted to make the movie.

“What makes this story so special is the bond and the camaraderie between the guys, but also the state of where we are in the world today,” explains Wahlberg. “The act of heroism by Gulab and his fellow villagers moved me the most. I found it so inspiring, and it gave me so much hope for the world.”

Lone Survivor is on Netflix now, and you can check out more of our Netflix coverage below: