A man who saved some two hundred and forty-four people from disaster during the flooding from Hurricane Katrina is to get a film made of his story, and it's to be made by Will Smith's production company no less.

John Keller is an ex-Marine who rescued the people of the five story apartment block where he lived, a place called The American Can Company. It wasn't just a rescue, but a five day ordeal protecting them against looters and marauders as well as organising the rescue.

John Keller received the nickname of The Can Man after his actions. What is most amazing about the story is, not only the rescue that he managed from the ground, but the five days prior where he protected the people who were awaiting rescue within the building.

This story from The Hollywood Reporter through the BBC tells us that Keller is a huge man, an ex-Marine, and after chasing off one looter from the building where two hundred and forty-four people were stranded as some eleven feet of water flowed around them, protected the building and the people for five more days.

John Lee Hancock is set to direct the film, think The Alamo and The Rookie, although it's not said yet who will be playing the man himself, although it does sound like a perfect Will Smith role.

A statement from a representative of the Columbia studio said that:

"John Keller embodies everything about the American spirit: he is tough, smart, resourceful, funny, and not the type of guy who takes 'no' or 'I can't' for an answer. That is the story we want to tell -- in the moment of an American tragedy, when we are tested, we find that we have greater depth of spirit and strength than we ever knew."

Well let's hope they don't over embellish the story and that they make it as real and as tough as possible, giving real credit to the people involved and not needlessly altering true events as Hollywood so often does. I think there's enough greatness in this story already don't you?