For fans (if there is such a thing?) for renegade airplane-hijackers, no one is as revered as D.B. Cooper, the perpetrator of the U.S.’s only unsolved case of air piracy. On November 24, 1971, Cooper (or whatever his real name was), hijacked a Boeing 727 as it flew between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Cooper used the old “I have a bomb” note trick, which led to his taking over the plane, having it land in Seattle for a refuel and to pick up $200,000 in cash, and setting the crew on a course to Mexico City. Cooper didn’t make it to Mexico, though, as he disappeared early in the flight and is believed to have parachuted out of the plane after about twenty or so minutes in the air. Cooper is also not believed to have survived his jump, but that has not stopped the FBI from maintaining an active case file and it also has not stopped people from claiming to know (or even be) Cooper himself. The Cooper case is, of course, ripe for a cinematic adaptation.
Deadline Tacoma reports that CBS Films is in the midst of making a deal for the rights to Geoffrey Gray’s bestseller “Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper.” The book is billed as “an action-comedy” that tells Cooper’s story through the voice of three people who all claim to be him. The film version of Skyjack will be penned by Keith Bunin, with Easy A and Friends With Benefits director Will Gluck in talks to both produce and direct.
If Gluck does ultimately board Skyjack, it will be a nice chance for the director to spread his wings and soar beyond his whip-smart rom-coms. An “action-comedy” is the natural progression of Gluck’s work, and with the infamous Cooper story to tell, this project could really fly (get it?).
You can read a few pages of “Skyjack” over at Amazon.
