It was a role he had prepared his entire life to play, so when Matt Lanter heard that the incredible story of the USS Indianapolis was finally being made into a movie, he knew he had to be a part of it.
“There’s been scripts floating around for 20 years, but when this movie got the green light I told my agent, ‘Let’s make sure to keep on this,’ ”
Lanter, 32, tells PEOPLE. His grandfather, Kenley Lanter, was one of just 317 crewmen to survive the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, widely considered the worst Naval disaster in U.S. history.