De Niro Playing Vince Lombardi in New ESPN Film

Robert De Niro is headed to ESPN. Unfortunately, he's not replacing Stuart Scott. De Niro will portray coach Vince Lombardi in a new bio-pic being produced by the network to air in January 2012, the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl. De Niro's Tribeca Productions will co-produce with the network as well as the NFL, and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) will write the screenplay. Said De Niro's producing partner Jane Rosenthal, "“We’ve had an extraordinary relationship with ESPN for five years through the Tribeca Film Festival, and now we’re able to extend that association into production." The film will cover the glory years, Lombardi's years with the Green Bay Packers in which he won the first two Super Bowls and helped Green Bay become known as "Title Town," even though the city has only won one more championship in the 40-plus years since Lombardi left the sidelines. But that's beside the point. This is one of the few roles in 20 years that might be good for De Niro, although it's interesting how much the acceptance of cable has helped actors find roles that they can't seem to track down through more traditional methods. It's probably a development we'll see a lot more of with HBO continuing to collect Emmy Awards by the dozen. But it's actually as a producer where I think De Niro is making the smart business move. Because ESPN is ABC, it's also Disney. Disney hearts home video, like a lot and stuff. So Bobby D could really cash in with this project, which probably wouldn't be terribly expensive, especially with the NFL and ESPN shouldering much of that burden.

Comments

[SEAN]

When I read this news, it was so obvious to me that I'm wondering why didnt this happen years ago....

De Niro is literally perfect for the role, he even looks like Vince in a certain way...

Boy I hope the script is good & the direction is brilliant....

Whats wrong with Stuart Scott, I think he's funny but annoying at times I admit also....?

[Jay B.]

Wonderful post... Very informational and educational as usual!

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