Amelia Earhart: An Icon

2 weeks ago 09th Nov 10:22

From award-winning director Mira Nair and starring Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank in the title role, comes the true story of the woman who won the hearts of the nation with her daring dreams of flight.

Celebrated as the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Amelia Earhart led a bold and uncompromising life as a woman ahead of her time, an adventurer who refused to see limits, and a symbol of American spirit. 

Amelia chronicles her skyrocketing rise to fame; the record-shattering flights that forged her image as 'Lady Lindy'; a love life complicated by her devotion to flight and freedom; and a legacy of courage, social advocacy, and independence. 

"Amelia is a love story and an action-adventure for the whole family, about a young woman who broke the boundaries and gave a lot to many different people," says Nair. 

"I wanted the film to be a living, pulsating portrait of this woman who dared to dream of things that no one had ever done before. Amelia lived life as fully as possible and didn’t put a lid on her emotions or her ambitions. She left behind a legend that I hope will continue to fuel a passion in people to accept no limits."

The most vivid and adventuresome period in Earhart’s life from her sudden exposure to global fame in 1928 to her shocking disappearance mid-flight less than ten years later comes alive on the screen thanks largely to the dogged passion of Avalon Pictures CEO (and the pioneering co-founder of the technology company, Gateway, Inc.) Ted Waitt. 

An aviation and exploration aficionado in his own right, Waitt had long been fascinated by Amelia’s story.
 
"Ever since I was a little kid, I was fascinated with Amelia’s disappearance. As I began reading about her, I became even more fascinated with her life than her disappearance," explains Waitt.   "Hers is an incredible story of courage and she was a real pioneer for women as well as aviation."
 
He continues: "Everyone today knows about Amelia’s disappearance, but very few people understand her life.  I thought her tale could be an inspiration, as well as very entertaining. She still ranks as one of the 10 most famous Americans of all time, and people are naturally interested in her - yet not many know her real story."

Avalon purchased two seminal biographies of Earhart:  Susan Butler’s East To The Dawn, which explores little-known aspects of Earhart’s life, including her friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and became the first book to document a secret affair with the aviator and businessman Gene Vidal; and Mary Lovell’s The Sound of Wings, which focuses on Amelia’s intricate relationship with her publicist husband and the intense promotional machinery that surrounded her.

"I read all the biographies of Amelia -- and Sue Butler’s was incredibly well researched and well written.  Mary Lovell’s book was great as well," comments Waitt. 

Waitt also brought in Elgen M. Long, co-author with Marie K. Long of Amelia Earhart:  Mystery Solved, as a consultant. Long is an expert on the flight logs that reveal, moment by moment, what happened on Amelia’s final flight from New Guinea en route to Howland Island as what Long calls 'multiple failures of navigation and communication' put her plane in insurmountable peril.