World War II ‘Kamikaze’ Movie in the Works From Gianni Nunnari

Gianni Nunnari’s Hollywood Gang Productions has launched development on a World War II movie about the USS Laffey, which survived an intense kamikaze attack during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

The film has been given a working title of “Kamikaze” with Rosalind Ross hired to adapt from John Wukovitz’s book “Hell From the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack.”

The crew of USS Laffey withstood an attack that included four bomb hits and six kamikaze planes crashing into the ship, setting the destroyer ablaze. A total of 32 men died and 71 were wounded that day. Captain Frederick Julian Becton refused to give up, saying “I’ll never abandon this ship as long as a single gun will fire.”

The film will be produced by Nunnari, along with Hollywood Gang’s Shannon Gaulding. Nunnari’s producing credits include “300,” “Immortals,” and “300: Rise of an Empire,” along with executive producing the thrillers “Se7en” and “The Departed.” He’s developing “Robotech” for Sony and the next installment of the “300” franchise at Warner Bros. He most recently produced “The Domestics” for MGM and the Crackle/Amazon TV series “Start Up.”

Nunnari said, “We must tell the story of the brave men of the Laffey. The kamikaze planes, the bombs — they kept coming and coming but these men, with courage and sacrifice, they kept their ship afloat.”

Ross is represented by WME, Heroes and Villains Entertainment, and Jackoway Tyerman.

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