David Frankel Will Helm Departure For Good Universe

Deadline is reporting that The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel will helm Departure for Good Universe. The sci-fi romance has a Billy Ray-penned script and tells the story of a “brilliant FAA investigator who is obsessed with learning how a 727 suddenly vanished into thin air and then reappeared in the exact same spot ten minutes later. As mysterious occurrences continue to occur with increasing frequency in the skies over Miami, the investigation becomes personal when the employee’s beloved wife is on one of the planes affected.”

The film, though not a true story, is inspired by one. Or several, actually, as it takes its cues from the novel Ghosts of the Air, which “contains real accounts from pilots who have been through such strange anomalies” as the one described above. So ya, apparently this kind of thing actually happens.

While I’ve never cared much for any of Frankel’s work, the whole concept behind Departures does interest me, as I’ve never heard of this particular anomaly before but am certainly curious about it. Plus, Billy Ray is an accomplished screenwriter with some solid credits on his resume (Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games), so at the very least, I’m sure the script will be strong.

Departure currently has no distributor, but with Frankel now attached, and a cast being put together, you can expect one soon.