THE NATURAL Director Barry Levinson to Helm Hank Aaron Biopic

[Wangman Page]

The story of Hammerin’ Hank is coming to the big screen. Variety reports that producers Mike Tollin and Glenn Rigberg have acquired the rights to baseball great Hank Aaron’s life story. Furthermore, they’ve set The Natural director Barry Levinson to helm from a script by Adam Mazer (Empire State). The story will be based on Howard Bryant’s book The Last Hero: The Life Story of Henry Aaron and “will follow the right fielder’s chase of Babe Ruth’s home run record from 1972 to 1974. Spoiler alert: Aaron finally eclipsed Ruth’s record with his 715th home run in April of 1974. Hit the jump for more.

This isn’t the only baseball biopic in the works, as Jackie Robinson’s story is being brought to life in 42. The film chronicles Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey’s work to eradicate segregation in baseball, with Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford set as Robinson and Rickey, respectively. Levinson has been hit and miss as of late, but I’m excited to see him returning to familiar territory. He won the Oscar for Best Director with 1988’s Rain Man, and he’s recently been working on bringing Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father to the screen.

This should be great as The Natural is one of my all time favorite movies ever and he is doing a movie on Hank Aaron this will be amazing.

 

[Fuji Vice]

The Natural is pretty great, so I'm sure the Aaron film will be as well. Let's hope he doesn't use the same theme song that played every time Roy Hobbes hit a home run in The Natural though, it gets tiring after awhile.

Also, for some reason when I read that article I thought it said Harrison Ford was going to be playing Jackie Robinson and I was like "is he going to do it in black face?" :

 

[Wangman Page]

The Natural is pretty great, so I'm sure the Aaron film will be as well. Let's hope he doesn't use the same theme song that played every time Roy Hobbes hit a home run in The Natural though, it gets tiring after awhile.

Also, for some reason when I read that article I thought it said Harrison Ford was going to be playing Jackie Robinson and I was like "is he going to do it in black face?" :

I had to read that a couple of times too until I realized it was someone else with Robinson that he was portraying.

 

[Fuji Vice]

I had to read that a couple of times too until I realized it was someone else with Robinson that he was portraying.

That being said, a movie about Jackie Robinson with Harrison Ford playing him in black face would be a definite must see.

 

[Wangman Page]

That being said, a movie about Jackie Robinson with Harrison Ford playing him in black face would be a definite must see.

I would pay to see that almost as good as Eddie Murphey as the old white guy in one of his movies.

 

[Swinny]

Hank Aaron Biopic in the Works from "The Natural" Director

Hank Aaron Biopic in the Works from 'The Natural' Director

Barry Levinson is set to direct a film about the Hall of Famer breaking Babe Ruth's home run record.

Producers Mike Tollin and Glenn Rigberg are teaming up to tell the story of baseball great Hank Aaron and his quest to break Babe Ruth’s home run record, and director Barry Levinson and writer Adam Mazer are now attached to the project.

Tollin and Rigberg acquired the rights to the book The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant and recruited Levinson and Mazer, who worked together on HBO’s Emmy-winning Jack Kevorkian biopic You Don’t Know Jack. Levinson, who directed the 1984 baseball movie The Natural, helped Mazer develop the take for the story.

Aaron will act as a consultant on the project.

The project will focus on the period of 1972 to 1974, when Aaron chased then shattered a sacrosanct record held for decades by Ruth, who hit 714 home runs during his career. Aaron and his supporters faced death threats and hate mail because some fans didn’t want a black man to break Ruth’s record.

"This was a difficult time in my life, but I'm confident we can all learn a little something from looking back at those times,â€￾ said Aaron, who ended his career with 755 homers.

Said Mazer: "My first sports memory as a kid was watching Henry Aaron hit No. 715. At the time, I had no idea how profound a moment it was for baseball, and more importantly, the nation. To have the opportunity now to bring his harrowing journey to the screen is an honor and a thrill."

Tollin has a long history of making sports-themed movies including Varsity Blues (1999), Hardball (2001) and Coach Carter (2005). He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Peabody for writing, producing and directing the 1995 documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream. He is also a board member of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to underprivileged inner-city youth.

Rigberg was nominated for an Emmy for his producer role on You Don’t Know Jack and was key to bringing Tollin, Mazer and Levinson together.

THR