Combining the glamorously bold crimes of John Dillinger and the bizarre mysteries of identity surrounding Anastasia Romanov, Geoffrey Gray’s acclaimed novel, Skyjack: The Hunt For D.B. Cooper, will be adapted for the screen by director Will Gluck, best known for Easy A and Friends With Benefits. Veering slightly from Gluck’s previous sex-crazed comedies, Skyjack focuses on the strange-but-true story of Cooper, who committed America’s only unsolved case of air piracy when he hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in 1971, stealing $200,000 from its passengers and crew before escaping via parachute. The air pirate (which, by the way, sounds a lot cooler than “skyjacker”) then disappeared into the woods, his true identity remaining a mystery ever since. Naturally, Skyjack will also take a look into Cooper’s cultish following as both a folk hero who beat the system and an obsession for those who are still fixated on the hunt to uncover his true identity. Told from the perspectives of three different suspects who all claimed to be Cooper, the script from screenwriter Keith Bunin (HBO's In Treatment) is billed as an “action comedy,” as what's more amusing than hijacking coupled with mental illness?
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