The story of Christa McAuliffe’s tragic and heroic trip on the space shuttle Challenger is going to be made into a feature film, according to news out of Hollywood.
As reported first by Deadline Hollywood, Michelle Williams has been chosen to play McAuliffee in a film titled The Challenger about the 1986 space shuttle tragedy. Production is slated to begin in May 2019.
Few details are available yet, including how much, if any, of the filming will be done in Concord.
McAuliffe’s story has already been made into one movie, a 2006 documentary titled Reach for the Stars.
The Challenger would be in the so-called “biopic” format, a fictionalized story based on the real-life events.
Williams, 38, has been an actress in films and on stage since she was a child. She may be best known for playing in the films Brokeback Mountain and The Greatest Showman, and received a Golden Globe award for best actress for playing Marilyn Monroe in the 2001 film My Week with Marilyn.
According to Deadline Hollywood, the movie will be directed by Martin Zandvliet, a Danish director who has been involved with a half-dozen well-regarded films. It is being produced by John and Art Linson and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. The script will be written by Jayson Rothwell.