Some of us are relatively big fans of filmmaker Billy Ray (not Cyrus). And one thing’s for sure — as a director he’s got a knack for dramatizing real life events in ways that don’t seem hokey or TV movie-ish. His previous films as a writer-director were the strong drama “Shattered Glass” (the story of disgraced New Republic fraud Stephen Glass) and the woefully underappreciated spy movie “Breach” (about the plot to ensnare FBI double agent Robert Hanssen). He seems to be continuing this trend, and has just signed on to direct Columbia’s Somali pirate drama, based on a forthcoming memoir by Richard Phillips, the captain who was held captive by the pirates, none of whom were Johnny Depp.
Heavyweights Michael De Luca (who used to run New Line Cinema in its heyday), Dana Brunetti and Scott Rudin will be producing (the three gents producing Fincher’s Facebook movie).
If there’s anyone who can bring this to the screen with a compelling mix of fact and fiction, then it’s Billy Ray. (Seriously, put “Breach” on your Netflix list now.) He also has a talent for getting superb performances out of awful young actors, like Hayden Christensen (aka Mannequin Skywalker) for “Shattered Glass” and Ryan Phillippe for “Breach.” Are we thinking maybe Zac Efron as one of the SEALS?
In addition, Billy Ray’s lucrative moonlighting gig as a writer of above-average genre movies (like this spring’s “State of Play”), continues to prosper — he’s got “Motorcade” (about an assault on the President’s motorcade) coming up for Dream Works, as well as an adaptation of the popular kill ’em all videogame “Gears of War” for awful director Len Wiseman and Warner Bros. — Drew Taylor