JOHNSTON is a feature film about Commander Ernest E. Evans and the extraordinary men of USS JOHNSTON, whose courage during the Battle off Samar became one of the most remarkable stories in American naval history.

 

But this is more than a story about a battle—it is a story about the men, their families, their sacrifice, and the legacy they left behind. The project began with a simple question: Why has no one made this film? That question became a labor of love for producer Rick Balentine and Head Writer Mark Rickerby, Temple Gate Films and our partners at Paralight Studios and the very talented Lee Baker.

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With Paralight Studios, we are using advanced AI and digital filmmaking technology to help recreate the actual men who served aboard JOHNSTON from photographs generously shared by their families.

 

Our goal is to give audiences the opportunity to see the real men who were there, not simply actors portraying them. We are working with families, historians, museum professionals, and naval experts to make the film as authentic, respectful, and historically meaningful as possible. They were there. We want the world to see them.