featuring @glenpowell
After achieving success with their 2016 college comedy Everybody Wants Some!, Glen Powell and director Richard Linklater are teaming up once more for an upcoming untitled Lou Gehrig biopic at Universal Pictures. Powell will portray the legendary New York Yankees slugger, with Linklater attached to direct and Simon Rich penning the screenplay.
Lifelong Yankees fan Lorne Michaels will produce the film alongside Erin David, under Broadway Video’s first-look deal with Universal. Powell will also serve as a producer alongside Dan Cohen through Barnstorm’s deal with the studio. Meanwhile, Linklater is in discussions to produce through his company, Detour Filmproduction.
Lou Gehrig, often regarded as one of baseball’s greatest players, is celebrated for his remarkable durability and accomplishments. Known as “The Iron Horse,” he played a record 2,130 consecutive games— a feat once thought unbreakable until Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed it in 1998. Gehrig spent his entire 17-year career with the Yankees, securing six World Series titles, including with the famed 1927 team widely considered the greatest in history. In 1934, he achieved the Triple Crown, batting .363 with 49 home runs and 166 RBIs. His career and streak were cut short in 1939 when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He passed away in 1941 at just 37 years old.
Hollywood has long been fascinated by Gehrig’s story, but it has only been told once on the big screen— in the classic 1942 film Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper as Gehrig. The film famously features his heartfelt farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, where he declared, “For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
Details of the new film’s focus remain under wraps, but sources indicate that one key figure likely to play a significant role is Babe Dahlgren, the player who replaced Gehrig at first base. While production start dates are not yet set, Powell is expected to take a break after a busy year of work. Given the star power attached to the project, many young actors will likely be vying for the role of Dahlgren.
- Email: neill@outloudculture.com
- Socials: @frazer.live
- @neill.outloud
