Earlier this month, the news arrived that Clint Eastwood was looking to continue his recent string of films about real-life people with a biopic of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger for Warner Bros. He’s already in talks with a star, as Tom Hanks may now take the captain’s seat.
Sullenberger was the man hailed as a hero when he safely landed a bird-struck, malfunctioning plane full of passengers on New York’s Hudson River back in 2009, becoming a symbol for old school guts and professionalism in the face of adversity.
His moment of fame led to a memoir, called Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters, and saw both the book and his life rights bought by producer Frank Marshall, with Sully on board as a producer. He seemed happy with the choice of Eastwood to direct, so we can only imagine he’ll be pleased once the ink is dry in Hanks’ contract. For his part, the Captain Phillips star feels like the right man for the job, even if some thought Eastwood might take it on himself, and Sam Elliot is probably angrily tearing off his moustache even as we speak.
Todd Komarnicki adapted the script, and the film will likely start shooting this year. Hanks has several movies on the way, including Steven Spielberg’s **Bridge Of Spies **(November 6), Ron Howard’s latest Dan Brown adaptation Inferno (October 14 next year) plus A Hologram For The King and Ithaca, neither of which have confirmed release dates here yet.