Jake Gyllenhaal will star in World War II adaptation ‘The Lost Airman’

Jake Gyllenhaal was at the Cannes Film Festival last month for the screening of “Okja”. Image: AFP/Alberto Pizzoli

The American actor is set to play a World War II hero in “The Lost Airman”, a film based on the true story of Arthur Meyerowitz, an American pilot who was shot down over France in 1943.

Jake Gyllenhaal will play the U.S. turret gunner who was taken in by the residents of a village in the Aquitaine region of southwest France before being sheltered and helped to escape by the Resistance. After being evacuated via Toulouse, Arthur Meyerowitz crossed Spain to the Strait of Gibraltar before managing to return to the U.S. On arriving home, he took work delivering milk on Long Island, married and started a family.

Intrigued by the letters in French found among his grandfather’s possessions, his grandson managed to reconstruct the incredible story, which he later published in the book “The Lost Airman: A True Story of Escape From Nazi-Occupied France”.

The movie rights were bought by Amazon Studios, which will fund the big-screen adaptation produced by Jake Gyllenhaal and John Lesher, who also produced Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman”.

“The Lost Airman” is another addition to the American actor’s long list of projects. Seen recently in “Life”, the actor also stars in South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja”, picked for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and available June 28 on Netflix. He also stars in “Stronger” alongside Tatiana Maslany (out September 22 in the U.S.) and joins Carey Mulligan in Paul Dano‘s “Wildlife”.

Jake Gyllenhaal will soon start filming “The Division” with Jessica Chastain, based on Ubisoft’s video game, as well as “The Anarchist vs Isis” directed by Daniel Espinosa, Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers” and “Rio” with Benedict Cumberbatch. JB

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