Tom Hanks Dives Into Oscar Race With Captain Phillips Trailer

Two-time Academy Award winner plays real-life skipper of first American cargo ship to be hijacked by Somali pirates in 200 years

By Natalie Finn May 08, 2013 10:21 PMTags
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It's never too early to pick fresh Oscar bait!

Tom Hanks and dicey situations—both based on a true story and imagined—often equal Academy Award nominations, and his heroics in the upcoming Captain Phillips could easily add to his career haul.

The two-time Oscar winner plays real-life Captain Richard Phillips, whose Maersk Alabama was attacked by Somali pirates in 2009, the first hijacking of an American cargo ship in 200 years.

Way to break the mold, right?

The first trailer for the Paul Greengrass-directed filmwith a screenplay adapted from Phillips' memoir, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea—kicks off with Hanks' bespectacled skipper spying suspicious-looking activity on the horizon through his binoculars.

"I don't like the look of that," he tells a member of his crew.

Cue all hell breaking loose on the high seas. And cue even more Oscar buzz once the film sails into theaters on Oct. 11.