Victoria Strouse is shifting her focus from under the sea to the skies above. The “Finding Dory” co-writer has been hired by Fox 2000 to adapt Katherine Sharp Landdeck’s upcoming nonfiction book “The Women With Silver Wings,” Deadline reports. Described as a “‘Hidden Figures’-like drama,” the project will recount the story of the first women to ever fly for the U.S. military.
The trailblazing women of WWII’s Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) “broke social norms while bravely serving their country. After the war, the U.S. government refused to officially recognize the WASPs, denying them veteran benefits and burying their legacies,” Deadline summarizes. “Only in 2009, after a decades-long battle, are the women’s WWII contributions finally honored, when they are granted the Congressional Gold Medal and officially recognized as military veterans. Their Veteran status was finally, fully recognized when in 2017 they restored their right to be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.”
“The WASPs flew the heaviest bombers, fastest pursuit planes, and lightest trainers during World War II,” Landdeck wrote in The Atlantic last year. “They ferried planes across the U.S. and flew Army chaplains from base to base for services on Sunday. They test-flew planes that had been repaired to make certain they were safe for the male cadets who would learn to fly and fight in them. They trained gunners on the ground and in B-17s, towing targets behind their own planes while the men fired live ammunition at them. Of the 1,102 who earned their Silver Wings, 38 died during the war.”
Landdeck’s manuscript is being published by Penguin Random House’s Crown imprint.
“Hamilton” director Thomas Kail is signed on to helm the feature.
Ashley Zalta of Anonymous Content and Kate Sullivan of Old 320 Sycamore are among the project’s executive producers.
Strouse penned Disney’s upcoming live-action “Tinker Bell” starring Reese Witherspoon.
“Hidden Figures” recently shone a long-overdue spotlight on women who played an instrumental role in the space race: Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). The Oscar-nominated drama has grossed over $230 million worldwide and was made for $25 million.
