Captain Phillips To Attend Benefit Screening Of Film

The number of people suffering from food allergies has exploded in recent years. According to Food Allergy Research Education, 32 million Americans live with life-threatening food allergies, including one in 13 children. According to the organization, every 10 seconds someone is rushed to an emergency room because of a food allergy reaction.
In May, a week after graduating from the University of Rhode Island, Timmy Howard suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. He was 22 years old.
Timmy was the nephew of Richard Phillips, who gained notoriety after the Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates off Somalia in 2009. Next Thursday, Feb. 12, Phillips will be at the Chatham Orpheum Theater for a screening of “Captain Phillips,” the film based on his experience, in a benefit for the Be Like Timmy Foundation. The nonprofit was founded to bring attention to food allergies through education, collaboration, and expanded access to life-saving treatment, according to its mission.
Orpheum Theater Director Paul Schuyler said representatives of the foundation reached out to the theater about hosting the screening. “It just seemed right up our alley,” he said.
Tom Hanks portrays Phillips in the film, which follows the boarding of the Maersk Alabama by four Somali pirates and their subsequent kidnapping of the captain. Released in 2013, the film was a success, with Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, who portrayed one of the pirates, receiving praise for their performances.
“It’s a fantastic film,” Schuyler said. Director Paul Greengrass is a former journalist and documentary filmmaker whose other fiction films, such as “United 93” and “The Lost Bus,” are known for their gritty realism. “He’s an expert at putting you right at the center of it,” Schuyler said. “It’s a very visceral, intense movie” that “feels very real.”
The film screens at 6 p.m. Phillips, who grew up in Winchester and attended the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, will be on hand to talk about the experience, the movie and the Be Like Timmy Foundation. Schuyler said he’s particularly interested in hearing about Phillips’ thoughts on how Hollywood handled his s