Following the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of No Man of God about Ted Bundy’s last days on earth, Amber Sealey has her next project, and it might be even crazier than the previous one.
According to Deadline, Sealey will direct Nod If You Understand from McFarland Entertainment, with production set to begin next year.
The thriller Nod If You Understand will follow the true story of Tina Mucklow, a courageous NWA stewardess, the mystery hijacker known as DB Cooper, and his hijacking of NWA flight 305, changing air travel forever.
To bring the narrative to the screen, Joey McFarland purchased the life rights to both Mucklow and Bill Rataczak, who co-piloted NWA Flight 305. Mucklow and Rataczak are consultants on the project.
When Cooper boards NWA Flight 305 with a bomb on Thanksgiving Eve, 1971, Mucklow must effectively negotiate his demands as well as the FBI’s and the airline’s competing interests to rescue 42 lives. Cooper performs the unimaginable, parachuting out of the plane with the money after extorting $200,000 in ransom and demands the crew return him to the stormy skies with a series of highly precise and life-threatening flying instructions. Cooper has never been found or identified, despite a massive manhunt and FBI inquiry. The act not only signaled the end of unrestricted and uninspected aircraft travel, but it also sparked a series of violent hijackings that grew year after year, culminating in the events of September 11, 2001, and with ramifications that are still felt today.
McFarland and Dawn Bierschwal wrote the script, which is based on months of in-person interviews with Mucklow and Rataczak and extensive research into FBI case files, witness statements, airplane radio transcripts, and creative scouting trips to Oregon and Washington.
The hijacking will be commemorated on November 24th, this year, for the 50th anniversary.
Leave a Comment