--- description: Hanks stars in the Clint Eastwood-directed biopic of the U.S. Airways pilot who heroically ditched in the Hudson in 2009. title: Watch Tom Hanks Play a Hero Pilot in the Trailer For 'Sully' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47addb63e4398016/698898e7428a9efcb4cd3232/bryan-cranston.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Tom Hanks Play a Hero Pilot in the Trailer For _Sully_ by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 1:57 AM CUT  Actor Bryan Cranston poses for photographers during HBO's "All The Way" Actor Bryan Cranston poses for photographers during HBO's "All The Way"Kris Connor-Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 1:57 AM CUT In January 2009, a swarm of birds hit a U.S. Airways Airbus A320 that had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York, forcing its pilot, [Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872247,00.html "undefined"), to maneuver [a difficult crash landing](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872195,00.html "undefined") in the Hudson River. You remember the rest: all 150 passengers survived, and Sullenberger was received as a national hero, earning an invitation to President Obama’s first inauguration and a place in the spotlight as an aviation safety pundit. Now Tom Hanks is playing him in a biopic. Clint Eastwood is directing it. The trailer for “Sully” went up on Wednesday, and it looks rather dark — darker than you’d expect in a story that ultimately had a happy ending (compared, at least, to the alternative). We see the psychological aftershock of Sullenberger’s ordeal, exacerbated by the side of the story that didn’t get nearly as much media attention: concern over the possibility that Sullenberger could have made it back to the airport, rather than ditching the plane in the frigid Hudson. Watch it above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4388904/sully-trailer-tom-hanks-chesley-sully-sullenberger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4388904/sully-trailer-tom-hanks-chesley-sully-sullenberger/"},"headline":"Watch Tom Hanks Play a Hero Pilot in the Trailer For Sully","datePublished":"2016-06-30T01:57:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:57:02.440Z","description":"It's the story of that miraculous U.S. Airways crash-landing in the Hudson River","url":"https://time.com/4388904/sully-trailer-tom-hanks-chesley-sully-sullenberger/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47addb63e4398016/698898e7428a9efcb4cd3232/bryan-cranston.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47addb63e4398016/698898e7428a9efcb4cd3232/bryan-cranston.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"All The Way\" Washington, DC Screening","caption":"\"All The Way\" Washington, DC Screening","creditText":"Kris Connor-Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4388904/sully-trailer-tom-hanks-chesley-sully-sullenberger/","name":"Watch Tom Hanks Play a Hero Pilot in the Trailer For Sully"}}]}] ```