USS Alabama to star in upcoming blockbuster with Nicolas Cage

MOBILE, Ala. — The USS Alabama, which currently serves as a museum docked in Mobile Bay, will bring history to life this summer as it serves as a theatrical double for the USS Indianapolis in an upcoming feature film.

The movie, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, stars Nicolas Cage and Tom Sizemore and will tell “an action-packed and inspiring true story of the USS Indianapolis crewmen.”

The namesake heavy cruiser was sunk by the Japanese in the waning days of World War II just after secretly delivering one of two atomic bombs that would bring an end to the war. The sailors’ mission was so classified that their ship was not reported missing, since no one knew they had been attacked until four days later. 300 of the 1196 crewmen perished with the ship, while the survivors were stranded in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea. The crew endured hunger, thirst, heat and relentless shark attacks. Five days later only 317 men survived and eventually were rescued.

On an equally interesting note, Matt Lanter, who plays one of the main characters in the film, is the grandson of one of the few USSI survivors. Lanter’s father, Joe Lanter, is co-chair of an organization that represents the remaining USSI survivors.

“I’ve grown up around this story. My father talked about it a lot in the 50’s and 60’s, back when not a lot of people knew about the story,” Joe Lanter, co-chair of the USS Indianapolis Second Watch Organization, said to Fox 10.

“My grandpa having been on the ship, it’s pretty incredible for me as an actor to be a part of the story but also personally for our family and its amazing to have my dad here,” Matt said during the same interview.

Joe Lanter said that the scenes being filmed are true to the stories his father told him. “God bless my father,” he said. “I wish he was here to see this. He passed away two years ago and it would’ve been really something awesome.”

The movie is expected to be released around Memorial Day 2016.