NEW YORK—Clint Eastwood will follow his box-office sensation “American Sniper” with a biopic of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.
Warner Bros. announced Tuesday that Eastwood will direct and produce the not-yet-titled drama as his next film. The film is to be adapted from Sullenberger’s 2009 memoir, “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters,” which chronicled his personal history before he famously landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson River in New York in 2009.
“I am very glad my story is in the hands of gifted storyteller and filmmaker Clint Eastwood,” Sullenberger said in a statement.
It will be Eastwood’s first film after the biggest box-office hit of his career. The Oscar-winning “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, made $543.4 million globally for Warner Bros. and became the top domestic release of 2014.
The film will be produced by Frank Marshall and Allyn Stewart and penned by Todd Komarnicki. Warner Bros. has long been Eastwood’s home studio.
“Simply put, Clint Eastwood is at the top of his game, not to mention a global treasure,” said Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros. “On the heels of his extraordinary work in ‘American Sniper,’ it is tremendously exciting to see him explore another captivating true-life hero.”
