Kevin Bacon is a refreshing sort of movie actor. He pretty much just acts in movies. He rarely does television, either TV movies or guest shots on sitcoms. So, it is a bit of a departure for him to star in HBO films Taking Chance, which will shoot this year and appear on the channel in 2008.

The movie is based on a short story written by Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a U.S. Marine officer who escorted the remains of PFC Chance Phelps from Iraq to his home in Wyoming after Phelps had been killed in combat. Bacon is set to play Strobl. No other casting has been announced.

Strobl himself is adapting the story into a script with director Ross Katz. This is Katz’s first directing assignment. He is better known as the producer of films like In the Bedroom and Marie Antoinette. Bacon, of course, is not stranger to the Marine Corps. He previously played “Smiling” Jack Ross in Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men. It’s nice to see him get promoted after all these years.