Billy Bob Thornton is finally making plans to return to the director's chair soon, and one of his upcoming projects will be based on the story of well-known Kentucky caver Floyd Collins.

While searching for a new entrance to Mammoth Cave in 1925, Collins spent three weeks exploring the inside of a small cave (dubbed "Sand Cave" by the media). While trying to exit the cavern  one day, he became trapped in a small passageway near the cave's entrance, knocking out his lamp and pinning his leg under a rock in the process. He was found the next day by friends, and efforts to rescue him began. A light was passed down for warmth and light, and Collins stayed fed on hot food brought to the cave, however when the cave collapsed in two places near the entrance, rescuers lost all but voice contact with Collins. The cave ins also blocked the recovery effort and rescuers instead began digging a shaft to reach Collins from below. Rescuers reached Collins over two weeks after he became trapped, but by the time they found him, he had been dead for three days. Believing it to be too dangerous to remove Collins at the time, his body remained in the cave for two more months. The news coverage of the rescue efforts and Collins' subsequent death is considered by many to be the first worldwide media sensation of the 20th century.

In the early 1980s, WAVE 3 News in Louisville aired a series of stories telling the tale of Collins ordeal and death. I remember being riveted by the broadcasts in my young age. This fascination stayed with me for many years. In my first two summers during college, I worked as a tour guide at Squire Boone Caverns near Corydon, Indiana, and made it a point during that time to visit as many tourist caves in Kentucky and Indiana as I could. I even went on "wild" cave tours at Wyandotte and Mammoth Caves that lasted several hours each. (At Mammoth Cave I even got to experience the horrible feeling of being in trapped in a tight passage way; unlike Collins, however, I had a professional guide to help me get free.) After I left my cave guide job, I worked for a few years at WAVE television. In my first week on the job, I learned that Steve York, then the Assignment Editor in the news department, had been the reporter who told Collins' story in those broadcasts I'd enjoyed as a child. During my time at WAVE I asked Steve about that series on several occasions.

I can only hope that Thornton's take on Collins will live up to my own hopes. Based on the director's comments, he looks to be interested in setting a dark tone:

[T]he reason I want to make the movie is I want to make the movie about human nature. It's human nature to want to see other people suffer for entertainment. That's why we have reality television. That's why every time there's somebody trapped in a hole, everybody's interested.

The deal for Thornton's Floyd Collins movie is not yet finalized, so casting, filming and release details have not been determined.