USMC Ospreys and Amphibs Getting ‘History’ Close-up

May 24th, 2011 – Bryant Jordan DEFENSETECH

The History Channel and film director Peter Berg – “Friday Night Lights,” “The Kingdom” – are calling lights, camera and action at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as part of a documentary called “Superpower,” according to the Marine Corps.

The two-hour documentary, intended as a pilot for a new series, “aims to explain to the viewer why the United States, through its military, is perceived as a superpower,” an official Marine Corps message released May 18 states.

“We are supporting them with filming today [May 23] and right around the first of June,” Lt. Col. Jason Johnson said in a telephone interview.

Berg and the History Channel are interested in showing Assault Amphibious Vehicles and MV-22 Ospreys. I Marine Expeditionary Force is giving letting the production crew film training with the 3^rd AAV Bn., Camp Pendleton, and with the 3^rd Marine Air Wing at either Pendleton or Miramar.

The other service branches have already agreed to support the production, according to the Corps’ message. Officials want the Marine Corps to show viewers its “essential contribution to the nation’s defense as America’s expeditionary force in readiness.”

Berg’s directorial credits include “Friday Night Lights,” a drama about high school football in a Texas town that is now a TV series; “The Kingdom,” about FBI agents tracking terrorists in Saudi Arabia; and the Will Smith sci-fi film “Hancock.”

In 2009 Berg directed a documentary for ESPN called “King’s Ransom,” about the 1988 trade of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings.