Last July, 19 firefighters who were part of the Prescott Fire Department’s Granite Mountain Hotshots lost their lives battling an Arizona wildfire that consumed over 8,000 acres. Now, Deadline is reporting that Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace writer and director Scott Cooper will helm an adaptation of their tragic story.
The script is being written by Black Hawk Down scribe Ken Nolan, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura on board as producer. Cooper wishes to air as closely to the true story as possible, and is already consulting with the family members and loved ones of those who lost their lives battling the blaze.
Here’s what di Bonaventura told Deadline about the project:
The heroic and tragic story of the men who gave their lives to protect the community of Yarnell is heartbreaking, compelling and inspiring. I look forward to telling their story with the respect, sensitivity and authenticity that these true American heroes deserve.
The nation came together to mourn the great loss of life by these heroes, but their bonds with each other makes their story so much more extraordinary and compelling. The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, and the tragedy that befell them, is not as much about the fire as it is about a group of blue-collar guys and their families and the brotherhood that they form with one another.
Cooper is currently filming the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton, which is expected to hit theaters in October 2015. He will likely start production on the currently untitled Granite Mountain Hotshots film once that is complete.
Originally published June 25, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
