Captain Phillips - Inspired by the Maersk Alabama Hijacking

Inspired By A True Story

April 8, 2009. The U.S. cargo ship Maersk Alabama disembarks on a journey to Kenya, led by Captain Phillips. It would not arrive as scheduled due to an attack by Somali pirates, that would lead to several people dead.

In 2013, Tom Hanks takes on the role of Captain Richard Phillips in a film that garnered 6 Oscar nominations and left everyone pointing and saying, I'm the Captain now.

Be careful where you take a cruise, because Captain Phillips was inspired by a true story.

Welcome to Inspired By A True Story, a podcast where every two weeks, our award-winning hosts and film critics discuss the genuine details that have inspired some of the most memorable true crime movies around. Each episode will break down the crime or crimes that inspired a specific film, and then discuss how factual that film is, versus how much is simply Hollywood magic.

Captain Phillips retells the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage.

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"Southern Gothic" and other music provided by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/