Aaron Eckhart is joining Tom Hanks in Warner Bros.’ Capt. Sully movie.
Hanks will star as Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed his plane full of 155 passengers in the Hudson River after both engines were knocked out by a flock of geese. The “Miracle on the Hudson” made national headlines in January 2009, and Capt. Sully was deemed the “Captain Cool” by then-New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Eckhart will play Jeff Skiles, who was the first officer and co-pilot on the Airbus A320. He was manually flying the plane when the birds crashed into the engines. He helped Sully safely land the US Airways plane.
Clint Eastwood will direct the film, which will have a script by Todd Komarnicki, who is drawing from Sullenberger’s life and memoir.
Warner Bros. is behind the movie, which is being produced by Eastwood, Tim Moore and veteran producers Allyn Stewart and Frank Marshall.
Eckhart most recently was seen in I, Frankenstein and Olympus Has Fallen, and he’ll reprise his role from the latter for the sequel, London Has Fallen. He’ll also be seen in the boxing drama Bleed for This with Miles Teller. He’s repped by CAA.
