A while back we reported that Tom Hanks was in talks to star in A Captain’s Story as Captain Richard Phillips. Phillips made headlines a few years ago during the whole Somali pirates hostage situation. The film will be based on the novel of the same name; A Captain’s Story: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea and Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach) will be writing the script.
Today Vulture repots that Paul Greengrass is in talks to direct and also that the film underwent a title change and will now be called Maersk Alabama.
Greengrass has been hovering around a number of projects lately although he hasn’t been able to get anything off the ground. Both Memphis (the MLK biopic) and the planned Jimi Hendrix biopic fell through. The only problem with Maersk Alabama is that Greengrass would have to wait for Hanks to finish on Cloud Atlas, which may be a while.
Additionally, Vulture tells us that Paul Greengrass is also eyeing Rush, a film penned by Peter Morgan that tells the story of Formula One champion Niki Lauda.
In addition to Maersk Alabama and Rush, Greengrass is also linked to a Julian Assange film, one of the many currently in production, and his name has even come up in discussions regarding Angelina Jolie‘s Cleopatra.
The director definitely has his plate full and while it may be a while before he settles on something, my vote is for Maersk Alabama, despite the awful title. I think the story would make a great film, especially with Hanks in the lead role, and it would benefit greatly from Greengrass’ direction.
What do you think?
