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Production will
soon begin on DAMBUSTERS, an inspirational story of heroism and one of
the most daring missions in aeronautic military history, it was
announced today by Universal Pictures and StudioCanal.
Christian Rivers will direct the film, which is inspired by actual
events and based on the book The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill and the
1955 Associated British Picture Corporation motion picture. The WingNut
Films production is produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham and
Peter Jackson, with Sir David Frost and Ken Kamins serving as executive
producers.
A Universal Pictures presentation in association with StudioCanal,
DAMBUSTERS chronicles the story of Operation Chastise, a top-secret
Royal Air Force bombing mission designed to strike a decisive blow
against the seemingly invincible Nazi war machine at the height of its
aggression.
In March 1943, a group of airmen drawn from across the ranks of the RAF
were assembled and trained for an unprecedented and potentially deadly
assignment whose complete nature was not revealed to them. This largely
hand-picked group, known as 617 Squadron—including pilots from
Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA—were led by Wing
Cmdr. Guy Gibson. They had only seven weeks to train with exercises that
imitated, but never revealed, their ultimate intent: to fly deep within
well-armed Germany at tree top level and destroy three dams that were
essential to the Nazi steel industry. A revolutionary
"bouncing" bomb that could skip across water had been
developed by a visionary scientist, Barnes Wallis, but to be effective,
the bomb had to be dropped from a terrifyingly close range and at very
low altitude. In specially-modified Lancaster aircraft, the airmen
trained for a single mission, the likes of which had never been
undertaken and whose potential for success was small.
"This is one of the most remarkable true stories to come out of
World War II," stated Jackson. "When Michael Anderson made his
thrilling version of this story in 1955, many details of the dams raid
were still a closely guarded secret. It has since been declassified by
the British Government, making the dynamics of the story and the people
involved even more intriguing. That, combined with our ability to
harness state-of-the-art computer generated visual effects, will enable
us to bring the events of these desperate days of 1943 to life in a very
visceral way. This is an astonishing story that continues to be revered
in British Commonwealth history, and our hope is to make their exploits
known to more of the world and extend their legacy to a generation that
might not otherwise recognize their inspiration and sacrifice."
"Peter Jackson is the ideal producer for a remake of DAMBUSTERS,"
said Sir David Frost. "Not only because of his film-making genius,
but also because of his aeronautical expertise and his unique
understanding of the human pressures wrought by war."
DAMBUSTERS marks the feature film directorial debut of Christian Rivers,
who has worked with Jackson for over 17 years—first as a storyboard
artist while still at school, then as an animator, pre-vis supervisor,
second unit director—culminating in his work as animation director on
Jackson's King Kong, which won him a 2006 Academy Award® for Best
Visual Effects (an honor Rivers shared with Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul
and Richard Taylor).
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