Robert Downey Jr. To Make WWII Shark Attack Film

8/19/2011 2:29 PM ET

(RTTNews) - Robert Downey Jr. has teamed up with Warner Bros. to make a film on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The World War II vessel was sunk by torpedo in shark infested waters; thereafter, its crew was forced to desperately wait for rescue. Many were eaten alive.

The story was memorably told by Quint (Robert Shaw), the grizzled shark hunter in Jaws.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film version will give the story a modern update, telling it from the perspective of 11-year-old Hunter Scott, who attempted to exculpate the court-martialed captain of the ship, Charles McVay.
Scott investigated the story as part of a national History Day competition in 1996. He would eventually testify before Congress, which would pass a law exonerating McVay. The latter committed suicide in 1968.