Look out, Johnny Depp -- a real-life "Pirate" hero is hitting the big screen.
Hero Captain Richard Phillips, held hostage by Somali pirates for five days in April, signed a deal this week with Columbia Pictures to release a movie chronicling his adventure on the high seas.
The film will be produced by Hollywood bigshots Kevin Spacey and Scott Rudin and is still in the early stages of planning, the New York Daily News reported.
"We're tremendously excited about developing Captain Phillips' story," Columbia Pictures spokesperson Steve Elzer told the News.
Elzer said the movie is still in "embryonic" stages of development and that casting will begin soon.
Phillips told the News he had been approached by nearly all of the major Hollywood studies and settled on Columbia Pictures because of the all-star production cast it got to back the flick.
"I'd been approached by many film companies to tell my story," Phillips said. "It's a great story to tell."
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Phillips, who lives in Burlington, Vt., will be on-set and will play a large role in the film's development, his publicist said.
"Rich was alone on that lifeboat for five long days with the pirates, so, of course, he will be very involved in telling the story of what happened out there."
There's been no word yet on who producers are tapping to play the hero captain of the Maersk Alabama -- but his publicist and wife Andrea have a certain type in mind.
"I can tell you Andrea's type is tall, dark and handsome -- and willing to mow the lawn," Phillips' publicist joked.
