While doing press rounds for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, Firth was asked about the Crowhurst film and couldn't stop himself from talking about it, revealing that James Marsh (Man on Wire) is attached to direct.
Firth: "An astounding story. I don’t know. I feel just a passion for it. I think it’s a wonderful tale. I mean, a heartbreaking, devastating thing. I think it’s not a common story, but I think it’s a far more universal than it looks at first glance...We hope it’s gonna shoot in the spring of next year. That’s all I can tell you. James Marsh is attached to it, and we’ve had some conversations. Yeah, I’m very, very much looking forward to it. I think it’s amazing stuff – great script.”
The film will be titled Deep Water and will have a script by Scott Z. Burns, who worked with Winslet on Contagion. That's assuming she's still attached to play Crowhurst's wife, Claire, but Firth didn't go into status. Crowhurst was a British businessman who entered the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe yacht race, an around-the-world competition for solo boaters. He built a special vessel for the race but almost immediately ran into problems due to poor equipment and his general lack of navigation skills, and rather than be embarrassed he tried to cheat by falsifying his location with hopes of slipping back into the race during the final leg. After weeks of strange radio transmissions he record one final log on July 1st 1969 and was never heard from again.A great tale of ego and insanity, a superstar screenwriter, and an Oscar-winning director and star should put Deep Water right in the awards race for next year. [Collider]
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