Remember when pirates used to be romantic? Now they’re just annoying.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story of Richard Phillips will be coming to a big screen courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
What? You don’t remember who Richard Phillips is? How fickle is the news cycle! Well, in case you don’t, refresher: He was the captain of the Maersk Alabama, the ship attacked by Somali pirates. Phillips volunteered (if that’s the word) to be taken by the pirates in exchange for them letting his crew go free. He was rescued after a long standoff.
This is all just made for movies, so it’s no surprise that the story was sold. The real questions now are who will direct? And who will play Phillips? There’s not going to be any real effort to choose an actor who looks like Phillips, since few people could pick him out of a lineup, so it pretty much will be any star who steps up and seems reasonably heroic-yet-everyman-ish. Hmm. My first thought was Liam Neeson, but there’s got to be someone more average. Thoughts? Suggestions?
