Eastwood Directs Miracle On The Hudson Movie

Clint Eastwood will produce the Hollywood interpretation of the events that became known as the Miracle on the Hudson. Eastwood will direct the movie based on the ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in January of 2009. It will be produced by Eastwood and Tim Moore along with well-known Hollywood producers Allyn Stewart and Frank Marshall. Harrison Ford introduced Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot flying on 1549, to Marshall. There has been no announcement on who will play Sullenberger or his first officer Jeff Skiles. Eastwood, whose latest film, American Sniper, was a major critical and financial success, was a good pick, according to Sullenberger. "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 in a statement reported by the Hollywood Reporter. "The project could not have found a better home than Warner Bros. Pictures. This is truly a dream team."

Eastwood's challenge may be taking an event that took about five minutes from wheels up to splashdown and turning it into a feature length film. It may be partly based on Sullenberger's 2010 memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, which was optioned by Marshall and Stewart shortly after it was published. The script is being written by Todd Komarnicki.