Fresh off his Sundance thriller Sweetheart, J.D. Dillard is switching gears to helm the Korean War epic Devotion. The biographical movie is set to star Glen Powell as an elite U.S. Navy fighter pilot who makes a heroic sacrifice during the Korean War.

Variety reports that J.D. Dillard will be helming Devotion for Black Label Media, the indie production company behind La La Land, Sicario, and 12 Strong. Leading the Devotion movie cast is Glen Powell, who will star in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick.

According to Variety, Devotion is “an aerial war epic that tells the harrowing true story of two elite U.S. Navy fighter pilots, Tom Hudner and Jesse L. Brown, during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen.”

Powell will star as Hudner, whose life was chronicled alongside Brown’s in Adam Makos’ book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice. Makos’ 2014 book will be the basis for the movie. Jake Crane and Jonathan Stewart wrote the screenplay for Devotion, which BLM’s Molly Smith, Rachel Smith, Thad Luckinbill, and Trent Luckinbill will produce.

Powell has been a rising movie star in the making since appearing Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, properly becoming the next It Boy after the runaway success of Netflix’s 2018 romantic-comedy Set It Up. He’s set to star opposite Tom Cruise and Miles Teller in the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick. It seems he’s making the next step in building a “serious” movie career, making a prestige war drama following what could be his big blockbuster breakout with Maverick.

Meanwhile, Dillard broke out with his debut feature Sleight, a sci-fi drama that became a big hit out of Sundance. His follow-up feature Sweetheart earned similar raves this year, though it didn’t get a theatrical release. Devotion seems like a big break for both Dillard and Powell as they try to turn their breakout buzz into successful careers.

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