Even though Clint Eastwood has been around Hollywood for decades, the legendary actor/director is just coming off his biggest film to date. 2014’s American Sniper, a biopic about Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, earned $543 million worldwide (more money than any other Eastwood film and largest domestic release of 2014) and garnered a Best Picture nomination.
Eastwood will follow that film with another biopic titled Sully about heroic pilot Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger for Warner Bros (via THR). Frank Marshall, Allyn Stewart, Tim Moore and Eastwood will produce. Todd Komarnicki will adapt Sullenberger’s memoir “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters“, which the pilot co-wrote with Jeffrey Zaslow. The film will begin production this fall.
[amz asin=”0061924695″ size=”small”]”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,” Sullenberger said of the project via statement. “The project could not have found a better home than Warner Bros. Pictures. This is truly a dream team.”
Sullenberger made national headlines with the “Miracle on the Hudson” in January 2009 when he successfully piloted U.S. Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River in New York City after a flock of geese caused the plane’s engines to malfunction. All 155 passengers survived the sudden landing because of the pilot’s heroism.
THR notes that Eastwood’s commitment to Sully knocks him out of the running for the Richard Jewell biopic Jonah Hill is starring in.
No release date is set, but if the film follows American Sniper‘s footsteps, a winter release to coincide with an Oscar campaign isn’t out of the question.
