Denzel Washington pilots Flight through storm

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - After a detour into animation, Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis returns to live-action film with Flight, which starts with a plane crash but centers more on personal rather than airborne crises.

Denzel Washington stars as a pilot who becomes a national hero for managing to crash-land a malfunctioning jet but faces another harrowing descent when alcohol and cocaine are discovered in his system.

The movie, being released in North America this weekend, took more than 10 years to come together from a screenplay by John Gatins, whose previous credits include Real Steel (2011) and 2008's Dreamer.

It took all of the A-list actor and director's Hollywood heft - and cuts in pay - to bring it to the screen.