HBO FILMS to Present Free Public Screening of TAKING CHANCE, the Story of a Fallen Marine's Final Journey Home in Dubois, WY, Home of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps

HBO FILMS to Present Free Public Screening of TAKING CHANCE, the Story of a Fallen Marine's Final Journey Home in Dubois, WY, Home of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps

Special Guests LtCol Michael Strobl, Whose Journal Was Adapted Into Film, Films' Director/Co-Screenwriter Ross Katz And The Family of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- HBO FILMS and the family of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps present the Wyoming premiere of TAKING CHANCE on Wednesday, February 18 at 6:00 p.m. in Dubois, Wyo. The free screening will be held in the gymnasium of the Dubois High School in advance of the films' HBO debut on Saturday, Feb 21 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT). Seating is limited and on a first come, first serve basis.

The event begins with the color guard presented by the Dubois Boy Scout Troop 56. A private reception will immediately follow the screening for family members, production executives and invited guests.

Starring Kevin Bacon ("Frost/Nixon") as LtCol Michael Strobl, and based on Strobl's personal journal of the same name, TAKING CHANCE chronicles one of the silent, virtually unseen journeys that takes place every day across the country, bearing witness to the fallen and all those who, literally and figuratively, carry them home.

In spring 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, came across the name of 19-year-old Lance Corporal Chance Phelps, a Marine who had been killed in action in Iraq and began his journey to carry him home to Dubois.

TAKING CHANCE was filmed on location in New Jersey and Montana in 2007.

The production relocated from New Jersey to Montana to complete the shoot. The town of Ennis doubled for Dubois' Main Street. Chance's family visited the production during the filming of these scenes. Chance's father John Phelps recalls the actual day, saying, "They poured out of the gymnasium before the procession went, lined the streets three or four deep, and they were all holding American flags or saluting. It was a pretty awesome spectacle."

Strobl, who recently retired after serving 24 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, developed the original story with the strong support of Phelps' parents, John Phelps and Gretchen Mack. His first-person account, which began as an official trip report, gives an insight into the military's policy of providing a uniformed escort for all casualties. The story became an Internet phenomenon when it was widely circulated throughout the military community and eventually reached the mainstream media.

LtCol Strobl met Chance's family on the day of their son's funeral, and since then, a close relationship has developed between his family and theirs. It's been his priority, as well as that of Ross Katz and the rest of the filmmaking team, to include the Phelps family fully in the creative process of adapting their son's story for film.

Gretchen Mack, Chance Phelps' mother, recalls, "When Michael [Strobl] first said that there was an interest with HBO, we were a little bit skeptical, but then we thought, 'This is a really good way to honor not only our son, but every single man and woman serving in the armed services, and family that has lost a family member, a father, son or daughter.'"

For jpegs and press releases, please visit homeboxoffice.com

Source: HBO

CONTACT: Suzanne Baum of HBO, +1-510-610-3911, suzanne.baum@hbo.com

Web site: http://www.homeboxoffice.com/

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