Miramax Films will be releasing a bio-epic focusing on
the life of one of legendary figures of Aviation and Hollywood in the Golden
Age -- Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. The Aviator, directed by Martin
Scorsese and written by John Logan, tells the story of the aviation pioneer,
eccentric billionaire industrialist and Hollywood film mogul, famous for
romancing some of the world’s most beautiful women. The drama recounts
the years of his life from the late 1920s through the 1940s, an epoch when
Hughes was directing and producing Hollywood movies and test flying
innovative aircrafts he designed and created.
The Legend
Focusing on his early years, this is the story of how
young Howard Hughes transformed a small fortune into a massive one.
The son of the Texan inventor of an amazing drill bit who died when he was
18, leaving him with 75 percent of the Hughes Tool Co., Howard Hughes
quickly moved to Los Angeles to become a Hollywood film producer, where he
helped launch careers and produce such classics as Hell's Angels, The Front
Page, Flying Leathernecks, and Scarface (the 1932 original), eventually
owning RKO Pictures. Hughes simultaneously branched into industry
after industry, including aviation in 1932, and during the war, defense,
leading to the creation of the (infamous) Spruce Goose, a flying boat of
immense size. After the war, Hughes' expansions continued, with an
electronics company that was integral to the evolution of the satellite, and
several Las Vegas casinos.
DiCaprio as Howard Hughes
This film focuses on Hughes' emotional life and his love affairs with two Hollywood legends: elegant screen star Katharine Hepburn in the 1930s, and the sensual screen beauty of the 1940s, Ava Gardner. It also chronicles Hughes' struggle with his physical disabilities/phobias, and with his increasingly erratic, obsessive-compulsive behavior that leads him to isolate himself from the world.
Cast:
Howard Hughes - Leonardo DiCaprio
Katherine Hepburn - Cate Blanchett
Ava Gardner - Kate Beckinsale
Glenn Odekirk - Matt Ross
Jean Harlow - Gwen Stefani
Juan Trippe - Alec Baldwin
Senator Brewster - Alan Alda
Kit, Katherine Hepburn's Mother - Frances Conroy
Jack Frye - Danny Huston
Faith Domergue - Kelli Garner
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: John Logan
Expected Release Date: 17 December, 2004.
I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how this film turns out!
Movie Stills
Alec Baldwin as Juan Trippe
