Sam Shepard, last seen in Don't Come Knocking and wishing he wasn’t in Stealth, has signed on for what promises to be a much better tale of pilots and legendary technology.
He’s starring in Descending From Heaven: The Strange And Extraordinary Tale Of Claude Eatherly, A-Bomb Pilot, a title which we confidently predict will be shortened before it gets released.
Sandy Smolan is directing the true-life tale of Eatherly, who piloted the reconnaissance mission that gave the go-ahead to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. The weight of his part in the bombing eventually led to his father (Shepard) committing him to a psychiatric hospital.
"It's one of the great untold stories," Smolan told The Hollywood Reporter. "He was one of the top pilots in the Air Corps, an all-American Texas hero. It's a dark comedic tale about the bomb and personal responsibility. When the nuclear bomb was used, the world was irrevocably changed in ways that we are just beginning to understand. That was 60 years ago. There's a One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest quality to Claude's life. The film questions the unchecked power of governmental authority, an issue as important today as it was when Claude was trying to get into trouble in 1950s Texas."