Ansel Elgort to Play Young JFK in War Film Mayday 109

Currently in theaters as the star of Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, Ansel Elgort has landed another lead role as young President John F. Kennedy in Mayday 109.

Scripted by Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore, Mayday 109 is based on the true story of Kennedy’s time as a Navy captain during WWII. In the war the young Kennedy was captain of a PT boat that was attacked and sunk by a convoy of Japanese destroyers, leading to Kennedy’s involvement in one of the most dramatic Naval rescues in history. A 1963 film on the same topic called PY 109 was directed by Leslie Martinson and received a lukewarm response, with Cliff Robertson playing Kennedy.

The film is a coproduction between Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Pictures and Beau Flynn’s FlynnPictureCo. “We could not be more excited about Ansel coming aboard,” Iwanyk told Deadline. “Not only is he a tremendous actor, he embodies the charisma, athleticism and looks of a young JFK. We love that this is not a biopic nor a film about politics. This is simply a riveting and unbelievable tale that very few people know—about a young man who was a hero long before becoming the iconic 35th President of the United States. With Ansel, we’ve found our perfect JFK.”

Mayday 109 is currently without a production timeline—producers are now searching for a director.