‘#SKYKING’ director hopes doc about man who stole a plane inspires people to check on their friends
The key art for ‘#SKYKING.’ (ABC News Studios)
The documentary #SKYKING, now streaming on Hulu, tells the story of Richard “Beebo” Russell, who in 2018 stole a $33 million airplane — despite the fact that he’d never flown a plane — with tragic consequences. Director Patricia E. Gillespie tells ABC Audio why his family decided now was the time to tell his story.
“The family had initially been really media-averse, and part of that I think was because of just the pain of what had happened, but also the spin that got put on this story, the sensationalism,” Gillespie explained. The family agreed to the film after Gillespie corresponded with Beebo’s mother for nearly two years.
As for why Gillespie wanted to be the one to tell it, when she heard the cockpit recordings of Beebo’s flight on social media, she felt a kinship with him because of their similar backgrounds.
“He was expressing something that I think that a lot of people who come from where I come from feel,” she notes. “And that’s the impossibility of succeeding in the current American economic landscape and the difficulty of addressing the issue of mental health, particularly if you’re from the working class.”
“It just felt really urgent to me to bring that conversation to the fore,” she adds.
Gillespie structured the film around footage of Beebo’s family and friends listening to the entirety of the cockpit recordings for the first time, which she says was very brave of them.
“We knew it was really important to us to show the impact of the decision Bebo made, and that seemed like the most immediate way to do it,” she says.
While telling a “more complete and true story” about Beebo, Gillespie ultimately hopes the doc helps people.
“If I had a goal for this film or a wish for this film, it would be that after people watch it, they feel inspired to call their friend and ask if they’re OK.”
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Hulu.
Jodie Comer attends The 2025 Fashion Awards presented by Pandora at the Royal Albert Hall on Dec. 1, 2025, in London, England. (Lia Toby/Getty Images)
Jodie Comer is the first link in The Chain.
The actress is set to star in the upcoming HBO series The Chain from creator Damon Lindelof. Comer will play Rachel in the limited series, which is based on the bestselling book by Adrian McKinty.
Comer’s casting was announced in an Instagram post on Thursday.
“Meet Rachel,” the caption reads. “Jodie Comer stars in #TheChain, the new Damon Lindelof limited series based off the book by Adrian McKinty.”
McKinty’s 2019 book follows a suburban mom, named Rachel, who has to consider the unthinkable when her daughter is kidnapped. While details on the show are being kept under wraps, a press release from HBO says Lindelof is “expanding the mythology of McKinty’s award-winning thriller.”
HBO ordered The Chain back in January. At the time it was announced, Lindelof said, “From the moment I heard the wild and original premise of Adrian’s book, I was shocked, surprised and angry I hadn’t thought of it myself.”
He continued, “I’ve always wanted to try to adapt a great thriller and this one has all the dark, weird, exhilarating touches that fire up my imagination.”
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Actor Robert Duvall poses for a portrait during the 87th Academy Awards nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 2, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Jeff Vespa/Getty Images)
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.
A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”
Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.
Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.
As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.
Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.
Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.
In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.
Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.
In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.
Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.
