Paul Greengrass will direct a film adaptation of DROWNING: THE RESCUE OF FLIGHT 1421

Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy, Green Zone, Captain Phillips) has signed on to write and direct a film adaptation of TJ Newmanit’s the novel Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. The project is entrusted to Warner Bros., which won a heated bidding war for the project.

Many talents wanted to get their hands on this, including Steven Spielberg, Nicole KidmanAND Alfonso Cuaron. Additionally, Apple e Jerry Bruckheimer, Fundamental e Damien ChazelleLegendary and Universal Television tried to grab the rights.

Drowning tells the extremely intense story of a plane that crashes into the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff. Then things get even worse. “During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors, but it is too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside. Among them is an engineer and his 11-year-old daughter. His ex-wife, who is also the girl’s mother, is part of the elite rescue team racing to save passengers before they run out of air.”

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group agreed to pay $1.5 million for the rights and another $1.5 million on the first day of production. The studio also hired the book’s author as an executive producer. Newman actually worked as a flight attendant while writing her debut novel Falling, which follows a commercial flight from Los Angeles to New York and takes a dramatic turn when the pilot discovers that his family is being held hostage by terrorists. In order for his family to live, all the passengers on the plane must die.

This seems like a great project for Greengrass as it’s right in his wheelhouse of the type of films he makes. There’s no casting yet, but you can bet the studio will be looking for some big names for this one.