Earlier this year, we heard that Warner Bros. had come out the winner of an intense bidding war over the film rights to author T.J. Newman’s second novel, Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421 (you can pick up a copy at THIS LINK). Now Deadline reports that Paul Greengrass – whose credits include The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne, United 93, 22 July, Green Zone, Captain Phillips, and News of the World – has signed on to write, direct, and produce the film adaptation of Drowning.
Newman’s novel tells the following story: A plane 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 and the girl’s mother is part of the elite rescue team that races to save the passengers before their air runs out.
The auction for the Drowning film rights caught the attention of major Hollywood players like Steven Spielberg, Alfonso Cuaron, Damien Chazelle, Nicole Kidman, the Russo Brothers, M. Night Shyamalan, Jerry Bruckheimer, Peter Chernin, and 21 Laps. There were five seven-figure bids on the table as the auction neared its conclusion. Those bids were from Apple with Jerry Bruckheimer, Paramount with Damien Chazelle, Legendary, Universal Television, and Warner Bros. With the winning bid, Warner Bros. paid $1.5 million against $3 million.
Greengrass will be producing the Drowning film with Greg Goodman, Shane Salerno, and The Story Factory. Newman serves as an executive producer alongside Amy Lord.
Newman was working as a flight attendant on the Virgin Airlines redeye flight from Los Angeles to New York when she had the idea for her first novel Falling (get a copy HERE), which tells the story of an airplane pilot whose family has been kidnapped – and the kidnapper says his family will only be released if he crashes a plane with 143 passengers on board. A film adaptation of that one is set up at Universal Pictures and Working Title, with Newman writing the screenplay herself.
What do you think of Paul Greengrass taking the helm of Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.