By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders.
Sam Shepard
Chalk up two extraordinarily long titles for Sam
Shepard. The actor will be seen next year in -- here it comes -- The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and
has now got himself another film that competes. Somebody call Guinness!
Sam Shepard for Descending From Heaven: The Strange and Extraordinary
Tale of Claude Eatherly, A-Bomb Pilot
That's right, Shepard's next title on the to-do list is Descending
from Heaven: The Strange and Extraordinarily Tale of Claude Eatherly, A-Bomb
Pilot.
According to Variety,
Sam Shepard is attached to star with Sandy Smolan set to direct.
The $10 million period biopic will recount the story of the pilot who flew
the reconnaissance B-29 that gave the OK to drop the bomb on Hiroshima on
Aug. 6, 1945. Shepard will play the pilot's father, who eventually had to
commit his son to a veteran's psychiatric hospital.
"It's one of the great untold stories,"
said Smolan, who first read about Eatherly 18 years ago. "He was one
of the top pilots in the Air Corps, an all-American Texas hero. It's a dark
comedic tale about the bomb and personal responsibility."
Eatherly carried so much unconscious guilt about his act that he could not
accept his role as a war hero. So he acted out by passing bad checks and
stealing IDs, but when no one wanted to punish him, his crimes started to
escalate.
Sam Shepard can also be seen in the upcoming horror The
Return.