“I am sure whoever plays me will do fine, but front-runners could be Danny DeVito or Queen Latifah,” he said.-Captain Richards said in interview.
This is cool and hopefully this makes it all the way into the can and onto the big screen. It should make it with all of the players involved, but you never know. From the little bits I am hearing, the crew is heading to New Orleans to film, and they have been looking for Somalis to play pirates in the movie. No word on when this thing will come out, and I will let you know when the trailer comes out. –Matt
Edit: 11/18/2011- I forgot to mention that this is not the first group to look at producing and filming this thing. Kevin Spacey expressed interest back when this first came out.
Paul Greengrass Offered Somali Pirate Pic By Sony Pictures, Talks Starting
By MIKE FLEMING
Wednesday June 8, 2011
UPDATE: I’ve learned that Memphis won’t be an impediment to Paul Greengrass directing this Somali pirate movie, so I expect this to move quickly and that this will be the director’s next film.
EARLIER: Director Paul Greengrass and Sony Pictures have moved a step closer to the filmmaker coming aboard to steer the Sony Pictures’ Somali pirate drama to star Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips. Greengrass was among a short list of directors for the gig but I’m told Sony Pictures has just offered him the picture and talks are about to begin. Phillips was the skipper of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama who gave himself up as a hostage to Somali pirates to keep his crew from having to leave the ship with them. After three days of being held hostage alone with the armed pirates in a small lifeboat, Phillips was saved by Navy SEALs who staged a dramatic rescue that left the captain unharmed, three captors dead and another in custody. The film is based on Phillips’ memoir A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, which was published last year by Hyperion. Sony Pictures’ The Social Network team of Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and Kevin Spacey are producing. Hanks signed on in March after sparking to a script written by Billy Ray. Elizabeth Cantillon is supervising for Sony Pictures.