BEAVERCREEK -- In 1925, the tragic entrapment of caver Floyd Collins and the unsuccessful attempts to rescue him caused a two-week long media frenzy that captured the nation. Now Billy Bob Thornton hopes to put Collins back in the spotlight with a movie based on Beavercreek resident Roger W. Brucker's book "Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins."
Brucker co-authored the book with Robert K. Murray. A caver since the 1950s, Brucker immersed himself in research before writing his true tale, even venturing into the unstable cave where Collins spent his final days.
It was a terrifying experience, but Brucker said it paid off with a book that reveals new facts about what happened to Collins and why the attempts to rescue him were unsuccessful. He said he's eager to see the film version, which is slated to star and be directed by Thornton.
"It's very thrilling," he said. "I'm looking forward to it because Billy Bob Thornton looks like Floyd Collins...he identifies with that character and he is a pretty brilliant director."
This is Brucker's fourth non-fiction caving book, and he's already editing his first historical fiction book, which extrapolates upon the true life of a slave caving guide.
Several of Brucker's books detail his own adventures caving around Mammoth National Park in Kentucky, where his expeditions eventually resulted in the connection of many separate caves to make Mammoth Cave the world's longest.
A long-time Beavercreek resident, Brucker has also lived in Yellow Springs and Dayton and said the region is good for caving and writing. "This is a good part of the country," he said. "There are lots of cave explorers around to talk to and go caving with."
Familiar with the desires and struggles of cavers, Brucker said Collins' story inspired him. "It teaches me to never go caving alone and always tell somebody where I'm going. I think I share Floyd Collins' obsession, really, to find out what's there. What's around the next corner in the cave? Where does this passage go? What's at the bottom of this pit?"
And he hopes through the book and the film, audiences will learn something as well. "What I hope people take away from it is through all the attempts to rescue Floyd Collins, he realized he made a foolish decision and he took responsibility and didn't try to blame others, so he came out of it an authentic hero...he was able to endure for eight or nine days while trying to get free."
Brucker said to his knowledge the movie is not in production yet, and there is no word yet when it will be released.
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