Captain Phillips
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Greengrass
Screenplay by	Billy Ray
Based on	A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty
Produced by	Scott Rudin Dana Brunetti Michael De Luca
Starring	Tom Hanks Barkhad Abdi
Cinematography	Barry Ackroyd
Edited by	Christopher Rouse
Music by	Henry Jackman
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Scott Rudin Productions Michael De Luca Productions Trigger Street Productions
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates	September 27, 2013 (2013-09-27) (NYFF) October 11, 2013 (2013-10-11) (United States)
Running time	134 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Languages	English Somali
Budget	$55 million[2]
Box office	$220.6 million[3]

Captain Phillips is a 2013 American biographical action-thriller film^[4][5][6] directed by Paul Greengrass. Based on the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, the film tells the story of Captain Richard Phillips, an American merchant mariner who was taken hostage by Somali pirates. It stars Tom Hanks as Phillips, alongside Barkhad Abdi as pirate leader Abduwali Muse.

The screenplay by Billy Ray is based on Phillips's 2010 book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, which Phillips co-wrote with Stephan Talty. Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca served as producers on the project. It premiered at the 2013 New York Film Festival,^[7] and was theatrically released on October 11, 2013. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, receiving acclaim from critics and grossing $220 million against a budget of $55 million. Captain Phillips received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Abdi.^[8][9]

Plot

Richard Phillips takes command of MV Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container vessel from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Guardafui Channel to Mombasa, Kenya. Wary of pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out a practice drill. During the drill, the captain notices that the vessel is being followed by Somali pirates in two skiffs, and Phillips calls for help. Knowing that the pirates are listening to radio traffic, he pretends to call a warship, requesting immediate air support. One skiff turns around in response, and the other – crewed by four heavily armed pirates led by Abduwali Muse – loses engine power trying to steer through Maersk Alabama's wake.

The next day, Muse's skiff, now fitted with two outboard engines, returns with the same four pirates aboard. Despite the efforts of Phillips and his crew, the pirates secure their ladder to the ship. As they board, Phillips tells the crew to hide in the engine room, just before the pirates storm the bridge and hold Phillips and the other crew members at gunpoint. Phillips offers Muse the $30,000 in the ship's safe, but Muse's orders are to ransom the ship and crew in exchange for millions of dollars of insurance money from the shipping company. While they search the ship, Shane sees that the youngest pirate Bilal does not have sandals and tells the crew to line the engine room hallway with broken glass.

Chief Engineer Mike Perry deactivates the power to the ship, plunging the lower decks into darkness. Bilal cuts his feet when they reach the engine room, and Muse continues to search alone. The crew members ambush Muse, holding him at knifepoint, and arrange to release him and the other pirates into a lifeboat. However, Muse's right-hand man Nour Najee refuses to board the lifeboat with Muse unless Phillips goes with them. Once all are on the lifeboat, Najee attacks Phillips, forcing him into the vessel before launching the boat with all five of them on board.

As the lifeboat heads for Somalia, tensions flare between the pirates as they run low on the plant-based amphetamine khat that they have been eating, and they lose contact with their mother ship. Najee becomes agitated and begins to question Muse’s leadership when they are intercepted by the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge. Bainbridge's captain Frank Castellano is ordered to prevent the pirates from reaching the Somali coast by any means. Even when additional ships arrive, Muse asserts that he has come too far and will not surrender. The negotiators are unable to change his mind, and a team from DEVGRU parachutes in to intervene, while Phillips attempts to escape from the lifeboat before being quickly recaptured and repeatedly beaten by Najee.

While three DEVGRU marksmen get into positions, Castellano and DEVGRU continue to try to find a peaceful solution, eventually taking the lifeboat under tow. Muse agrees to board Bainbridge, where he is told that his clan elders are arriving to negotiate Phillips's ransom. In the lifeboat, Phillips prepares a goodbye letter to his wife in case he is killed, while Najee decides to take full control. Najee spots Phillips writing the letter and snatches it. Phillips retaliates by beating Najee until Bilal subdues Phillips by striking him in the back with his AK-47.

The pirates tie up and blindfold Phillips and Najee beats Phillips further and berates Bilal and Elmi for their protests, even stating that they've been tricked by the Navy as the elders didn't come to negotiate. As Najee prepares to shoot Phillips, Bainbridge's crew stops the tow, causing Elmi, Bilal, and Najee to lose balance. This gives the marksmen three clear shots, by which they simultaneously kill all three pirates. Muse is arrested and taken into custody for piracy. Phillips is rescued from the lifeboat and his injuries are treated. Although in shock and tears, he thanks the rescue team for saving his life.

Cast

Tom Hanks (left) portrayed Richard Phillips (right).

