As far as potential 2017 Oscar winners go, Clint Eastwood's Sully currently looks like a top contender. The upcoming movie chronicling the Miracle on the Hudson has everything we expect from a proper Academy Award winner: a true story, gripping drama, Tom Hanks, and an unshakeable sense of realism. As it turns out, there's a distinct reason why the airliner sequences in Sully look so real, and so authentic; the crew actually used a genuine airliner. Aaron Eckhart explained:
They disassembled an A320 jet, flew it to California, and reassembled it at Universal Studios in L.A. We flooded it with water, had everybody out on the wings --- and Tom running up and down the aisles. I was like, 'This is what Hollywood is all about.'
Although most directors would opt to simply build a set from scratch, Clint Eastwood wanted pure, unadulterated authenticity on this film. While speaking with Newsday, Sully actor Aaron Eckhart detailed the painstaking effort that went into ensuring total accuracy in the creation of the film's crash (a.k.a "forced water landing") sequence. He revealed that the filmmakers took a real airliner, disassembled it, had it shipped to California, and then reassembled it so they could film inside of a genuine airplane cabin. Once the plane was in their possession and on the studio lot, they flooded it with water -- which simulated the airliner's crash landing on the Hudson River -- and simply filmed Tom Hanks running up and down the cabin searching for survivors.
Aside from crashing another plane, this seems like the most faithful possible depiction of the actual events. The intensity of the sequence was not lost on Aaron Eckhart either, as The Dark Knight actor would go on to remark upon the very "Hollywood" feel of the whole affair.
There's an obvious rationale for making the Miracle on the Hudson sequence look so realistic in Sully: it actually happened. Sully chronicles the life of Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Hanks), and showcases the emotional toll of his heroism during the Miracle on the Hudson in 2009. The event remains very firmly in our collective memory as a society, so director Clint Eastwood had to craft the most faithful sequence possible. We're no experts, but using a real plane instead of a recreated set seems like a very good start.
Check out the trailer for the upcoming potential Oscar winner below, and you will notice that the aforementioned crash sequence is on full display:
No matter what happens, it's safe to say that Sully's Miracle on the Hudson sequence will surely wow audiences; Clint Eastwood, and the rest of the Sully crew made sure of that. CinemaBlend will bring you any and all relevant details related to Sully as more information becomes available to us. The story of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger will hit theaters next weekend on September 9.
