Release Date: July 4, 2007
Studio: MGM
Director: Werner Herzog
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn
Genre: Action, Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
****

INDEX

1. RESCUE DAWN Synopsis

2. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

3. DIETER DENGLER’S ODDYSEY

4. “CRAZY OPTIMISM”: BALE ON DENGLER

5. INTO THE MYTHIC JUNGLE: THE THAI PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION NOTES
RESCUE DAWN
Synopsis

In the annals of history’s great escapes there is no other story like that of Dieter Dengler, the only American to ever break out of a POW camp in the impenetrable Laotian jungle. After months plotting his getaway and a death-defying journey through some of the world’s fiercest wilderness, Dengler appeared at his first press conference looking like a dashing movie star and showing neither sentimentality nor bitterness – simply an indomitable will to survive that allowed him to triumph against impossible odds.

Now, from legendary director Werner Herzog (GRIZZLY MAN, FITZCARROLDO) and starring acclaimed actor Christian Bale (BATMAN BEGINS, THE PRESTIGE) comes the incredible true story of a renegade who, from the depths of total darkness, blazed his own willful path to freedom. A blistering adventure and a stark epic of survival, RESCUE DAWN reveals how Dieter Dengler relied on the most primal qualities of evasion, endurance, tenacity and courage to find his way home.

Dieter (BALE) had dreamed of flying since his childhood in wartime Germany. The only place he ever wanted to be was in the sky, but now, on his very first top-secret mission over Laos, the ace aviator’s plane is shot down to earth. Trapped in an impassable jungle far from U.S. control, Dengler is soon captured by notoriously dangerous Pathet Lao soldiers. Though he quickly realizes he is in the most terrifying and vulnerable of circumstances, he never gives an inch.

After a shocking initial ordeal, he is taken to a small Laotian prison camp, where he meets two American soldiers already held captive for a stultifying two years – both nearly broken in spirit. Duane (STEVE ZAHN) can only recommend keeping quiet to stay alive, while the barely sane “Gene from Eugene” (JEREMY DAVIES) insists they are all about to be released any minute now. But Dengler has no intention of sticking around the nightmarish camp, so he begins to dream up an escape plan that takes his fellow prisoners by surprise with its savvy and audacity. Dengler doesn’t even know where he is – but he knows with unwavering certainty that he must not stop fighting for his life. As he makes his way into the jungle, his journey will never let up, as it takes him from the bonds of fraternity to the brink of despair, to one of the most remarkable rescues in modern history.

RESCUE DAWN is written and directed by Werner Herzog, who was close friends with the real Dieter Dengler. Ten years ago, while Dengler was still alive (he died in 2001 of Lou Gehrig’s disease), Herzog made the acclaimed documentary, “Little Dieter Needs To Fly,” about Dengler. Now, he returns to tell more of the story in an epic narrative.

RESCUE DAWN is produced by Steve Marlton, Elton Brand and Harry Knapp. The executive producers are Kami Naghdi, Jimmy De Brabant, Michael Dounaev, Elie Samaha, Gerald Green, Nick Raslan and Freddy Braidy. Shot on location in the stunning jungles of Thailand, the film features a behind-the-scenes team that includes director of photography Peter Zeitlinger (GRIZZLY MAN) editor Joe Bini (GRIZZLY MAN) and composer Klaus Badelt (PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, GLADIATOR.)

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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
RESCUE DAWN marks the first truly American film from internationally acclaimed director Werner Herzog. Based on the true story of the courageous POW escapee Dieter Dengler, the film once again takes Herzog on an intense adventure into the dark heart of human peril, but comes out the other side with a heart-lifting sense of all that is meant by duty, honor and triumph over adversity.