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Richard Linklater and Glen Powell are re-teaming to take on the Pride of the Yankees. The pair, who previously collaborated on “Hit Man” and “Everybody Wants Some,” will join forces on an untitled Lou Gehrig film for Universal
Pictures.
Gehrig is a Hall of Famer whose durability and endurance on the field (he played for a then-record 2,130 consecutive games) earned him the nickname “the Iron Horse.” A legendary slugger, his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His farewell address to a sold-out crowd at Yankees stadium in 1939, in which he declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” has been dubbed “baseball’s Gettysburg address.” Gehrig died in 1941 at age 37. His story was previously dramatized in 1942’s “The Pride of the Yankees” with Gary Cooper playing the sports icon.
Lorne Michaels of “SNL” fame will produce the film with Erin David under his company Broadway Video’s first-look deal with Universal. Powell will produce alongside Dan Cohen for his shingle, Barnstorm, which also has a first-look deal with the studio. Linklater is in talks to produce through Detour Filmproduction.
Simon Rich, an “SNL” vet, will write the script. Rich recently wrote “Artificial,” a look at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that Luca Guadagnino directs. It generated headlines after Amazon MGM Studios dropped the film, which was later picked up by Neon.
Powell’s credits include “Twisters” and “The Running Man.” He will next appear in J.J. Abrams’s “The Great Beyond.” Linklater recently directed “Blue Moon,” which earned an Oscar nod for its script and for Ethan Hawke’s lead performance, as well as “Nouvelle Vague,” the story of the making of “Breathless.”
Powell is represented by CAA, The Initiative Group and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Linklater is repped by CAA and Cinetic Media. Rich is represented by CAA and Eastman and Eastman.
Deadline broke the news about the Gehrig biopic.
