Cruise to film 1947 disaster film

Tom Cruise is developing a film about a cataclysmic 1947 industrial accident in Texas City, Texas, which led to the first civil class action suit against the US government.

He is expected to both produce and star in the film, a detailed portrait of the coastal town, which was virtually leveled by the explosion of two ships carrying a huge cargo of ammonium nitrate. Close to 700 people died. Survivors of the catastrophe successfully sued the government for negligence.