Having one of the most unpredictable careers in Hollywood, director Craig Gillespie has gone from the Ryan Gosling-led Lars and the Real Girl to a Fright Night remake to last year’s Million Dollar Arm. He’s now returning next year for his biggest-scale film yet, The Finest Hours, which captures the true story behind greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history.
Based on Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman‘s book, adapted by The Fighter trio of Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson, the first trailer has now arrived. Featuring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, and Eric Bana, it’s a strong ensemble and while the January release has us a bit worried, the trailer sells an epic-looking adventure. Check out the trailer and poster below.
On February 18, 1952, a massive nor’easter struck New England, pummeling towns along the Eastern seaboard and wreaking havoc on the ships caught in its deadly path, including the SS Pendleton, a T-2 oil tanker bound for Boston, which was literally ripped in half, trapping more than 30 sailors inside its rapidly-sinking stern. As the senior officer on board, first assistant engineer Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) soon realizes it is up to him to take charge of the frightened crew and inspire the men to set aside their differences and work together to ride out one of the worst storms to ever hit the East Coast.
Meanwhile, as word of the disaster reaches the U.S. Coast Guard station in Chatham, Massachusetts, Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) orders a daring operation to rescue the stranded men. Despite overwhelming odds, four men, led by Coast Guard Captain Bernie Webber (Chris Pine), set out in a wooden lifeboat with an ill-equipped engine and little, if any, means of navigation, facing frigid temperatures, 60-foot high waves and hurricane-force winds.
The Finest Hours opens on January 29th, 2016.