The Aviator

8/5/2026

Howard Hughes (Leonardo Di Caprio) had made his money from oil and was obsessed with aviation. Pumping a great deal of his money into that still fairly embryonic industry, he designs his own outwardly more outlandish aircraft that push the boundaries of size and capacity - all against a scepticism from his investors and even his closest friends like Dietrich (John C. Reilly not Marlene). He sees a vision for international flying that inspires the expansion of TWA and that earns him the enmity of rival Pan Am owner Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) who drafts in his senatorial bloodhound Brewster (Alan Alda) to accuse Hughes of wartime profiteering and corruption. Meantime, his personal life is only marginally less turbulent with affairs with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and then Ava Gardner