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LOS ANGELES: A US film company is to make a movie about last year’s oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, based on a New York Times article about events leading up to the explosion.
Summit Entertainment and Participant Media, along with Imagenation Abu Dhabi, have bought the feature film rights to the article entitled “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour” published on December 25, 2010.
The film version “will depict the courage of those who worked on the oil rig and the final minutes leading up to the disaster that ultimately led to great devastation that will forever be remembered,” the producers said.
The screenplay will be written by Matthew Sand, and Summit is negotiating with Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, who made “Red” and the “Transformers” series, to produce the film.
The New York Times article was written by journalists David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul.
Summit’s production Chief Erik Feig, said: “This film will portray the great heroism that took place last year on the Deepwater Horizon rig and how colleagues so courageously came to each other’s aide.”
The New York Times piece “evoked the raw emotion these brave men experienced and endured throughout the tragedy that took place in April of last year and we hope to evoke the same emotions for our audience with this movie.”
The April 20, 2010 disaster on the BP-leased oil rig killed 11 workers and caused some 4.9 million barrels of oil to gush into the Gulf over three months, wreaking havoc on the region’s environment and economy.
The spill was the largest ever manmade environmental disaster in the United States.
Imagenation Abu Dhabi chief Michael Garin added: “This powerful account truly represents the ideal aims of storytelling, where the search for the truth uncovers everyday heroism in the face of adversity.”
The film “is destined to be an important film appealing to international audiences all over the world,” he added.
