Tom Hanks Starring Vehicle ‘Captain Phillips’ To Open New York Film Festival

Looks like the New York Film Festival still has a worthwhile slate to show off. With Toronto Film Festival and Venice Film Festival line ups already announced with every hot film on the market, we wondered how the New York Film Festival would compete to make their slate interesting.

Well it looks like they’re getting exciting steals on their lineup. It’s been reported that Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips which stars Tom Hanks is set to open the 51st New York Film Festival. The film has gotten a bit of buzz for Hanks’ performance, which should be a relief as Hanks’ last vehicle Cloud Atlas didn’t perform as well as expected.

Captain Phillips is a film based on a true story of a captain who decided to give himself up to Somali pirates so that his crew could go unscathed pending a boat attack.

Earlier today New York Film Festival Director of Programming and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones said of the decision to let Captain Phillips open the festival:

“At this point in his working life, Paul Greengrass has become a master of immersive reality-based narratives set along geopolitical fault lines – in this case, the 2009 seizure of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship by four Somali pirates. I’m excited that this tough, tense, real-life thriller, capped by the remarkable performances of Tom Hanks and four brilliant first-time Somali actors (Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat M. Ali), is opening the 51st edition of the festival.”

When the first trailer was released, it was evident that Paul Greengrass’ film was going to be a suspense, and something that would get audiences excited about. Also, we haven’t come across anyone who doesn’t like Tom Hanks in anything. It looks like a win win situation.

For the NYFF this looks like a move in the right direction, and makes the rest of their slate, that has yet to be unveiled, very promising.

The New York Film Festival starts September 27.