According to Deadline, BAFTA winner Paul Greengrass has signed on to write and direct Warner Bros.’ upcoming film adaptation of T.J. Newman’s suspense novel Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. The story revolves around a plane crash involving an engineer and his daughter as they get trapped inside the sinking plane.
This marks Greengrass’ first directorial project in nearly three years since directing Universal Pictures and Netflix’s Western drama News of the World. Before Drowning, the acclaimed filmmaker had also previously directed the plane-related movie United 93, about one of the four hijacked planes on 9/11. The 2006 movie earned the English director an Oscar nomination for Best Director.
What to expect in Drowning?
Drowning will also be produced by Greengrass, along with Shane Salerno and The Story Factory and Greg Goodman. It is executive produced by Newman and Amy Lord.
The novel’s official synopsis reads as follows: “Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.
More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives. Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent—Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife—who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.
“There’s not much time. There’s even less air. With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them—against impossible odds.”