Maersk Alabama crew and allies

• Tom Hanks as Richard "Rich" Phillips / "Irish", Captain
• Catherine Keener as Andrea Phillips, Phillips's wife
• Michael Chernus as Shane Murphy, first officer
• David Warshofsky as Mike Perry, chief engineer
• Corey Johnson as Ken Quinn, helmsman
• Chris Mulkey as John Cronan, senior crew member
• Mark Holden as William Rios, boatswain
• Angus MacInnes as Ian Waller, crew member
• Louis Mahoney as Ethan Stoll, crew member
• Vincenzo Nicoli as Andrew Brezinski, crew member
• Maria Dizzia as Allison McColl
• John Magaro as Dan Phillips
• Gigi Raines as Mariah Phillips
• Riann Steele as Bernetti, US Maritime

Pirates and allies

• Barkhad Abdi as Abduwali Muse, pirate leader
• Barkhad Abdirahman as Adan Bilal
• Faysal Ahmed as Nour Najee
• Mahat M. Ali as Walid Elmi
• Mohamed Ali as Assad
• Ibrahim Maalim as Hufan
• Idurus Shiish as Idurus
• Azeez Mohammed as Dawoud
• Nasir Jamas as Eko

US Navy and allies

• Yul Vazquez as Commander Frank Castellano, commanding officer, USS Bainbridge
• Max Martini as DEVGRU commander
• Omar Berdouni as Nemo, Somali-language translator working for the U.S. Navy as part of Mission Essential^[10]
• Hospital Corpsman Second Class Danielle Albert as Chief Hospital Corpsman O'Brien^[11][12]
• Fire Control Technician First Class (SW) Nathan Cobler as Hospital Corpsman First Class Cobler^[11]

Production

Development

Columbia Pictures optioned the film rights for Richard Phillips' story in May 2009, just weeks after his rescue from the Somali pirates.^[13] A year later in April 2010, Phillips' memoir, A Captain's Duty, was published. In March 2011, actor Tom Hanks attached himself to the project after reading a draft of the screenplay by Billy Ray.^[14] Director Paul Greengrass was offered the helm of the untitled film adaptation during the following June.^[15]

A worldwide search subsequently began to find the film's supporting Somali cast. From this search, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali were chosen from among more than 700 participants at a 2011 casting call at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis. The four actors were selected, according to search casting director Debbie DeLisi, because they were "the chosen ones, that anointed group that stuck out."^[16]

Producers visited the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum to see the bullet-scarred, five-ton fiberglass lifeboat aboard which the pirates held Capt. Phillips hostage so that they could accurately re-create the boat and interiors for the set.^{[N 1]} They were also able to view an example of the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle UAV used to monitor the crisis,^[18] as well as the Mark 11 Mod 0 (SR-25) sniper rifle (the type used by the U.S. Navy SEALs), both also on display at the museum.

Filming

Principal photography for Captain Phillips began on March 26, 2012.^[19] Filming took place off the coast of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.^[20] Nine weeks were spent filming aboard Alexander Maersk, a container ship identical to Maersk Alabama. The container vessel was chartered on commercial terms with Maersk Line.^[21][22] USS Truxtun, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and sister ship of USS Bainbridge, served as a set piece in the film.^[23]

Music

The film score to Captain Phillips was composed by Henry Jackman.^[24] A soundtrack album for the film was released in physical forms on October 15, 2013 by Varèse Sarabande.^[25] Additional songs featured in the film include:^[26]

• "Up in Here" by KOVAS
• "Hilm B Hilm" by Musa Hanhan
• "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton
• "The End" by John Powell, a track from Greengrass's 2006 film United 93

Release

Theatrical

Captain Phillips premiered on September 20, 2013, opening the 2013 New York Film Festival. The film was praised for its direction, screenplay, production values, cinematography, and the performances of Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi.^[27][28][29]

Home media

Captain Phillips was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on January 21, 2014.^[30]

Reception

Box office

Captain Phillips grossed $107.1 million in North America and $111.7 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $218.8 million, against its budget of $55 million.^[2]

In the United States, the film grossed $25.7 million in its opening weekend, finishing second place at the box office behind Gravity ($43.2 million).^[31] It made $16.4 million in its second weekend, remaining in second.^[32]

The film was unable to secure a release in China, which caused Sony Pictures to be concerned about the profitability of the film.^[33] Based on information revealed in the Sony Pictures hack, the film made a net profit of $39 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.^[34]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 282 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Smart, powerfully acted, and incredibly intense, Captain Phillips offers filmgoers a Hollywood biopic done right — and offers Tom Hanks a showcase for yet another brilliant performance."^[35] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[36] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.^[31]

The film was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture (Drama), Best Actor in a Drama (Hanks), Best Supporting Actor (Abdi) and Best Director (Greengrass).^[37] It did not win in any of the categories.^[38] The film was also nominated for nine British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), including Best Film, Best Direction (Greengrass), Best Actor (Hanks), Best Supporting Actor (Abdi), and Best Adapted Screenplay.^[39] Abdi won the film's only award for Best Supporting Actor.^[40] The film was also nominated for six Academy Awards – Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Abdi), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.^[8] – though it did not win any of the categories.^[9]

Film critic Top Ten lists

Various American critics have named the film as one of the best of 2013.^[41]

Accolades