Sean Penn is no stranger to sending young men out into nature to do battle with the elements. After all, his most recent directorial effort, Into the Wild, saw Emile Hirsch playing a real-life character who did just that. And it doesn’t seem like Penn has gotten those man vs. nature themes out of his head just yet, because Variety is reporting that his next project will be sticking to very similar subject matter.
The film is called Crazy for the Storm, and it tells the true story of Norman Ollestad, an 11-year-old boy who survived a plane crash only to find himself stranded and alone in a mountain wilderness. Given that Will Fetters adapted the screenplay for this project from Ollestad’s memoirs, it’s no real spoiler to say that the boy survived the experience, and that’s said to be largely thanks to survival skills he was taught by his father, a former F.B.I. agent who apparently had his kid doing way crazy stuff at an early age (best dad ever).
That’s where Josh Brolin comes in. Penn has reportedly already approached the actor about playing the father, who was one of the three people who died during the crash. And seeing as the two men have already worked together on things like Milk and Gangster Squad, one would imagine that it won’t take long for the two old chums to hammer out a deal.
Shooting is expected to take place at the beginning of 2013, so the search to find an 11-year-old boy who looks like he could be Josh Brolin’s son begins…