Now boarding: Laura Linney is joining the cast of Sully, the Clint Eastwood-directed biopic starring Tom Hanks as the veteran pilot who safely landed a damaged jetliner on the frigid waters of the Hudson River in 2009.
Linney is to play Lorrie Sullenberger, wife of Capt. Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger III (Hanks), EW has confirmed. Deadline first reported the news.
Capt. Sully, a former Air Force fighter pilot, became a national hero six years ago when his US Airways Airbus A320 had its engines knocked out by a flock of birds, forcing him to pull off an emergency water landing with 155 people on board. The feat was deemed “a miracle on the Hudson.”
The Sully movie will mark Linney’s third on-screen collaboration with Eastwood, following the whodunit Mystic River and the political thriller Absolute Power. Her casting comes a week after the news that Aaron Eckhart will play Jeff Skiles, the first officer and co-pilot on the plane, in the Warner Bros. film.
Eastwood, who’s coming off the success of another biographical drama in American Sniper, is directing Sully from a script by Todd Komarnicki.
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