October Sky (1999)

October Sky is a 1999 American biographical drama film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Lewis Colick. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dern. Based on the book Rocket Boys (later published as October Sky ), it tells the story of Homer H. Hickam Jr., a coal miner's son from Coalwood, West Virginia, who takes up amateur rocketry with his friends. Hickam would later become a NASA engineer.

Filming for October Sky took place at several locations in rural East Tennessee, including Oliver Springs, Harriman, and Kingston. The film continues to be celebrated in the region of its setting and filming. "October Sky" is an anagram of "Rocket Boys", the title of the 1998 memoir upon which the film is based. According to Hickam, Universal Studios changed the title of the film to October Sky because their research indicated that women over thirty would not see a film called Rocket Boys. The book was later re-released with the name October Sky to capitalize on interest in the film.