Amelia (film)

Amelia
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mira Nair
Produced by	Ted Waitt Kevin Hyman Lydia Dean Pilcher
Written by	Ronald Bass Anna Hamilton Phelan
Based on	East to the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell
Starring	Hilary Swank Richard Gere Ewan McGregor Christopher Eccleston
Music by	Gabriel Yared
Cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh
Edited by	Allyson C. Johnson Lee Percy
Production company	Mirabai Films 2S Films Avalon Pictures AE Electra Productions
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date	October 23, 2009 (2009-10-23)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States Canada
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$19.6 million

Amelia is a 2009 American biographical film about the life of Amelia Earhart. The film was directed by Mira Nair and starred Hilary Swank as Earhart and Richard Gere as her husband, George Putnam. The cast list also included Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor. Most of the story is told in flashbacks before ending with Earhart's disappearance. The film was written by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, using research from sources including East to the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell. The film has garnered predominantly negative reviews.

On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) and her navigator, Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston), are on the last leg of an around-the-world flight. Moving in vignettes from her early years when Earhart was captivated by the sight of an aircraft flying overhead on the Kansas prairie where she grew up, her life over the preceding decade gradually unfolds. As a young woman, she is recruited by publishing tycoon and eventual husband, George Putnam (Richard Gere) to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean, albeit as a passenger. Taking command of the flight results in a success and she is thrust into the limelight as the most famous woman pilot of her time. Putnam helps Earhart write a book chronicling the flight, much like his earlier triumph with Charles Lindbergh's We. Earhart gradually falls in love with Putnam and they eventually marry, although she enacts a "cruel" pledge as her wedding contract.

Embarrassed that her fame was not earned, Earhart commences to set myriad aviation records, and in 1932, recreates her earlier transatlantic flight, becoming the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Throughout a decade of notoriety, Earhart falls into an awkward love affair with pilot and future Federal Aviation administrator Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). In a display of romantic jealousy, Putnam quietly tells Amelia that he does not want Vidal in his house. Earhart is annoyed by the seemingly endless agenda of celebrity appearances and endorsements but Putnam reminds his wife that it funds her flying. Earhart returns to her husband on the eve of her last momentous flight. Earhart's last flight was her biggest and most dangerous adventure to date. Her plan was to fly around the world. Earhart's first attempt ends in a runway crash in Hawaii, due to a collapsed landing gear, and her aircraft requires extensive repairs before the flight can be attempted again. Eventually, she takes the repaired Lockheed Model 10 Electra, sponsored by Purdue University, in a reverse direction, leaving the lengthy trans-Pacific crossing at the end of her flight.