Hollywood in the Hub: Stars Out for ‘Finest Hours' Premiere

Big stars like Casey Affleck and Chris Pine were in Boston Thursday for the premiere of "The Finest Hours," based on an incredible true story that took place in New England.

The film is about a dramatic Coast Guard rescue off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts.

Chris Pine plays Bernie Webber, a Coast Guard captain sent on a suicide mission.

His goal is to bring back the crew of an oil tanker, split in two off the coast of Cape Cod, in 1952. Casey Affleck plays the captain of that lost crew, and Thursday night, both actors were at the Loews Theater for the movie's hometown premiere, as was the co-author of the best selling book that inspired the movie.

"People talk about superhero films," said writer Casey Sherman. "This is a movie about superheros. They don't wear capes, they don't wear tights, they wear hand-me-down foul-weather gear from World War Two."

Affleck said he was proud the film was shot in Quincy and in Chatham.

For the Letty Tucci, the daughter of one of the survivors of the SS Pendleton, seeing “The Finest Hours” will be a surreal experience.

Meanwhile, for a family in Maine, seeing the film will be a surreal experience.

"We never expected a movie to be made of it," said Letty Tucci, daughter of one of the survivors of the SS Pendleton.

Tucci's father, Fred Brown, was a mechanic on the tanker.

"It was an extremely dangerous mission, but had it not been for [the Coast Guard], my dad would have never come home," she said.

Tucci, and her nieces Jennifer White and Caroline West, remember him telling the stories of the storm: seeing the 40-foot waves crash into the ship, feeling it rip the tanker in two, seeing eight officers getting carried off into the waters on the bow, floating away.

"These guys, as brave as they were, joined hands on that ship and prayed," said Tucci.

"The Finest Hours" was made by Disney, so it's appropriate for the whole family. It opens in theaters Friday.

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