Tom Hanks dons the pilot attire in our first look at Sully, Clint Eastwood’s upcoming true-life drama that recounts the heroics of Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger, the daring U.S. Airways pilot who staged an emergency landing in the Hudson River seven years ago, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.
Held up as the “Miracle of the Hudson,” these images come to us by way of People (thanks, Entertainment Weekly), showcasing Hanks in the title role alongside Aaron Eckhart’s equally-mustached co-pilot, Jeffrey Skiles.
Remaining in the wheelhouse of real-life dramas following the barnstorming success of American Sniper, Sully represents the first film that Clint Eastwood shot using IMAX cameras, and the fact that the production disassembled an Airbus A320 for transportation to a Warner Bros. lot – where it was dunked in a massive interior pool – typifies the filmmaker’s commitment to realism.
Speaking of that creative process and his own preparation for the role, Aaron Eckhart told EW that the team had even mapped out the exact flight pattern of the doomed airliner before the cameras started rolling.
“For simulation we had the exact flight pattern mapped out on the simulator as they flew on that particular flight, and that was interesting because you get up in the air, you’re 3,000 feet or whatever it is, and you have three minutes to figure out what will happen and then to troubleshoot it and then to land the plane and make the decision to land on the Hudson, that’s not a lot of time. Then we had the transcripts and the radio conversation between Sully and the tower, to hear how calm he was and how precise. It was great filming those scenes and everybody getting out on the wing and seeing Tom take charge. It was a blast.”
Also starring Laura Linney and Breaking Bad alum Anna Gunn, Sully will swoop into theaters on September 9.
