Joe Wright boards The Lifeboat, a survival drama starring Anne Hathaway

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

PAN, Joe Wright's origin story of Peter Pan and Captain Hook, isn't due out until the fall but according to Deadline the director may not be done with shipboard tales. Wright is in negotiations to direct THE LIFEBOAT, which would see the director trade in a ship of the flying variety for one a little less buoyant. Anne Hathaway is already attached to star in the film as Grace Winters, a young newlywed-turned-widow standing trial in 1914 for murder. William Broyles Jr. is writing the script, which will be an adaptation of the Charlotte Rogan novel of the same name.

Here's the book synopsis via Amazon:

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life. In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die. As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she'd found. Will she pay any price to keep it?

As many of my favourite films stem from the survival drama genre, I'm already on board with THE LIFEBOAT; but the possibility of Joe Wright taking the helm is a welcome indication of the type of film we may receive. There's no information on when THE LIFEBOAT would shoot or when it might open, but it's possible that it could very well be Wright's next project once he completes work on PAN.

PAN will be released on October 9, 2015.