Tom Hanks Producing Wright Brothers Miniseries For HBO!
The subject of the next miniseries event from HBO and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goatzman hits close to home, as HBO has acquired the rights to The Wright Brothers, a new book by David McCullough that tells the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their historic 1903 first flight on the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
Playtone also executive produced the HBO miniseries events Band of Brothers, The Pacific, From The Earth To The Moon, and John Adams, another true story miniseries event that was filmed on location in Virginia.
Deadline reports that the production company has two other projects (Lewis and Clark about the famous explorers and Masters of the Air about WWII aviation battles) in the works that will likely be completed before they turn their attention to the Wright Brothers.
While there is no word yet on when production will begin, it is (unfortunately) unlikely that the Wright project will be filmed in North Carolina unless the state’s film incentive program is reinstated, as the current $10 million film grant is all spoken for this year, with funds already committed to be going to Under the Dome in Wilmington, a rumored Dirty Dancing remake in Lake Lure, and an independent film in the Charlotte area.
Most likely, the production will be filmed in Virginia (where Hanks produced John Adams for HBO and where the actor also worked on Captain Phillips) or Georgia, but that doesn’t mean that a few days couldn’t be spent shooting a few pivotal scenes on the site where the events of the first flight actually happened here on the Outer Banks.
Stay tuned to OBXentertainment.com for complete coverage of this HBO miniseries event as more news and updates become available!
How would you like to see a major HBO production filming locally on the Outer Banks? Who would you cast as Orville and Wilbur Wright? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments!
The Wright Brothers’ first flight on December 17, 1903 in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, photographed by John T. Daniels.
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