The biopic of legendary quarterback Joe Namath has been knocking around Hollywood for awhile. Jake Gyllenhaal was attached to the lead role a couple of years, after which not much else happened. However, with the actor now much more high profile than he was a few years ago, the project is about to get another acclaimed name to join the ranks.
Pajiba’s Hollywood Cog reports that director James Mangold is circling the project. The project is currently set up at Universal who’ve had cold feet of late regarding adult dramas, canning Josh Brolin’s “Cartel” five weeks before shooting was set to begin and passing on Paul Thomas Anderson’s gestating Scientology project. But Namath is an icon and all American hero, and a film about his life is certain to do well, and with Gyllenhaal and Mangold attached, can easily be turned into Oscar baiting fare.
The project currently has a script by David Hollander whose written for TV series’ like “The Cleaner” and “The Guardian,” but before the film gets in front of cameras, another pass will be taken on his work.
So how likely is this to happen? Well Gyllenhaal will be wrapping up “Source Code” shortly after which his calendar will be clear, while Mangold has long-in-development projects like a narrative feature on the “Murderball” doc and the Dusty Springfield biopic.
Update: And apparently this is the same one that Nicole Kidman & writer Micheal Cunningham were attached to at one point (who knows where that project is at this stage).
We imagine financing might be easier to put together for what is a surefire easy sell, rather than two other pictures that would require more work to find an audience. Sadly, that’s the state of affairs at studios right now. If Mangold, does sign the dotted line, we expect this project to start moving quickly