Movies

How close is ‘Captain Phillips’ to the real thing?

And you thought your job stank.

Back in 2009, Capt. Richard Phillips was going about his business piloting a cargo ship bound for Kenya when four armed Somali pirates boarded, taking Phillips and his officers hostage. The bandits eventually abandoned ship for a small lifeboat, dragging Phillips along and holding him at gunpoint for five days before the Navy intervened, rescuing the American captain.

For director Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Supremacy,” “United 93”), adapting the story for the big screen meant filming it almost like a documentary. The actors, including Tom Hanks as Phillips, were allowed to perform scenes from beginning to end, uninterrupted, and the director insisted on faithfully recreating as many elements from real life as possible.

“I think it makes it authentic,” Greengrass tells The Post. “The truth lies not in fictionalizing it, not in making it up, but staying as close as possible to it.”

Here’s how the film stacks up against the real thing.

  1. 1. The Ship

    930353 - Captain Phillips

    THE REAL STORY: Phillips and his crew of 20 were sailing the cargo ship Maersk Alabama. They were unarmed, as dictated by law at the time.

     

    THE MOVIE: The production borrowed another, nearly identical 500-foot cargo ship from Maersk, the Alexander (above), and shot with it off Malta. Some 75 percent of “Captain Phillips” was filmed on the high seas, which, considering problems of weather, chop and lighting, is nearly suicidal. 

  2. 2. The Pirates

    930353 - Captain Phillips

    THE REAL STORY: The pirates, reportedly all between the ages of 17 and 19 (including Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, identified as the leader), boarded the Alabama from a small skiff and demanded money.

     

    THE MOVIE: Somali-Americans Faysal Ahmed (from left), Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat M. Ali were plucked from 800 hopefuls at an open casting call; none was a professional actor. Hanks first met them during the hostage scene.

  3. 3. The Navy

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    THE REAL STORY: The Navy dispatched three ships to aid in the rescue: the USS Bainbridge, USS Boxer and USS Halyburton.

     

    THE MOVIE: The Navy was eager to cooperate with the film, because it portrayed it in a positive light and gave filmmakers free access to three ships off Norfolk, including the Halyburton and the USS Truxton (left). The crew members seen in the film are, mostly, actual sailors, including the female medic who examines Phillips after he’s rescued.

  4. 4. The Navy Seals

    Tom Hanks

    THE REAL STORY: The elite commandos parachuted into the vicinity and boarded the Halyburton. They began negotiating with the pirates via a two-way radio before relations broke down, requiring a more forceful response.

     

    THE MOVIE: Greengrass insisted on using real SEALs, because he thought “audiences know when they are seeing something that doesn’t quite measure up.” Simply the way SEALs walk and hold guns would be hard for actors to replicate. The filmmakers found 10 former commandos to play the roles.

  5. 5. Captain Phillips

    Tom Hanks

    THE REAL STORY: Phillips lives in Vermont and is married to a nurse. He served as a consultant on the film and worked with Hanks . Shortly after he was rescued, he went back to work for Maersk.

     

    THE MOVIE: Greengrass made one major change from Phillips’ memoir, “A Captain’s Duty.” The book cut between Phillips’ ordeal and his wife’s back home, but Greengrass says he felt he’d seen stories like that before. The wife was minimized, although the couple love the finished film. Phillips’ reaction to Greengrass: “God, you nailed those pirates!”