Earlier this month, we reported that Clint Eastwood would waste everyone’s time by directing a movie based on heroic pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. It’s not a waste of time to make a movie about Sully, who safely flew U.S. Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River in 2009, saving everyone on board from a disastrous crash. It’s a waste of time because Clint Eastwood is a lazy director who thinks that one or two takes is all you need.
But because he’s Clint Eastwood, he can continue to woo top-tier talent, and his latest effort is no different. According to Deadline, Tom Hanks is in talks to play Sullenberger, and the story will go beyond the pilot’s miraculous landing and into his memoir, Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters, which captured a behind-the-scenes drama “that could have cost him his reputation and his wings.”
That sounds like a good story, and one worth telling. And Hanks is certainly good casting because when you need a heroic leader, you may as well get the guy who starred in Apollo 13 and Captain Phillips. The problem, as usual, comes back to Eastwood. Bradley Cooper gave an excellent performance in American Sniper, but it didn’t matter because Eastwood couldn’t be bothered to find any depth in the story. He made it a simple hero-sacrifice tale devoid of any nuance. But if hero worship is what Eastwood is after, I’m far more comfortable with it coming from someone like Sullenberger.
As for Hanks, he recently finished shooting on Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram For The King and the new Robert Langdon movie, Inferno. He’s still circling James Ponsoldt’s adaptation of The Circle, which, we learned earlier today, might also stars Emma Watson.
There’s currently no word on a start date, but I’m sure the movie will come in on time and under budget.