It looks like baseball great Jackie Robinson is going have his story told by the horse whisperer. This story was brought to us by our friends at cinematical:
It was Robinson who broke through Major League Baseball’s race barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Despite constant racist attacks by opposing players (and, at first, his own teammates), he went on to win the first-ever Rookie of the Year Award and to be a star player throughout his 10-year stint with the Dodgers. Redford will play Dodgers manager Branch Rickey, who supported Robinson from the beginning.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project has the support of Robinson’s widow (Robinson died in 1972), as well as Branch Rickey Jr. and Major League Baseball. It will be co-produced by ESPN Films, with Thomas Carter directing. Carter’s last film was the true-life basketball story Coach Carter, and the three writers listed at IMDb have extensive biopic experience. The flick has all the hallmarks of a loving, faithful, not-too-controversial biopic, and that’s fine with me.
As someone who does not like sports I am often surprised how much I like biopics about athletes. The drive to win and the power of teamwork are themes that are important in sport and life however and I find that these themes are communicated in a powerful way through familiar games of contest.
The story of Jackie Robinson is a fantastic one and deserves a film that will do it justice. I am glad to see this in the gentle hands of Robert Redford and have high hopes that this will be an outstanding tale of human triumph in the face of overwhelming opposition. This man had to rip respect out of people that hated him when he stepped on the field day 1. His courage, skill and story make should be groundwork for an outstanding film, and I look forward to seeing how this one turns out.