Captain Richard Phillips wasn’t exactly a delight. He was a hardass on his crew, and put them in real danger after he tried to cut corners by traveling a bit too close to the Somali coast.
But it made for a kickass, tension-filled plot, and Captain Phillips is a great film. Tom Hanks gave an amazing, honest portrayal of the Captain, but even more impressive was Barkhad Abdi, who played the Somali pirate leader. Abdi had never acted before – he was a limo driver who attended an open casting call in Minneapolis, where there’s a fairly substantial Somali population. To keep him from developing a friendship with Tom Hanks, who plays his adversary, Abdi wasn’t allowed to meet him until the day they shot their first scene, and after all that, Abdi really held his own against Tom. (Though he admitted later, “After we finished the scene, I was like, ‘I can't believe I'm doing a scene with the Forrest Gump guy!’")
I won’t say anything more, since I’m not one to spoil a plot. Though it’s safe to say the real Captain Phillips got out alive, seeing as he was just on the cover of Parade magazine. See it.
