In development for some time, Warner Bros. Pictures appears to finally be moving forward with a big screen take on the harrowing true tale of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. TheWrap today reports that Tate Taylor, the director behind The Help and Get on Up, has signed on to helm. Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey, remain attached to produce the still-untitled film through their Team Downey. Their involvement was first reported back in 2011 and it is still uncertain whether or not Downey may be planning to headline as well.
Famously recounted on the big screen by Robert Shaw in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the real life story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis saw the vessel sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1945 and the ship’s crew left for days to fend against starvation, hypothermia and some of the worst shark attacks in history. Of the nearly 900 men that survived the torpedoes, only about 300 survived what followed.
The big screen version will make use of dual narratives, relating the story through the eyes of 11-year old Hunter Scott. Scott, inspired in 1996 by the based-in-fact recollection of the ship’s demise in Jaws, set out to exonerate the vessel’s captain, Charles McVay.
Robert Schenkkan (“The Pacific”) was previously attached to draft the film, with Mike Jones (In the Event of a Moon Disaster) now coming aboard to script. David Gambino is also attached to produce with Jon Berg and Nik Mavinkurve overseeing for Warner Bros.
(Photo Credit: Brian To / PNP / WENN.com)
