North Texas sports fans who are no longer anticipating the movie about Josh Hamilton can now count down the days to another sports biopic: Sony Pictures is now producing a movie about Jesse Holley, the former security guard who went on to become a Dallas Cowboys receiver. Former Cowboys’ great Michael Irvin is set to be a producer on this movie, too.
This movie sounds like it could be the Cowboys’ version of Invincible. Between that movie and Silver Linings Playbook, Philadelphia Eagles fans have cornered the market on films that make them feel warm and fuzzy. It’s time the Cowboys fans gets a movie to feel good about itself.
Then again, I’m getting a sinking feeling looking at the talent attached to this movie. The screenwriter is Randy Brown, who penned the deservedly unloved Clint Eastwood vehicle Trouble With the Curve. The directors are Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin, who won an Oscar for their simplistic football documentary Undefeated. I can imagine this movie sucking all too easily.
Perhaps it won’t, if the right talent is cast. Which actor should portray Jesse Holley? I’d suggest Michael B. Jordan, but I’m open to other suggestions.
Michael K. Williams from The Wire and Boardwalk Empire http://www.michaelkennethwilliams.com/
Williams has the physical resemblance, but I’ve only seen him in sleazy lowlife roles. Jordan has played heroic types in “Red Tails” and “Chronicle,” which would seem to be what this movie would need. This doesn’t disqualify Williams, but I wonder if he can play a hero.
There’s that darn East Coast bias again. If only the Cowboys had fans as rabid as the Eagles’. If only.
DFW is a winners market. If this movie wins an Oscar, I’ll watch it when it comes on cable.