[caption id=”attachment_128682″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3630″] Filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
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Clint Eastwood’s latest film will portray airline pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s heroic emergency landing on the Hudson River back in January 2009.
Sullenberger and crew had just taken off from LaGuardia airport when a flock of geese compromised the U.S. Airways flight 1549 engines.
With no time to turn back and no other airport in sight, Sullenberger’s only option was attempting an emergency landing on the frigid waters of the Hudson River. His risk was rewarded and all 155 people on the plane survived, earning Sullenberger the title “Captain Cool” by then-New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“I am very glad my story is in the hands of gifted storyteller and filmmaker Clint Eastwood, and veteran producers Allyn Stewart and Frank Marshall. The project could not have found a better home than Warner Bros. Pictures. This is truly a dream team,” said Sullenberger, 64, in a statement, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
This film portrayal of “The Miracle on The Hudson” will be Eastwood’s first project since portraying another American hero, Chris Kyle, in American Sniper this past December. Sniper grossed upwards of $543 million, making it the most successful war-movie to date.
“Simply put, Clint Eastwood is at the top of his game, not to mention a global treasure,” said Warner Bros. director of creative development, Greg Silverman in a statement. “On the heels of his extraordinary work in American Sniper, it is tremendously exciting to see him explore the life of another captivating true-life hero.”
American Sniper, though wildly successful at the box office and among the public, drew no shortage of criticism and backlash even before its theatrical run in January 2015 and is still spawning controversy over its portrayal of the war and those represented in it.
Eastwood, 85, will direct the film for his home studio, Warner Bros., beginning this fall. The screenplay will be adapted from Sullenberger’s personal memoir.
