Ron Howard to direct Adam Driver, Anne Hathaway in film about Pope airman

This story was updated to add the name of the podcast that Lori Chapman Longfritz spoke to.

A film about a Medal of Honor recipient who was stationed at Pope Air Force Base is in the works under the direction of filmmaker Ron Howard and will star Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway.

In October, Instagram pages belonging to Howard and Imagine Entertainment , a production company cofounded by Howard, shared an article by Deadline announcing the movie, "Alone at Dawn."

The movie is based on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name written by Air Force veteran Dan Schilling and Lori Chapman Longfritz.

"Alone at Dawn" tells the story of Longfritz's brother, Air Force Master Sgt. John Chapman , a special operations combat controller who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2018, 16 years after his death.

Air Force combat controllers are special operations airmen who specialize in controlling airpower in combat zones are embedded with Army special operations forces.

Chapman was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at what was then Pope Air Force Base when he died March 4, 2002, atop a mountain in Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, while protecting his teammates from enemy gunfire.

He was 36 and had been in the Air Force for 17 years.

Longfritz told the podcast, Patriot to the Core, in September that she felt like Howard would "do John right."

"The focus of the movie will be combat control and John," she said.

Longfritz said Schilling would be a consultant for the movie to ensure that the work of combat controllers and her brother's actions are accurately portrayed.

Who was Chapman to his family?

Longfritz told The Fayetteville Observer in March 2002 that her brother was the family clown, a gifted high school athlete, a father of two and a loving husband.

Chapman and his wife, Valerie, had two daughters, Madison and Brianna, ages 5 and 3 when their father died. Chapman grew up in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, north of Hartford.

''Anyone who knew him liked him,'' Longfritz said.

Chapman is also survived by his sister, Tammy, and brother, Kevin.

John Chapman was a soccer player for Windsor Locks High School, and he was on the diving team. Longfritz said her brother was an all-state diver three years in a row. When he wasn't playing sports, he was involved in other activities, such as the senior school play.

''He was Mr. Popular,'' Longfritz said.

Chapman graduated from high school in 1983 and attended college for a year. He joined the Air Force in September 1985 to satisfy his curiosity, Longfritz said. Their father had spent three years in the Air Force.

She said her brother spent much of his early career behind a computer and, though skeptical at first, found his place after becoming a combat controller, taking the work seriously.

''He was a leader and he got things done,'' she said.

At the time of his death, he lived with his family on Windlock Drive in Fayetteville. Longfritz said he enjoyed playing with his daughters in the yard, reading to them and giving them baths.

''Any time he could spend with them was joyous,'' Longfritz said. ''They were his life. Whatever father meant, he did it and he loved it.''

Chapman's wife of 10 years, Valerie Nessel told The Fayetteville Observer in April 2004 that her husband lived his short life to the fullest.

"I know he expects that out of me and the girls," she said.

Nessel described her husband's death as a roller coaster of emotions.

"You don't stop thinking about him," she said. "He will always be a part of all of our lives, and part of me will always love him. But by the same token, we wake up every day and we're here and he's not and that is what he would want us to do. To enjoy our time that we have left.''

Receiving the Medal of Honor

Not long after Chapman's death, he received the Air Force Cross, the Air Force's second-highest award.

Family members were told that when he was killed, Chapman and others were in a helicopter that came under heavy fire over a mountaintop in Afghanistan. Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, a Navy Seal, fell out, and Chapman orchestrated an attempt to rescue him.

After landing, Chapman killed two enemy soldiers and kept advancing toward a dug-in machine gun. Despite being severely outmanned, Air Force officials said, he never stopped firing until he was shot to death.

In April 2005, the Military Sealift Command named the cargo ship MV TSgt. John A. Chapman in Chapman's honor.

During the ship's naming ceremony, Air Force Col. Kenneth F. Rodriguez, who commanded Chapman's squadron at the time of his death, said Chapman "went to the aid of a downed teammate and died helping save other team members."

The Hollywood Reporter reported in October that Hathaway will portray the intelligence officer who fought for Chapman to receive the Medal of Honor.

The New York Times reported in August 2016 that then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James recommended Chapman for the Medal of Honor after reviewing enhanced drone video footage from his deadly attack.

Chapman received the Medal of Honor on Aug. 22, 2018, 12 days after the Air Force released of video of his fight in Afghanistan.

Taken from surveillance of the battle, the video shows Chapman stepping off a helicopter before running up a steep mountain slope to attack enemy bunkers.

During a May 2019 unveiling of a statue of Chapman inside the Alcide "Bull" Benini Heritage Center at Pope Army Airfield, Gen. Stephen Wilson, then vice chief of staff for the Air Force, said Chapman insisted on being on the deployment. 

"John's natural instinct was to charge the first enemy bunker at a 28-degree incline in a downpour of bullets that didn't stop him," Wilson said.

Once clearing the bunker, he left cover to assault a second bunker and was wounded, Wilson said.

"Despite several more wounds, he stood and charged the enemy for nearly an hour," he said.

After he was wounded, the video shows Chapman continuing the attack until he was killed.

"Sgt. Chapman charged into enemy fire through harrowing conditions, seized an enemy bunker, and killed its enemy occupants," according to an official account of his actions. "He then moved from cover to engage a machine gun firing on his team from a second bunker. While engaging this position, he was severely wounded by enemy gunfire. Despite severe wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple enemy personnel before paying the ultimate sacrifice."

Officials said Chapman charged through the snow while under heavy fire from three directions while attempting to reach Roberts.

He fought for over an hour, despite several severe wounds, while trying to save his teammate.

"Sgt. Chapman's heroic actions, at the cost of his life, are credited with saving the lives of his teammates," officials said.

In addition to Chapman, six other U.S. troops died in the Battle of Takur Ghar, including Roberts, Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, Army Cpl. Matthew Commons, Army Sgt. Bradley Crose, Army Spc. Marc Anderson and Army Sgt. Philip Svitak.

"As tragic as those losses were, if not for the actions of John Chapman, the list of names would have most certainly been longer," Col. James Hughes, commander of the Special Warfare Training Wing, said at the May 2019 unveiling of the statue.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Hollywood making movie about Medal of Honor recipient John Chapman