Wilson Memorial graduate’s Vietnam documentary to air Thursday evening

Stephen Zapotoczny wants to bring history’s greatest battles back to life on the small screen with recreated footage and the stories of both participants and historians.
The Wilson Memorial High School graduate will get his first feedback Thursday night when the Discovery Channel airs “Fight or Die,” a docudrama Zapotoczny co-produced on a critical Vietnam War battle.
The 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley, otherwise known as “the Valley of Death,” was the same one dramatized in the 2002 movie “We Were Soldiers.” Zapotoczny also co-produced that movie, which starred Mel Gibson.
The 1965 battle in a small clearing called Landing Zone X-Ray featured 2,000 North Vietnamese surrounding 400 U.S. Army soldiers.
By the time the nearly three-day bloodshed had ended, 800 North Vietnamese and 79 American troops had died.
Over the course of a year, Zapotoczny worked on the project with his co-executive producers — his wife, Danielle, and “We Were Soldiers” director Randall Wallace.
Wallace, writer of the movie “Braveheart,” is the docudrama’s narrator.
The result of their efforts is the blending of interviews with American soldiers and journalist Joe Galloway, recreated footage of the battle and digitally remastered combat footage from the National Archives.
Zapotoczny said the goal of the hourlong show is to tell “the human story” as well as create a cinematic experience for television viewers.
“I hope people watching will be as immersed as seeing a movie,” he said.
The Discovery Channel will gauge audience reaction to Thursday’s 10 p.m. docudrama before deciding whether to produce a series of episodes on historic battles.
Zapotoczny said Internet polling will also be done.
“People can tune in on the Internet chat,” he said. Audience reaction can be sent to http://www.wheelhouseentertainment.com.
Should the Discovery Channel agree to do a series, Zapotoczny will have the task of producing a new episode every three weeks. He said the job “will be like making a mini-movie.”
“Each episode will feature different sets and wardrobes,” he said.
Zapotoczny hopes to use interviews with historians for battles where participants are long since dead.
“For future episodes, I would like to work with historians like David McCullough,” said Zapotoczny, referring to the biographer of American presidents Harry Truman and John Adams.
Zapotoczny, whose California production company is called Wheelhouse Entertainment, also remains interested in film projects.
The Duke University graduate’s parents, Joe and Anna Zapotoczny, still live near Waynesboro.