Paul Greengrass will adapt and direct Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421, based on TJ Newman’s book.
There is no denying that Paul Greengrass’ signature shakycam style made quite an impact on action cinema in the mid to late 2000s, with many directors attempting to emulate his technique. Coming from a background of documentary filmmaking, he brought this to feature films with real impact.
Warner Bros today confirmed that Greengrass will write and direct an adaptation of TJ Newman’s bestselling novel Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421.
The rights were the subject of an intense bidding war, with the final sum being in the region of one and a half million dollars.
The plot concerns “a plane which crashes in the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff and is flooded after an explosion during evacuation. A dozen survivors sink in a sealed part of the aircraft as it perches precariously on an undersea cliff 200 feet below the surface. Among them is an engineer and his 11-year-old daughter. His estranged wife – she’s also the girl’s mother – is part of the elite rescue team that races to save the passengers before their air runs out”.
It comes hot on the heels of the news that the next installment of the Bourne franchise will return, which Greengrass helped send into the stratosphere when he took over for The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Edward Berger will be directing the new Bourne film, with Greengrass having called the shots on three of the five films in that particular saga to date.
We’ve no idea when Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421 will be heading to production as yet. After all, there’s the small matter of a screenplay that needs writing first. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
In the meantime, if you fancy checking out the book, you can find a copy of it right here.
