The true story of survival behind Seth Meyerowitz’s book The Lost Airman: A True Story of Escape From Nazi-Occupied France could soon take flight on the big screen with some heavy hitters on board. According to new reports, Ben Stiller is in talks to direct the adaptation — now titled Airman — with Jeremy Allen White eyed to star, and A24 negotiating to land the project. Ben Shattuck penned the screenplay.

Based on the 2016 nonfiction book, the film will tell the story of Arthur Meyerowitz, an American turret-gunner whose B-24 bomber was shot down over Vichy France in 1943. Forced into hiding in the French countryside, Meyerowitz found an unlikely ally in Marcel Talliander, the founder of the famed French resistance group Reseau Morhange. With the Gestapo closing in, the network sheltered him for six months before devising a daring plan that ultimately got Meyerowitz across the border into Spain — and freedom. It’s a harrowing story that blends espionage, survival, and resistance heroics, tailor-made for a tense thriller in the vein of classics like The Great Escape or Unbroken. Sounds pretty sweet.

What Has Ben Stiller Made Lately?

For Stiller, Airman would mark a return to feature filmmaking after several years shaping prestige television. He was one of the creative architects of Apple TV+’s Severance, directing 11 episodes and serving as an executive producer. The series heads into this month’s Emmys with 27 nominations, the most of any show this year. Stiller also directed Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora, which earned him both a DGA Award and an Emmy nomination. His last feature was 2016’s Zoolander 2, making Airman his first film in over a decade.

White, meanwhile, continues to be one of Hollywood’s busiest actors. Alongside his Emmy-winning role on FX’s The Bear, he’s generating awards chatter for his performance as Bruce Springsteen in Scott Cooper’s Deliver Me Nowhere, which premiered to acclaim at the Telluride Film Festival. If the Airman deal closes, White will be stepping into the boots of Arthur Meyerowitz, bringing his intensity and grounded performances to a harrowing wartime tale.

If all the pieces fall into place, production on Airman is expected to kick off in early 2027. With A24 circling, and two massively overqualified stars in place to direct and star, we might just have our hands on the next great World War II thriller.

via Collider