Paul Greengrass in Talks to Direct Tom Hanks in A CAPTAIN'S DUTY and the Formula One film RUSH

Director Paul Greengrass is going through the process off trying to find his next film project. He was supposed to be making his Martin Luther King Jr. film called Memphis next, but Universal Pictures pulled the plug on it. 

It's now being reported that one of the films the director might end up making is an adaptation of the book A Captain's Duty, which would star Tom Hanks. This book tells the true story of the merchant-vessel skipper Richard Phillips, who was famously taken hostage by Somali pirates and ultimately freed in a daring badass rescue by U.S. Navy SEALS. The film will be called Maersk Alabama, and Hanks is attached to play Richard Phillips.

Sony Pictures is looking to start production on the film in the fall as soon as Hanks is finished shooting the Wachowski siblings’ adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas, which is supposed to start shooting this summer in Germany. Greengrass is a great choice as a director for this film and I hope he ends up taking it. He's got what it takes to turn this story into a great film.

Here's a description of the book:

"I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips 
and his selfless concern for his crew. 
His courage is a model for all Americans."
--President Barack Obama

It was just another day on the job for fifty-three-year-old Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, the United States-flagged cargo ship which was carrying, among other things, food and agricultural materials for the World Food Program. That all changed when armed Somali pirates boarded the ship. The pirates didn't expect the crew to fight back, nor did they expect Captain Phillips to offer himself as hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew. Thus began the tense five-day stand-off, which ended in a daring high-seas rescue when U.S. Navy SEALs opened fire and picked off three of the captors.

"It never ends like this," Captain Phillips said.

And he's right.

A Captain's Duty tells the life-and-death drama of the Vermont native who was held captive on a tiny lifeboat off Somalia's anarchic, gun-plagued shores. A story of adventure and courage, it provides the intimate details of this high-seas hostage-taking--the unbearable heat, the death threats, the mock executions, and the escape attempt. When the pirates boarded his ship, Captain Phillips put his experience into action, doing everything he could to safeguard his crew. And when he was held captive by the pirates, he marshaled all his resources to ensure his own survival, withstanding intense physical hardship and an escalating battle of wills with the pirates. This was it: the moment where training meets instinct and where character is everything. Richard Phillips was ready.

That's not the only project that Greengrass could end up directing. He is also in talks to direct a Formula One race car film called Rush. This film is set up over at Working Title Films, and was written by Peter Morgan who also wrote The Queen and  Frost/Nixon. This film would tell the story of three-time Formula One champion Niki Lauda and the driver’s near-fatal 1976 racing accident. According to Vulture,

Morgan’s screenplay deals closely with Lauda’s famed rivalry with the English race driver James Hunt, both on and off the track. For those unfamiliar with the Formula One legend, on August 1, 1976, Lauda very nearly burned to death after his Ferrari swerved off the track in only the second lap of the German Grand Prix, crashed, and burst into flames. Lauda lapsed into a coma and ultimately lost his right ear; Hunt would go on to win the race.... Lauda so detested Hunt and was so obsessed with beating him that just six weeks later, he dragged himself out of bed and finished fourth at the Italian Grand Prix. Hunt would go on to win both the Canadian and U.S. Grand Prix, and, after Lauda dropped out of the Japanese Grand Prix due to heavy rain, he ultimately wrested the 1976 World Driver’s Championship title from Lauda, winning by a single point.

This is also a great sounding project that Greengrass would make a great fit for. I actually hope he can end up directing both of them. But if he only takes one of them, which one would you rather see him make? I guess if I had to chose I'd want him to direct Hanks in A Captains Duty.