Last summer it was announced that former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle was teaming with Cleopatra Films for Free Bird, a movie exploring the tragic 1977 plane crash that killed three members of the American rock band, and now having undergone a change of title to Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, Deadline has revealed the first casting on the project.
According to the site, Ian Shultis will play Pyle, with Taylor Clift as Ronnie Van Zant, Samuel Kay Forrest as Steve Gaines and Navarone Garibaldi as Gary Rossington. Rich Dally III and Sean McNabb will also star in the film, which is being directed by Jared Cohn (The Horde) from a script he penned with Pyle.
“This film’s story — MY story — is not just about the plane crash but also about my personal relationship with the genius that was Ronnie Van Zant, whom I loved like a brother and still miss to this day,” said Pyle when the project was first announced.
The crash was responsible for the death of Van Zant, Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, the band’s road manager and two pilots. The biopic will begin shooting this month in Los Angeles.
