CHARLESTON, W.Va. –West Virginia natives author Homer Hickam and actor/producer Kevin Sizemore are teaming up together to bring what they call an “equal not a sequel ” to the 1999 movie October Sky.
The pair, who were on MetroNews Midday last week, said they are hoping to bring to life Hickam’s book The Coalwood Way, in which he released in 2000. The new film is expected to be called December Sky.
Sizemore said that originally the book was supposed to be connected to Hickam’s 1998 memoir Rocket Boys, however Hickam realized that it was much more than to be added into the novel. Hickam calls it an equal since it happens during the same time frame of the first book.
The book still follows Homer and the rocket boys as they navigate being high school seniors preparing for their futures and perfecting their handmade rockets during winter of 1959.
Hickam said there here in the state to gauge what it’s going to take to make the film happen.
“We’re up here right now to see about financing and we’re going to make this movie 100% in West Virginia and we hope that will bring a lot of eyes from Hollywood out here and make more films out here,” he said.
They said that they will have the help of the Tinnell Brothers, who directed and produced the film Feast of the Seven Fishes which was filmed exclusively in West Virginia.
Hickam said that he believes, with the fan base surrounding October Sky and the 31% tax credit state legislators passed, this will be another successful film.
“There are so many millions and millions, tens of millions of fans of that movie October Sky, we’re confident that this is going to be a money maker,” he said.
One of things that Sizemore was looking forward to was the casting of the characters, because some of them are the original characters like Homer, O’dell, Quentin and so many more but there’s also some newer characters that are introduced in the book.
He said that some of the originally cast like Chris Owen and Chad Lindberg and more could potentially make a cameo in the film as other characters in the film.
“They are kind of like nice Easter eggs, you just look for them and oh there’s someone,” Sizemore said.
They even joked that Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Hickam in 1999, should come back and play Hickam’s dad, Homer Hickam Sr. this time around.
Sizemore also said that they really want to make sure that they cast actors that have the same “vibe” as they did in the first film.
“They might come from West Virginia, we don’t know. We’re not going to go pluck some Disney kid and say here we go because we want to make a statement,” he said. “We got to find the right character, that’s how they did October Sky, they found the right characters and those kids were phenomenal and that’s going to be fun for me to be a part of no matter where they come from.”
Sizemore said that currently there is no exact timeline for the movie, however he said if they started filming in December 2025 or January 2026, then they could potentially be looking at a 2027 release date.
Hickam also gave an update on his health after her was diagnosed with colon cancer in October 2024. He said that he underwent surgery and chemotherapy for a few months. He said he was happy to report that according to his scans he was in 100% remission.
He said that his experience showed him that he needed to trust his doctors and said that’s the advice he would give to others going through something like this.
“Don’t go out on the internet and think that all the answers are out there, listen to your doctor, you have to trust somebody, you might want to go to several to get different opinions but ultimately trust that doctor and whatever you have to do,” Hickam said. “Just remember modern science is really amazing and there are ways to get through almost everything.”
He said that he plans on writing about his experience with cancer down the road.