Megan Leavey | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Gabriela Cowperthwaite |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Lorenzo Senatore |
Edited by | Peter McNulty |
Music by | Mark Isham |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Bleecker Street |
Release dates |
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Running time | 116 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $14.5 million [2] |
Megan Leavey (also known as Rex) [3] is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and written by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo, and Tim Lovestedt, based on the true events about a young female Marine named Megan Leavey and a combat dog named Rex. The film stars Kate Mara as the titular character, with Edie Falco, Common, Ramón Rodríguez, and Tom Felton in supporting roles.
The film was released on June 9, 2017, by Bleecker Street, received positive reviews and grossed $14 million.
Megan Leavey is a US Marine corporal who served as a Military Police K9 handler. She was paired with military working dog Rex (E168). The pair served two deployments in Iraq together. They were first deployed to Fallujah in 2005, and then to Ramadi in 2006, where they were both wounded by an improvised explosive device. Leavey was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a "V" device denoting heroism in combat.
In 2012, Rex developed facial palsy, which ended his bomb-sniffing duties. Leavey was able to adopt him through the intervention of Senator Chuck Schumer, around April 2012. Rex died on December 22, 2012. [4]
The real Megan Leavey is credited in the role of Female Drill Instructor #3, while Rex is portrayed by Varco, in an uncredited role.
On August 7, 2015, it was announced that Gabriela Cowperthwaite would be directing a film about Megan Leavey, to be portrayed by actress Kate Mara, and her military combat dog Rex. [5] The script was written by Pamela Gray, with the help of Annie Mumolo, Tim Lovestedt, and Jordan Roberts. LD Entertainment would produce the film. [5]
Principal photography on the film began on October 12, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina, [6] [7] including scenes filmed at The Citadel, with other scenes filmed in Georgia and New York City, with extensive desert and combat scenes shot in Spain.
In January 2017, Bleecker Street acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for release on June 9, 2017. [8]
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 5, 2017, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. [9] [10] In the UK and Australia the film was released on DVD as Rex.[ citation needed ]
Megan Leavey was released alongside It Comes at Night and The Mummy and was expected to gross around $3 million from 1,956 theaters in its opening weekend. [11] It ended up grossing $3.8 million, finishing 8th at the box office. [12]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Megan Leavey honors its real-life subjects with a sensitive, uplifting drama whose honest emotion more than makes up for its mild approach to the story." [13] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has average score 66 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. [12]
Megan Leavey was among the 2017 films which were honored with the Truly Moving Picture Award at the Heartland Film Festival.
Edith Falco is an American actress. Known for her roles on stage and screen she has received numerous accolades including four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and five Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nomination for a Tony Award.
Thomas Andrew Felton is an English actor. Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and made his screen debut in the role of Peagreen Clock in The Borrowers (1997). He portrayed Louis T. Leonowens in Anna and the King (1999) before being cast as Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the Harry Potter fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, starting with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and finishing with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Felton appeared in the sci-fi film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). He was subsequently cast in indie films From the Rough (2011) and The Apparition (2012).
Kate Rooney Mara is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama House of Cards, computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in the Fox thriller series 24 (2006), wronged mistress Hayden McClaine in the FX miniseries American Horror Story: Murder House (2011), Patty Bowes in the first season of the FX drag ball culture drama series Pose (2018), and a teacher who begins an illicit relationship with an underage student, in the FX miniseries A Teacher (2020). For the latter, she received an Independent Spirit nomination for Best New Scripted Series as an executive producer.
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Lex was the first active duty, fully fit military working dog to be granted early retirement in order to be adopted. Working for his United States Marine Corps handler Corporal Dustin J. Lee in the Iraq War, he was wounded in an attack that killed Lee, and subsequently was awarded an honorary Purple Heart.
Annie Mumolo is an American screenwriter, actress, comedian, and producer, best known for co-writing the 2011 film Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. She and Wiig also co-wrote the screenplay and played leading roles for the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She has also appeared in films such as This Is 40 (2012), Afternoon Delight (2013), The Boss (2016), Bad Moms (2016), Queenpins (2020), and Confess, Fletch (2022).
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"A Dog and Pony Show" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 10, 1993. In the episode, Pembleton and Bayliss investigate the murder of a police dog, Crosetti helps his friend adjust after a serious injury, and Felton and Howard suspect a drug dealer for a brutal murder.
Dustin Jerome Lee was a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a dog handler and IED detector with his dog Lex. He and Lex were attacked by indirect fire at Company A's forward operating base on March 21, 2007. A 73 mm rocket round exploding delivered a mortal wound to Lee, which also injured Lex.
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The U.S. Military Working Dog Teams National Monument is a monument to military working dogs located at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas. The monument represents handlers, dogs, and veterinary support, from all military service branches that have made up the Military Working Dog program since World War II. The monument grounds include a 3,000 square feet granite plaza, granite pedestals, granite history wall, granite benches and water fountain. The granite pedestals have large bronze statues of dogs and handlers. The monument was dedicated on October 28, 2013.
Corporal Megan Leavey is a former active duty United States Marine Corps corporal who served as a Military Police K9 handler.
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