Forest Whitaker

Filming was originally going to start in Winnipeg, Canada, around this time for Fall from the Sky, a big-budget CBS TV movie about the investigation of a jumbo jet crash in which the possibility that Osama bin Laden was responsible is one of the lines of inquiry. [Observer, 9/30/2001; Irish Independent, 10/7/2001; Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] Fall from the Sky was co-written by Nicholas Meyer, who previously wrote several of the Star Trek movies, and Brian Rehak. [Variety, 9/19/2001; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/31/2003; Los Angeles Times, 7/22/2010] It has been budgeted at $7.2 million and is set to star Forest Whitaker, who previously played jazz legend Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood’s movie Bird.
Hundreds Killed in Fictional Plane Crash – Fall from the Sky would be set a couple of years in the future and involve the crash of a plane that is one of a new generation of passenger jets. According to some reports, 700 people die in the fictitious crash. [Chicago Sun-Times, 8/20/2001; Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] But according to Variety magazine, 400 people are on the plane that crashes. [Variety, 9/19/2001; Variety, 9/24/2001] Whitaker was to have played the National Transportation Safety Board investigator who leads the examination of the crash. The story would “concentrate on the meticulous process of gathering scientific evidence after the tragedy,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. [Chicago Sun-Times, 8/20/2001; Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] Meyer has said that the planned TV movie would “not show the crash—only pieces [of plane wreckage] on the ground.” [Variety, 9/24/2001] However, Jamie Brown, the CEO of a special effects company that was going to work on Fall from the Sky, will later say his company planned to depict “the destruction of a super jumbo jet” for the TV movie. [Winnipeg Free Press, 12/5/2001]
Possible Bin Laden Responsibility Investigated – Furthermore, the storyline of Fall from the Sky includes “the investigation of a theory that the crash had been the work of Osama bin Laden,” according to The Observer. [Observer, 9/30/2001] But according to Meyer, it turns out that terrorists were not responsible. [Variety, 9/19/2001; Variety, 9/24/2001] Whitaker will say that the story “dealt a lot with the FAA and issues of concealment. It almost read as if it was a true story, because of the political things that were going on inside of it.” [Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] It “shows the political pressures brought to bear on the investigation,” Meyer will say. [Variety, 9/24/2001]
Production Canceled due to 9/11 – Fall from the Sky was in preproduction in September. Filming was scheduled to begin in Winnipeg on October 2, according to some reports. [Playback, 11/12/2001; Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] But according to Variety magazine, it was set to begin on October 8 or October 9. Production was halted within two weeks of 9/11. [Variety, 9/19/2001; Variety, 9/24/2001] The Winnipeg Free Press will comment, “Naturally, the deliberate, catastrophic destruction of four passenger jets on September 11 made a TV movie about a fictional jumbo jet crash untenable for CBS.” [Winnipeg Free Press, 3/22/2002] Fall from the Sky is one of a number of movies and television dramas that are canceled or rewritten as a result of the 9/11 attacks (see (January 1998-2001); February 1999-September 11, 2001; June-September 11, 2001; Before Before September 11, 2001; September 13, 2001; September 27, 2001; November 17, 2001). [Denver Post, 9/17/2001; Irish Independent, 10/7/2001] Meyer has commented that his TV movie “was in its own way rather timely,” and added, “I think it’s unfortunate that it’s been canceled.” [Observer, 9/30/2001] Another, unnamed, TV movie dealing with an airline disaster was set to begin production in Vancouver, Canada, around this time, according to the Canadian magazine Playback, although further details of that movie are unstated. [Playback, 11/12/2001]