Eccleston to Get Lost With Amelia

Bring a map on that flight, Christopher Eccleston.  

News in Variety today that Christopher Eccleston has joined the ever-growing cast of the Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank. Now apparently called Amelia (I guess they figured Lost was already taken), the film also stars Richard Gere, Virginia Madsen, and Ewan MacGregor. Mira Nair is directing.

Eccleston is set to play Fred Noonan, the navigator who was flying with Earhart when her plane disappeared over the Pacific on July 2, 1937, while she was attempting a round the world flight. Noonan was born in Illinois and began life life on board ship at age fifteen. He served on Royal Navy ships during World War I and spent years in the merchant marine. He became a pilot and flew with Pan Am airlines. He already had been the navigator for another round the world flight and had mapped numerous routes through the Pacific for Pan Am. He was an experienced and well-regarded choice for Earhart’s voyage, which has always added to the mystery of what went so terribly wrong on that final flight.

Eccleston had been best known for his stints on the small screen, including Dr. Who in Britain and on NBC’s Heroes. He just finished (I think they’re finished) filming GI Joe, where he plays a bad guy.