Glen Powell is set to take on the role of New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig. The currently untitled film will see him reunite with Richard Linklater after they made the college baseball comedy Everybody Wants Some!! in 2016.
Linklater is attached to direct, with Saturday Night Live vet Simon Rich writing the screenplay. SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels, a lifelong Yankees fan, will produce alongside Powell. Linklater is currently in talks to produce.
According to Deadline, Gehrig’s teammate Babe Dahlgren, who had the unenviable task of replacing him at first base, will have an important role in the film. No production start date has been set, but Powell apparently intends to take a break from filming after starring in The Running Man, How to Make a Killing, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Chad Powers during the past year.
A Hall of Famer, Lou Gehrig was renowned for his endurance, earning the nickname “the Iron Horse” for his then-Major League Baseball record of 2,130 consecutive games played. A two-time American League Most Valuable Player, seven-time All-Star, and Triple Crown winner, Gehrig won six World Series championships with the Yankees.
In 1939, however, Gehrig’s streak abruptly came to a halt as he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which became referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. On July 4th, 1939, he delivered a retirement speech that has been called “baseball’s Gettysburg Address,” in which he described himself as “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
Gehrig died just two years later on June 2nd, 1941 — 17 days before his 38th birthday. His story was previously the subject of the 1942 biopic The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper.
