Clint Eastwood to make biopic of pilot 'Sully' Sullenberger

"This is an Airbus 320, one of the most powerful aircraft in the world and it will blow your head clean off. You'll have to ask your self one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, Goose?"
 
Clint has always been one of my heros, up until Gran Torino. He lost me at that movie.
 
flyingron said:
"This is an Airbus 320, one of the most powerful aircraft in the world and it will blow your head clean off. You'll have to ask your self one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, Goose?"
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Ha! Nice!
 
The event and Capt Sully's skills/background have been so well covered, analyzed, and talked about, I don't see how this is really going to add anything.

And adding manufactured drama (like reality TV) isn't going to get my viewing time/dollars
 
AggieMike88 said:
The event and Capt Sully's skills/background have been so well covered, analyzed, and talked about, I don't see how this is really going to add anything.

And adding manufactured drama (like reality TV) isn't going to get my viewing time/dollars
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The movie will obviously focus on the lack of a flight plan, then at the last minute they will find the flight plan, and all will be well.

Or own Rich will play the role of Tuco.
 
flyingron said:
"This is an Airbus 320, one of the most powerful aircraft in the world and it will blow your head clean off. You'll have to ask your self one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, Goose?"
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Well played, sir!
 
Landing strip?!? We don't need no stinkin' landing strip.
 
Anthony said:
The movie will obviously focus on the lack of a flight plan, then at the last minute they will find the flight plan, and all will be well.

Or own Rich will play the role of Tuco.
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Ramirez or Salamanca?

Rich
 
The role of Sully will be played by Denzel Washington.
 
Do actors get paid up front or after filming the movie? What if they croak in the middle of filming?
 
How do you make a full length movie about such a short flight?

I'd much rather see a movie about Al Haynes. That I could see making a full length feature.
 
Read Sully's book.

This country needs real, old-school heroes.
 
paflyer said:
Read Sully's book.

This country needs real, old-school heroes.
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Sully did fine, but there are far more interesting old-school aviation hero stories out there.

Capt Al Haynes (UAL 232)
Capt Eric Gennotte (DHL A300 Bagdad missile hit)
Capt Charles White (EAL 853 - 1965)

All Sully had to do was a simple dead stick landing. Google any of the above and imagine having to deal with what those Captains did.
 
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bnt83 said:
Do actors get paid up front or after filming the movie? What if they croak in the middle of filming?
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Depends entirely on the agent, business manager, lawyer for the actor, and the legal/contracts dept of the studio that's financing the movie. There are also provisions in the contracts about lifestyle, illness, etc.

Example - during filming both the Star Trek:TNG & DS9 tv shows and the ST movies, Michael Dorn was forbidden from flying his personal jet airplane. Other contracts (NFL included) may forbid the actor from doing things like skiing during the season.

When an actor in a critical (non-replaceable) role is injured or unavailable, filming may not be able to continue. The studios/financing companies take insurance out just for that reason.

From start to finish, a tv show or movie is very similar to creating a very complex building - there's critical path scheduling based on actor availability, physical locations, weather, transportation, and it keeps going. When something interrupts that critical path, lots of Plan B, Plan C, etc has to happen.

Some actors will take SAG-AFTRA scale (paid either upfront or salary) or a lesser amount than what they normally command and then a "piece of the action on the back-end". The back-end is where lots of money is possible. These are the points (percentage) based on the gross or the net profit. That's the real stickler. Someone like Meryl Streep or Harrison Ford can get a huge upfront paycheck and also points on the back-end. And negotiating based on net or gross is also critical. But actors in this category have completely different contracts. IIRC the break point is $500,000 annual income.

James Garner won a huge settlement many years ago in a suit against the company that produced one of his successful tv series. He claimed his percentage was miniscule because the producers finagled the books to appear that there was almost no net profits - lots of gross but not much net, and his contract was for the net.

Of course those points are only worth it if the movie really takes off. It'll be interesting to see how well Star Wars 7 does at the box office.

SAG-AFTRA freely admits that 95% of all union members make less than $50,000/year.

Also remember that the actor must pay the taxes, agent, the business manager, the lawyer, union dues, etc out of his/her paycheck. When it comes down to it, after paying everything for that $10 Million check, what ends up in the bank is nowhere near $10M.

You think FAA has rules & regs? Go read the variety of contracts and exceptions to almost every line of a contract at the SAG-AFTRA website. Guaranteed to cure your insomnia.

I have friends in the business. The stories, oh the stories....
 
murphey said:
When an actor in a critical (non-replaceable) role is injured or unavailable, filming may not be able to continue. The studios/financing companies take insurance out just for that reason.
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Or they can pull an Ed Wood/P9FOS. When the main guy dies during/just before filming, they just hire another one and have him hide his face every time he is shown on screen. And to make movie a bit longer, reuse scenes :)
 
I loved the line in the "Ed Wood" movie where they ask Dr. Tom to call Karloff a c***sucker.

Another example (probably with a little more success) is when Natalie Wood (what kind of wood doesn't float) died in the middle of making Brainstorm. Fortunately most of the principal photography was done and a few non-speaking shots used stand-ins. The resultant riff between director Trumball and the studio over this led him to leave directing.
 
My apologies if the movie trailer was in the OP link (now dead.)


I didn't think Sully's decision was controversial, I thought he couldn't make any airport.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Sully did fine, but there are far more interesting old-school aviation hero stories out there.

Capt Al Haynes (UAL 232)
Capt Eric Gennotte (DHL A300 Bagdad missile hit)
Capt Charles White (EAL 853 - 1965)

All Sully had to do was a simple dead stick landing. Google any of the above and imagine having to deal with what those Captains did.
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I tend to agree with this. Not saying that Sully didn't do a great job - he absolutely did. But the UAL 232 crew in my opinion (most notably Dennis Fitch) had a much graver situation on their hands with a much, much more complex root cause and aftermath.

I don't have any plans of seeing this movie.
 
Should be mentioned, I believe Eastwood is a PPL holder.
 
Fearless Tower said:
All Sully had to do was a simple dead stick landing. Google any of the above and imagine having to deal with what those Captains did.
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He had a "senior moment" daydreaming about a float plane and a smooth river......
 
Fearless Tower said:
How do you make a full length movie about such a short flight?

I'd much rather see a movie about Al Haynes. That I could see making a full length feature.
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I consider Sully's story to have a much better ending. Al's story just highlights what a POS the DC-10 really is ! Why the FAA ever allowed the manufacturer to retrieve that failed part is a mystery to me.
 
I remember an CFI of mine that said, "We keep hearing about the Miracle on the Hudson, and what a great job the pilot did. What about the great job the airplane did?"
 
I bet the movie will try to open up doubts as to the whole incident, such as try to place doubts as to decision making, making the actions look like they were wrong and that better options were available. Not to mention possible romantic interludes between passengers and flight attendants and possibly the geese. In other words the only truth in the movie will be that a plane hit geese and landed in the river.

Tom Hanks, as liberal and socialist as he is, usually get closer to the truth and reality than other Hollywood movie makers.
 
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