(Video above: Trailer for “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage”)
The first trailer has been released for the upcoming Nicholas Cage World War II movie that was filmed in Alabama, “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.”
The USS Alabama, docked in Mobile Bay, plays the role of the USS Indianapolis for the film. The ship can be seen in all her glory in the trailer, which was initially provided exclusively to Variety.
“USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage” stars Nicolas Cage as Captain Charles Butler McVay, and will tell “an action-packed and inspiring true story of the USS Indianapolis crewmen.”
The film has a special meaning for actor Matt Lanter, who plays a main character called “Bama.” Lanter is the grandson of one of the few survivors from the USS Indianapolis, and his father, Joe Lanter, is co-chair of an organization that represents the remaining USS Indianapolis survivors.
“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 it’s amazing to have my dad here,” Matt told Fox 10 during filming last summer.
During filming, local residents of Mobile, Orange Beach, and the surrounding areas were used as extras in certain scenes. After filming, extras also had the chance to win prizes from the film crew, including gift cards, televisions, and a private dinner with the film’s director, Mario Van Peebles.
“This is the ship that brought the bomb, the bomb that would be dropped at Hiroshima,” Van Peebles told Fox 10. “These folks who brought this bomb over were on a secret mission, such a secret mission that they didn’t even know what they were carrying.”
Towards the end of World War II, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the USS Indianapolis just after it secretly delivered one of two atomic bombs that would bring an end to the Pacific theater of 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 1,196 crewmen died 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.
The film is expected to open Memorial Day weekend.
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