Dreamworks Movie Air Pirates about Wreck expert Gary Larkins
Variety Magazine, November 1999

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - "Elizabeth" director Shekhar Kapur will take flight with "Air Pirates," an action-adventure based on the true exploits of airplane salvage expert Gary Larkins. In the DreamWorks picture, Larkin's search for fortune grows deadly when he's commissioned by a woman to uncover the truth behind her husband's disappearance during a secret World War II mission.

The film will be set in the present but include several flashbacks. While "Pirates" represents a definite change of genre from "Elizabeth," Kapur showed in his 1994 Hindi guerrilla drama "Bandit Queen" that he could handle action scenes and personalize an epic story. Lahore-born Kapur is perhaps the most prominent director to cross over from Bollywood to Hollywood; he made the transition via the British-produced "Elizabeth," which nabbed seven Oscar nominations (including best film) and grossed $30 million in the U.S.

Since then, he's become involved with a number of U.S. features, including Warner Bros.' drama "Steinbeck's Point of View." He is also attached to direct the Nelson Mandela biopic "Long Walk to Freedom." Kapur's other credits include "Mr. India" and "Masoom."