NFL plans to bring Lombardi to big screen
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=641987
NFL plans to bring Lombardi to big screen
By DON WALKER
dwalker@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 2, 2007
The National Football League is getting into the feature film business in a big way, and it has chosen as its first project a movie about Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers.
The film is expected to center on the week leading up to the 1967 NFL Championship game, the famed Ice Bowl, and will flash back to Lombardi's life and how it led him to Green Bay.
A script has been written for the film, which is based in part on Jerry Kramer's best-selling book, "Instant Replay."
Both Kramer and Vince Lombardi Jr., have signed off on the project, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy and Andrew Hauptman, the film's producer.
"I have always been very protective of my father's legacy," Lombardi said.
"But I have known Jerry Kramer most of my life, and because of his association with the project, as well as the NFL's involvement and my confidence in producers Andrew Hauptman of Andell Entertainment and Chris Olsen, my family and I are supporting the film. We are confident Jerry and Andrew and their team will bring my father's life in a way that accurately portrays what he meant to the Green Bay Packers, the National Football League and the game of football."
Although the NFL was involved to some degree in the films, "Jerry Maguire," and "Invincible," McCarthy said the league would play a much larger role in the Lombardi biopic, with the hope of doing more films.
It is the first time the NFL has been a co-producer on a major film project.
"We're getting in on the inception of the project, rather than the end," McCarthy said.
"Rather than having a script and an image, we are able to work more closely to see the project from start to finish. That will help the NFL put its stamp on the project."
Hauptman, the chairman of Andell Entertainment, is not an unknown in Hollywood. His producing credits include the upcoming film, "Lions for Lambs," starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and "State of Play," a film based on the BBC mini-series of the same name. Brad Pitt will star in that film.
Asked why Lombardi appealed to him, Hauptman said Lombardi's life was compelling.
"He's an icon," Hauptman said.
"He's like the leader of a generation. And he took a ragtag group of players and made them champions. The story has never been told on the big screen."
A production date has not been set, but McCarthy said it was possible work could begin this winter. At this stage it is unclear how much, if any, filming would be done in Green Bay and at Lambeau Field.
"This is an epic picture that will attract a wide range of talent," McCarthy said.
