Bring a map and a full tank of gas when you take off, Hilary!
Hilary Swank’s Amelia Earhart biopic has found a director. Variety is reporting that Mira Nair has signed on to take over the project.
Swank just came off the holiday romance P.S. I Love You and is in the upcoming Birds of America. Nair became available after the strike shelved Shantaram, which was to have starred Johnny Depp.
Ron Bass wrote the screenplay pre-strike, basing it on several sources, including Mary Lovell’s The Sound of Wings, Susan Butler’s East to the Dawn, and Elgin Long’s Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved (yeah, sure). The story will focus on Earhart’s attempt to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo, the flight that made her famous. That came about from a stunt set up by publisher George Putnam, who eventually married Earhart. I’m guessing they chose to concentrate on this period of Earhart’s life rather than the whole “last flight” thing so they can work in the romance.
The picture is being financed by Ted Waitt’s Avalon Pictures, which is dedicated to “fact-based films with historical and cultural significance.” Swank and Bass will produce. Shooting is set for April. There’s no word on other casting.
