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Michelle Williams To Play Astronaut Christa McAuliffe In ‘The Challenger’ Movie
Deadline ^ | October 2, 2018 | Mike Fleming Jr.

Posted on 10/03/2018 7:59:53 AM PDT by EdnaMode

Michelle Williams is set to star as Christa McAuliffe in The Challenger, a feature film about the 1986 space shuttle tragedy being produced by John and Art Linson and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. Land of Mine director Martin Zandvliet will direct the biopic of sorts that is penned by Jayson Rothwell. A May 2019 production start is being eyed.

The Challenger will follow the true story of McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school teacher who was selected to join NASA’s Teacher in Space Project. She eventually became part of the astronaut crew on the Space Shuttle Challenger, which launched from Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff, on live TV, killing all seven aboard.

McAuliffe’s memory and mission left a lasting impression and legacy on her family, community and teachers worldwide (as the first teacher in space, McAuliffe was to have conducted classes during the mission). Many schools have been named in her honor, and she posthumously received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

“We are more than humbled and extremely grateful for the opportunity to help tell the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger mission,” Renzo said. “Christa McAuliffe’s legacy deserves the strength, courage, experience and humanity that Michelle Williams brings to the role. The entire Argent team is honored and eager to responsibly capture and share the events and personal journeys of those surrounding this important historical moment with audiences around the world to help remember and further appreciate the sacrifices Christa and rest of the Challenger crew made to further our journey into space.”

Argent partners Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Drew Brees, Tony Parker, Michael Finley and Derrick Brooks are executive producing.

Williams, a four-time Oscar nominee including most recently as Supporting Actress for 2017’s Manchester By the Sea, is next up on the big screen in Sony’s Venom opposite Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed. It opens wide Friday.

She also just wrapped production on Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding with Julianne Moore, and now has now started work on FX’s eight-episode limited series starring Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and Williams as Gwen Verdon. That project hails from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail, Dear Evan Hansen‘s Steven Levenson, Fox 21 TV Studios and FX Productions.

Williams is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment and Bloom, Hergott.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Chit/Chat; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: argentpictures; artlinson; benrenzo; biopic; challenger; christamcauliffe; hollywood; johnlinson; landofmine; martinzandvliet; mcauliffe; michellewilliams; nasa; spaceshuttle; thechallenge; thechallenger; williams
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Hopefully this will be an accurate and respectful telling of her story.
1 posted on 10/03/2018 7:59:53 AM PDT by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode

Proof Hollywood has no talent left.


2 posted on 10/03/2018 8:02:27 AM PDT by hadaclueonce ( This time I am Deplorable)
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To: EdnaMode

Like ‘The First Man’ was?...........


3 posted on 10/03/2018 8:02:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Q............PREPARE FOR 'SKY IS FALLING' WEEK...........................)
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To: EdnaMode

Doesn't even resemble her...............

4 posted on 10/03/2018 8:04:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (Q............PREPARE FOR 'SKY IS FALLING' WEEK...........................)
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To: Red Badger

John Wayne didn’t resemble Genghis Khan, but that didn’t stop the casting director!


5 posted on 10/03/2018 8:06:33 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: EdnaMode

Great!

I’m not interested.


6 posted on 10/03/2018 8:06:54 AM PDT by chris37
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To: SoCal Pubbie

“John Wayne didn’t resemble Genghis Khan, but that didn’t stop the casting director!”

I knew John Wayne. John Wayne was a friend of mine. And believe me, SoCal Pubbie, she is no John Wayne!


7 posted on 10/03/2018 8:08:45 AM PDT by suthener (E)
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To: Red Badger

I’m surprised they didn’t cast a woman of color...


8 posted on 10/03/2018 8:09:23 AM PDT by shotgun
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To: Red Badger

Bonnie Bedelia, the wife in Die Hard. She is a ringer!


9 posted on 10/03/2018 8:10:38 AM PDT by Celerity
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To: EdnaMode

I am sure it will be, but man, it’s not the kind of movie you’re going to watch over and over again....


10 posted on 10/03/2018 8:10:42 AM PDT by nikos1121
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To: Red Badger

No but if Michelle Williams gets blown up it’s going to be a real tragedy.

On a side note there was a joke that came out a month after the explosion. What color was Christa’s eyes when the Challenger exploded? Blew.


11 posted on 10/03/2018 8:11:35 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Celerity

Too old now..................


12 posted on 10/03/2018 8:11:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (Q............PREPARE FOR 'SKY IS FALLING' WEEK...........................)
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To: suthener

John Wayne was a cross dresser


13 posted on 10/03/2018 8:12:55 AM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: Red Badger

Johnny Depp didn’t resemble James “Whitey” Bulger.


14 posted on 10/03/2018 8:15:06 AM PDT by Prolixus (In all seriousness:)
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To: Celerity
Bonnie Bedelia, the wife in Die Hard. She is a ringer!

LOL! You'll need a time machine. Bonnie Bedelia is 70 years old now.

15 posted on 10/03/2018 8:16:27 AM PDT by dead
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To: EdnaMode

Somewhere I heard that when they dove down to some of the wreckage, they discovered that oxygen tanks had been TURNED ON in some of the areas where the astronauts had been.


16 posted on 10/03/2018 8:16:30 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: Red Badger

Well at least they didn’t cast Jennifer Lawrence.


17 posted on 10/03/2018 8:18:08 AM PDT by EdnaMode
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To: SoCal Pubbie
John Wayne didn’t resemble Genghis Khan, but that didn’t stop the casting director!

An inordinate amount of the cast/crew of that movie got and/or died of cancer as they filmed not far down wind of the Nevada test site and they tested a bomb/bombs during the filming.

18 posted on 10/03/2018 8:18:11 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: EdnaMode

Another one of Reagan’s bad ideas.

The man was a national treasure, but he had his share of blown calls.

Sandy Baby O’Connor
Pull the Marines out of Lebanon
Take the Democrat deal on amnesty

etc. etc.


19 posted on 10/03/2018 8:18:29 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: EdnaMode
I hear that in the climactic scene, her big line is: "And what does this button do?"
20 posted on 10/03/2018 8:18:36 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The MSM is in the business of creating a fake version of reality for political reasons.)
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