Tom Hanks to launch London Film Festival with real-life thriller about Somali pirates

Tom Hanks will launch this year’s British Film Institute London Film Festival with the new true-life thriller from British director Paul Greengrass.

Hanks, 57, plays the captain of US container ship Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked by a crew of Somali pirates in 2009.

The Oscar-winning actor and director Greengrass are expected to attend the opening night gala in Leicester Square on October 9.

Greengrass — whose previous hits include United 93 and The Bourne Supremacy with Matt Damon — said it was “a great story” and he had leapt at the chance to work with Hanks, who was “a true gentleman”.

Presenting the European premiere in Leicester Square to launch the festival and showcase UK talent — including his film crew — was “a real honour,” Greengrass added.

Captain Phillips is based on the story of the first successful pirate seizure of a ship under an American flag since the 19th century.

A rescue was launched from a US warship off the Horn of Africa. Greengrass, 57, said the central theme of the film was the two captains, Richard Phillips and the lead pirate, played by American-Somali newcomer Barkhad Abdi.

“At the front and centre is an old-fashioned story of peril on the sea. Hopefully we’ve created an intense, dramatic and thrilling story about modern-day piracy and a regular guy, an everyman, in the middle of it,” said the director.

Greengrass hailed Hanks as “a fantastically intelligent thoughtful human actor and a great collaborator”.

He said Hanks’s performance was applauded by the crew and ranked with his work in epics including Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13. “He makes it so real and human,” Greengrass added.

The movie was filmed at Longcross Studios in Surrey and on the sea off Malta. But the shoot was tough as the director insisted on filming as much as possible at sea — with many of the crew suffering seasickness: “It was the most arduous physical conditions, really feeling the swell and the heat. But Tom would stay there hour after hour just working and focused.”

Greengrass, who trained in TV documentaries, did not meet any real Somali pirates before the shoot but spoke to those who had. The four lead Somalis are Americans but the other Somalis in the cast are British-based.

London Film Festival director Clare Stewart said organisers were thrilled to be showing “one of the most hotly-anticipated films of the year”.

The 57th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with Amex, will open on October 9 and runs until October 20.