Robert Zemeckis Officially Returning to Live Action with 'Flight', Starring Denzel Washington

Friday, 09 September 2011 13:15 Written by Jordan DeSaulnier

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Robert Zemeckis Officially Returning to Live Action with 'Flight', Starring Denzel Washington

For years, writer-director Robert Zemeckis seemed to have a mainline into the American zeitgeist, turning out films that were not simply commercially successful, but that almost immediately became part of the pop-cultural fabric that's now so much a part of how we communicate and live. Used Cars. Back to the Future. Forrest Gump. Romancing the Stone. Think about that filmography for a moment and try not to be impressed. For the last decade, however, he's worked exclusively in the realm of motion-capture, directing The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol, but now he's returning to live-action, and doing so with Denzel Washington as the leading man in the redemption drama Flight.

The director had been in pre-production on a motion-capture remake of The Beatles animated musical Yellow Submarine, but the failure of Mars Needs Moms, which Zemeckis produced, would seem to have killed Disney's interest in another costly motion-capture film. So, for the first time since 2000's Cast Away, Zemeckis will step behind a non-virtual camera.

Zemeckis and Washington have both been connected to the project recently, but today Paramount made it official. It's a busy day for the studio, formally announcing Jason Reitman's Labor Day and releasing a teaser poster for this Winter's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

Here's the offical release date:

HOLLYWOOD, CA (September 9, 2011) - Paramount Pictures announced today that Academy Award (r) winner Denzel Washington will star, and Academy Award (r) winning director Robert Zemeckis will helm, FLIGHT for the studio. Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce under the Parkes/MacDonald production banner along with Zemeckis, Steve Starkey, and Jack Rapke under their ImageMovers banner. The movie is set to begin shooting this October in Atlanta, GA.

Written by John Gatins ("Dreamer: Inspired By a True Story," "Real Steel"), FLIGHT tells the redemption story of "Whip" (Washington), a commercial airline pilot who pulls off a heroic feat of flying in a damaged plane, saving 98 lives on a flight carrying 106 people. While the world begs to embrace him as a true American Hero, the everyman struggles with this label as he is forced to hold up to the scrutiny of an investigation that brings into question his behavior the night before the doomed flight.

The project marks first ever teaming of Washington and Zemeckis, while also marking a return to live-action for the director, who previously helmed such hits as "Castaway," "Forest Gump," "Back To The Future," and the live-action & animated classic "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

So, the Zemeckis' age of motion-capture movie-making could be at an end with Flight. Or perhaps this is just a brief sojourn back into more traditional live action. Either way, the technical contributions of his motion-capture days are not to be sneezed at, even if the movies weren't always up to expectations.