At the grand age of 85, Clint Eastwood finds himself the hottest director in Hollywood, following the barnstorming box-office success of Iraq war drama American Sniper. Now the Oscar-winning film-maker has revealed his next movie will tell the story of another all-American hero: veteran pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.

Sullenberger piloted US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson river on 15 January 2009, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew on board. The Airbus A320 had hit a flock of Canada geese during its climb out of nearby LaGuardia airport in Queens, New York.

Titled Miracle on the Hudson, Eastwood’s film will be based on Sullenberger’s New York Times bestselling memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, which was optioned by producers Frank Marshall and Allyn Stewart of Flashlight Films in 2010. Perfect Stranger writer Todd Komarnicki is adapting the screenplay.

“I am very glad my story is in the hands of gifted storyteller and film-maker Clint Eastwood, and veteran producers Allyn Stewart and Frank Marshall,” Sullenberger, 64, told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “The project could not have found a better home than Warner Bros Pictures. This is truly a dream team.”

Sullenberger was dubbed “Captain Cool” by the then New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, following the famous water landing, which Sullenberger performed after he realised there was no chance of reaching LaGuardia or another airport. He retired from flight duty the following year, but was later hired by CBS as an aviation and safety news expert, and moved into public speaking on the international stage. Sullenberger was ranked second on Time‍’s Top 100 most influential heroes and icons of 2009 list.

Eastwood is the toast of Hollywood after American Sniper took more than $543m worldwide and became the top-grossing film of 2014 at the US box office, beating big-budget action epics such as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Starring Bradley Cooper as US Navy Seal Chris Kyle, the film also received six Oscar nominations and glowing reviews, despite vilification from some commentators for its depiction of the sniper’s deadly work in Iraq.

American Sniper: ‘Clean Harry. Like Dirty Harry, but boring’ – video review Guardian

Signing on to Miracle on the Hudson means Eastwood is now unlikely to take up his option to direct Jonah Hill in the story of heroic security guard Richard Jewell, as announced in April. Jewell foiled a bomb attempt at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but later came under police suspicion and suffered an invasive trial by media that left his life in ruins.

The Hollywood Reporter suggests that difficulties tying Eastwood’s regular studio Warner Bros to the 20th Century Fox project ultimately proved impossible to resolve. The film-maker also turned down the opportunity to direct a remake of the musical A Star is Born in 2012.